In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
My guess is that, since it's been adopted and cleaned up by the local NRHS chapter, it'll either be sold (maybe one of those $1 deals) or donated to them.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
My guess is that, since it's been adopted and cleaned up by the local NRHS chapter, it'll either be sold (maybe one of those $1 deals) or donated to them.
In reply to NickD :
I hope so, although I'd always prefer to see it returned to operational status if possible.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
It's a good size for a small operation, and the missing FRA Form 4 that made George Hart turn it down back then isn't an issue now because it would need an entire inspection anyway. The big issue is that it is supposedly missing some of the rods and some other parts. It's an interesting machine, built with the same size cylinders as Sierra RR 2-8-2 #34, she has something like 52" drivers instead of 46" like the #34 has. It's also displayed with a fireless 0-6-0 that was used at the Hercules plant that was nearby where they are displayed.
A rare action shot of one of New York Central's Baldwin DR-6-4-1500s at Fairborn, Ohio. The DR-6-4-1500 was a sales disaster for Baldwin, only selling 10 A-units (7 to NYC, 3 to Seaboard Air Line) and 2 B-units (both to NYC), and was a bit of a strange bird. It matched EMD's F-units in horsepower, with a single 1500hp supercharged 608 engine, but had A1A trucks like an EMD E-unit. NYC's rode on the longer, more stable General Steel Casting trucks, like a PA or an Erie-Built, while SAL ordered theirs with the shorter Commonwealth trucks that freed up room underneath but were less stable. The #3506 here is coupled to an EMD F3B, which is a bit of a giveaway that it has lost it's Baldwin prime mover in place of an EMD 567 engine, as is the 3500-series number block (they were in the 3200-series as delivered). The fact that NYC repowered them by the time they were 5 years old indicates their displeasure with the Baldwin power plant. It bought them only a brief reprieve.
NickD said:In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Ed Ellis would be the individual.
What a giant douche.
An even rarer photograph at the same location by the same photographer, J. Parker Lamb. There are not many action photos of the Xplorer in existence, given how unreliable and short-lived a machine it was. The locomotive was a Baldwin RP-210, the last locomotives built by Baldwin. It used a Maybach 1000hp V12 prime mover, a Mekydro hydraulic transmission, a Mayback 8-cylinder head end power generator, and a goofy B-2 wheel arrangement. Check out the huge axle spacing on the powered lead truck. The RP-210 towed a set of all-aluminum Talgo-style coaches built by Pullman-Standard. Hailed as the future of passenger operations, it was soon consigned to the dustbin of history. The coaches rode poorly, the Mekydro hydraulic transmission packed it in frequently, mechanics were unfamiliar with the foreign prime mover, and reported having to forage for metric hardware components at local VW dealerships, and the service manuals for the engine were delivered written exclusively in German. The New York Central's Xplorer began a system-wide promotional tour on June 3, 1956, which included exhibition at New York's Grand Central Terminal. The train entered revenue service on July 15, 1956, as the Ohio Explorer, between Cleveland and Cincinnati. It continued on the route until August 17, 1957, when it was demoted to commutation runs between Chicago, Illinois, and Elkhart, Indiana, as trains #741 and #210. In late 1958, it was finally withdrawn from operation.
Parked next to a B&O P-7 Pacific, it's obvious how low-slung the Xplorer was.
Leaving Cincinatti Union Terminal early in service in '56.
The Baldwin RP-210 parked next to a Fairbanks-Morse C-Liner, with Pennsy E-units a few tracks over.
A B&O P-7 Pacific next to the GM Aerotrain demonstrator at Dayton, Ohio in January of '56. The fact that all these lightweight trainsets of the '50s were marketed as having an inherently better ride quality due to their lighter weight never made a lot of sense, since this was the era where Cadillacs and Lincolns were known for riding better because they were big and heavy. And indeed, all the lightweight Talgo-style trainsets and the Aerotrain were all heavily panned for riding terrible. B&O was so disappointed with the ride quality of their conventional-construction Budd lightweight cars, that they instead streamlined a bunch of their old heavyweight cars for Cincinattian and a few other trains.
In reply to NickD :
So was the exotic motive power to help make it shorter overall?
