Some various photos I've taken over the years along the train lines around here.
Some various photos I've taken over the years along the train lines around here.
In reply to NickD :
Thanks, I enjoyed reading that.
Love the pics O2pilot.
Ok, I have a question.
Are locomotive diesel engines specifically designed for locomotive use or are they just another big industrial engine that has been assigned to the job?
In reply to ShawnG :
Usually designed specifically for locomotive use. EMD (owned by GM) developed all their own engines specifically for railroad use.
Alco bought Mcintosh & Seymour engines (M&S had a history in industrial applications but the 529, 531, 244, 252 were designed for rail use) and then bought M&S and made them part of Alco.
Baldwin used De La Vergne engines that they bought, but were designed for rail use. Before merging with Baldwin, Lima snapped up Hamilton engines to make Lima-Hamilton, which their engines were industrial applications original, but they were also kind of trash.
Fairbanks-Morse started as a naval engine developer and applied that tech to trains. Not sure if their train engines were used in boats or vice-versa, or if they just had similar architecture.
GE's FDL engines were clean sheet designs. They did use repurposed Caterpillar and Cooper-Bessemer industrial engines in their tiny early switchers, to mixed success. I remember reading that the GE 44-tonners used a pair of Cat D17000 engines, which were prone to cracking heads. Strasburg's 44-robber cracked one head, so Strasburg bought like five Cat D17000 irrigation pump engines and tore them down to find only I e had a good head.
Now, train engines ended up elsewhere. I remember reading about a railroad snatching up spare Alco 251s from retired tugboat that had had 251s installed. And the NASA shuttle crawler uses two Alco 251s like a C628 would use. I've also heard of EMD 567s used as huge generator engines, which is essentially what they do in a train.
In reply to ShawnG :
Oh, and then there are the new Progress Rail "genset" locomotives which use multiple smaller industrial engines (like Cummins or Cat) and generators, instead of one huge railroad engine. Those are kind of cool.
Gensets are designed as "green" engines, as well as economically-savvy for small railroads. If you have a small Class II or III regional line that moves a couple cars a week but then has spikes of 10 or 15 cars every once in a while, then you are probably running an old EMD GP38-2 or a GP40 or maybe some old GP30 overhaul. Problem is, whether you're moving just the engine, or 1 or 2 cars, or 15 cars, you are still running a big V16 and inducing engine wear, as well as burning fuel and creating emissions.
A genset mounts, say, three 500hp engine/generator combos that can be selectively turned on to meet demand. Moving just the locomotive or a single car, then fire up a single genset and run it as a 500hp engine and save fuel and make less pollution. Another day you're a little busier, you can run it as 1000hp and get the job done and still be saving. Then you have a busy spike, you run all the genset and have full power. It prevents either owning 1 or 2 locomotives that are overkill, or owning and maintaining 5 or 6 to change to meet traffic demands
In reply to kazoospec :
Nay Aug tunnel in Scranton has a double track portal and an older unused portal.
T.J. said:In reply to kazoospec :
Nay Aug tunnel in Scranton has a double track portal and an older unused portal.
I really like that one. It my end up being my prototype for one end. I had already planned on a short bridge and river/stream near the tunnel entrance, so I might model that whole section. Thanks!
In reply to kazoospec :
Yeah, how can you go wrong with the tracks going over 'Roaring Brook' then almost immediately going into the tunnel. Just looked at the area on Google Maps. It's not a place I know, just saw a reference to the tunnel on a youtube video. It also looks like there is another tunnel to the left of the active one, at least on the map. Not sure what that is and if it was ever a rail line or if it was something else.
The tunnel I would like to model someday (mostly because it is not too far from where I grew up and has a cool name) is Flinderation Tunnel. It is now part of a rail trail as the tracks got removed in the late 80's. Flinderation Tunnel as well as the other 20+ tunnels that were on the line between Grafton and Parkersburg, WV were all single track, so they won't help you.
EDIT: I just looked it up and out of the 23 tunnels that were between Parkersburg and Clarksburg, one of them was upgraded to double tracked in 1952. It is also the only one that is still an active railroad tunnel as it is on the line between Clarksburg and Bridgeport on the line that heads up to Wheeling. However, even thought the tunnel is a double bore, there is now only one track going through it.
Here is one of the portals. Not an exciting looking tunnel.
If you guys get up my way, I'll take you up to the Othello Tunnels in B.C.
Apparently it was some of the most expensive sections of railway in Canada when it was built.
Something about lowering Chinese workers over the edge of a cliff with rock drill and a club hammer with instructions to "make big hole here".
In reply to ShawnG :
That's incredible! It sucks there's no excursion railroads near here, though if there were I'd probably never be home.
In reply to Pete Gossett :
My father has already said that when he retires, he's going to go volunteer on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. He also mused about moving to PA and getting a job with Strasburg as a machinist.
What happens when a Russian chooses sober living. They build a tiny steam engine to bomb around their backyard.
In reply to NickD :
There's no way I'd trust my fabrication skills enough to straddle a home-built steam engine.
In reply to Pete Gossett :
That's because you aren't Russian
A pretty cool photo from the IRM's website. A Burlington EMD E5 next to their Milwaukee Road "Little Joe" electric.
Fueled by Caffeine said:
Clearly, I'm not in the loop.
I have no idea who any of these people are, probably my fault for avoiding television for the last five years.
Fueled by Caffeine said:
the new suv suppose to corner like its on rails? I'm lost on this one
A lot going on here, and cool.
drainoil said:Fueled by Caffeine said:the new suv suppose to corner like its on rails? I'm lost on this one
Yeah, I was a little confused as well
In reply to Donebrokeit :
Kind of reminds me of the old Studebaker plant. It had railroad tracks that ran right through the inside for loading and unloading.
This guy went through and snapped some photos back in '06 before they demolished the place.
Blue Mountain Lake Museum has a Pullman once owned by NY millionaire August Belmont.
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