Grassroots Railroad Sports?

In reply to NickD :

Big Muskie when scrapped supposedly had enough steel in it to make 9,000 automobiles.

The power plant seems to be gone now as I watched videos on youtube of the cooling tower and smokestack being brought down. Looks like that just happened in the last year or so.

The bucket from Big Muskie is still in existance. Next time I am up that way visiting the in laws, I just may drive over and take a look at it.

The bucket could scoop out nearly 300 tons in a scoop and over the lifetime of the machine it moved more than twice as much earth as was moved to dig the Panama canal. Big Muskie moved by walking. I wish I would've been able to see it in action.

In reply to T.J. :

I imagine "shuffle" was a more apt description of its method of movement. In my head, I imagine it making the same sound as the GNK Droids from Star Wars every time it took a step.

Usually we don't see this in Florida.

Indoor electric tram of the Saint Jean de Dieu Hospital founded in 1973, a lunatic asylum.

Railroad inspection cars anyone?

In reply to Purple Frog :

what mountains?

The old Westport Generating Station in Baltimore had a cable car system in the roof that moved around coal cars for fueling the generating station. They were still present in '06 and near pristine, before the plant was torn down in '08.

More photos.

If you want to get into real strange stuff, there are "fireless" locomotives, or "thermos bottles" as they were known. Oftentimes used on factory grounds where an open fire could be hazardous (powder factories, coal mines, etc), they had no firebox. Instead they pressurized them off of an on-site boiler and then ran them around on a charge for a while.

The one pictured was run by Safe Harbor Water Power Corporation, who was in turn operated by Pennsylvania Power & Light) and was even more unique in that it could be remote-controlled. From what some people recall, the remote control system was designed for diesel locomotives and cobbled together to work on steam engines and was the source of much profanity from both designers and operators. It lacked the finesse to operate a steam engine and the little Porter fireless engines could frequently be seen spinning their wheels as the remote control system cranked the throttle wide open. The system was also battery-powered (the black box on the running boards) and would have to be charged as well.

C&O kept some on the roster for use at chemical plants

914Driver said:

Indoor electric tram of the Saint Jean de Dieu Hospital founded in 1973, a lunatic asylum.

So this must be that crazy train that Ozzy keeps mentioning. 

Pete Gossett said:

so this must be that crazy train that Ozzy keeps mentioning. 

LOL.  No way was I going to pass up this comment without saying it's genius.

Anybody know anything about the "trolley graveyard" outside of Pittsburgh?  From what I heard it's really cool and much of it's quite hidden.  Pennsylvania has a whole lot of rail history.

This thread is fascinating.

ScottyB said:

Pete Gossett said:

so this must be that crazy train that Ozzy keeps mentioning. 

LOL.  No way was I going to pass up this comment without saying it's genius.

Anybody know anything about the "trolley graveyard" outside of Pittsburgh?  From what I heard it's really cool and much of it's quite hidden.  Pennsylvania has a whole lot of rail history.

This thread is fascinating.

I just looked up that trolley graveyard in Windber. Interesting. It sounds like you can call ahead and take paid tours. I like how the owner says "All of these trolleys could be fixed up." Well, yeah, technically, but looking at some, I'm thinking it would cost you less to build a new one from the ground up.

Pretty interesting to see this little steam locomotive finally operational again. This is Deep River Logging #7 Skookum, the first of Baldwin's logging Malletts, and one of only 6 2-4-4-2s ever built.

In 1909, the Tennessee-based Deep River Logging approached Baldwin Locomotive Works with a request. They needed a locomotive that was more powerful than their existing equipment, but it was limited in size and weight. Baldwin offered to build them a small logging articulated locomotive and then did what Baldwin commonly did and got so hung up on innovating that they forgot their goal. When the locomotive, the first 2-4-4-2 built, was delivered, it was too long and heavy to operate on Deep River's rails, so they kicked it back to Baldwin, who promised to build them a locomotive that actually fit their uses.

914Driver said:

Railroad inspection cars anyone?

Car on the left appears to be a McLaughlin Buick, 1930 or 31 probably. Canadian-built Buicks only for Canada.

Baldwin then sold the locomotive to Columbia Belt River Line, who renumbered her to #7 and also gave her the name Skookum. The locomotive then kicked around a number of logging railroads in the PNW.

Skookum ended up on the Little River Railroad in the '30s and was used on their logging operation as their biggest locomotive. In 1955, as the Little River was shutting down operations, #7 had a derailment while approaching a bridge and flopped on it's side and slid into an embankment.  Because they were closing down, Little River decided it wasn't worth rerailing and repair and just shifted the tracks over a couple feet to get clearance. They also decided it wasn't worth the money and effort to remove, so they just left it there. In '56, a gentleman named Charles Morrow purchased the #7 from the insurance company and assembled a team of people to go dismantle the locomotive and retrieve it from the woods.

The parts were then stored at a museum, with the plans to eventually restore it. He passed away in '78 before making any progress, and a Rogan Coombs purchased the dismantled locomotive and moved it to Mt. Rainier Scenic's yard. In '05, as Coombs realized he was not going to get it restored, so he sold it to a Chris Baldo to finally have it rebuilt. In 2019, Skookum was finally reassembled and returned to operation again.

I was surfing YouTube for background music at work and came across this.  I like both the music and the visuals.

Union Pacific's #844 doing 75mph on the way to Cheyenne

In reply to NickD :

If you did that on a model railroad, the rivet counters would say "Your scale speed is WAAAAAAY too high!". 

In reply to kazoospec :

That's really hauling on a section of track that doesn't particularly smooth either. 

In reply to NickD :

I've had a 5000lb brass era car with only rear-wheel brakes up to 75mph.

I can only imagine what going that fast in something that weighs hundreds of tons feels like.

In reply to NickD :

I'd take that ride

 Hang on mother Berkeleyer!!

WOoo-WOoooo

Was watching Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade and there's the scene at the beginning where young Indy jumps on the circus train. There's a quick clip of the locomotive's drive wheels and it looked like an outside-frame narrow-gauge engine. Wait until the end and see that Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is credited. So I looked it up. Turns out they dolled up Denver, Rio Grande & Western #484 as the fictional Pueblo & Chama Railroad #484. The irony is that the scene is supposedly set in Utah, but the railroad is in Colorado.

#484 is still in service, although back in her original scheme. I wonder if for a future anniversary of the film, they'll repaint her as such though.

Also learned that the house that is Henry Jones Sr.'s during that segment of the film is in Antonito, Colorado (population 781) and is now owned by a professional chef who runs it as bed and breakfast. 

Pretty cool photo from the Ivy Land coaling tower in the 1950s. All three methods of propulsion are represented across 3 railroads. A Pennsylvania GG1 electric, a Chesapeake & Ohio L1 streamlined 4-6-4 and a Baltimore & Ohio EMD F-unit. Also looks like a B&O switcher on the far right.