An NYC Fairbanks-Morse CPA-20-5 north of Fairborn Ohio in 1957. Unlike EMD, Baldwin, and Alco, Fairbanks-Morse didn't offer completely unique models for passenger and freight usage. Their aptly-named Consolidated-line offered a variety of horsepower and uses all packaged in the same carbody. The freight models came in 1600hp CFA-16-4 and 2000hp CFA-20-4 versions, while the passenger version came in 2000hp CPA-20-5 and 2400hp CPA-24-5 versions. The big giveaway to whether it was a freight CFA or a passenger CPA was the amount of axles: a CFA was a B-B configuration, while a CPA had an extra unpowered axle on the rear truck to support the steam generator, making the a B-A1A, like an EMD FL9.
In reply to DjGreggieP :
Yes. They wanted the locomotive to be able to match the low-slung passenger cars in profile, but Baldwin's only engines were the big, tall De La Vergne inline-6s and inline-8s designed for marine use, which wouldn't fit. So they made the disastrous choice to use the Maybach engine and hydraulic drive.
A Cincinatti Union Terminal-painted "torpedo tube" GP7 out and about, leading a New York Central passenger train at Dayton, Ohio in August of 1955. Equipment painted for CUT was typically used by New York Central for switching trains at the terminal itself and rarely ventured very far, so this was a rare occurrence. The "torpedo tubes" on the roof are air reservoirs, which were normally tucked underneath, but were moved to the top of a GP7 if it was ordered with a steam generator, because the water tank was slung under the frame. It's also sometimes forgotten that the GP7s and GP9s and early Alco RSs were usually configured to run long-hood forward from the factory.
A lone Wabash Geep, with a single Wabash boxcar and a caboose, trudges off through Sydney, Illinois on it's way to Danville on April 7th, 1960
Two Wabash F-units bracketing a F-M Train Master curve their way out of Bement, Illinois on their way to Chicago.
Having vanquished the steam locomotives that it once serviced, various EMDs of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois now loiter around the obsolete coaling tower at Danville, Illinois. A rare BL2 is hiding behind the coaling tower leg on the right.
A mixed batch of C&EI motive power consisting of a GP9, a BL2 and an F-unit booster departs Danville with general merchandise.
A C&EI weed sprayer train approaching Urbana tower. The spray car appears to be a heavily modified boxcar, with several tank cars of herbicide, an end-cab switcher and a caboose. You think they would run it the other way so that the weed killer isn't blowing back on the guys in the spray car and the engine, but, hey, it was 1960.
CB&Q steam power at Beardstown, awaiting a call to service that will never come. From left to right, they are Mikado #4997, Colorado-type (CB&Q's name for a 2-10-4) #6317, and Santa Fe #5144. Seasonal grain traffic surges resulted in the CB&Q reactivating steam power throughout the mid- to late-'50s, usually the big O-5a Northerns but sometimes Mikados and even one of their Hudsons. But by 1960, with the steady purchasing of diesels, no traffic surge of any size was enough to call up a single steam locomotive.
The charming little ex-Illinois Central 2-6-0 of the Bevier & Southern Railroad in December 1958. The Bevier & Southern ran nine miles, from an interchange with the CB&Q at Bevier, Missouri south to Binkley. The shortline had the amusing company slogan of "Have Train - Will Haul".
BVS #109 leaving the coal mine at Binkley. The mines were the BVS' lifeblood until it's abandonment in 1982.
CB&Q #4955 at the BVS water tower at Bevier. During times of high traffic, or when the BVS' own motive power was out of comission, they would lease engines from the Burlington.
BVS #112 hustling back to Bevier in the snow. The railroad owned four Moguls: the ex-Illinois Central #109, the ex-Minneapolis & St. Louis #110, and the #111 and #112 were both ordered from Baldwin by the B&S.
The entirety of EMD's RS1325 production brackets an SW1200. The Chicago & Illinois Midland was the sole purchaser of EMD's attempt at a branch line passenger locomotive, buying just two of them. Even more ironic was that the C&IM was all freight by that point, so they optioned the pair without the steam generator that was a standard feature, instead being built with a GP18-style short hood.
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