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Steam locomotives

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Then I think you'd enjoy the photography of O. Winston Link: http://www.linkmuseum.org/

-- Steve A.

Added a favorite photo -- and it definitely predates "Planes, trains, and automobiles"...
 

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I remember a summer day in 1965 driving on Rte 14 thru Des- Plaines Illinois when this huge black locomotive came steaming by slow enough to see every moving part,, and a sound you never forget ,,It must have been on its way to a museum as steam had long since been replaced
 
Here are a few pics I took in June 1990. These are of a passenger train that belongs to The Cotton Belt Historical Society and was refurbished in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. On this occasion, Engine 819 ran from Pine Bluff to St. Louis, MO and back again. Our store was a little over a block away from the tracks and I could feel the train coming several moments before it made its stop here in Paragould. BTW: "Paragould" was named after John Paramore and Jay Gould who were famous railroad tycoons. I included a pic of one of the ultra-cool passenger cars (there were several attached to it on this run).

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Beautiful engine, Celt. That's about half of a UP "Big Boy". :yes: I'm also a fan of the Challenger series, the Big Boy's little brother. Tremendous engines.
 
Great stuff!

FYI, to anyone in STL, we got the Museum f Transportation, with a BIG BOY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, and other things like the Daniel Nathanson, Bobby Darrin's Dream Car, the Chrysler Turbine car (that RUNS, no less), and many other reclis of a long gone era.

My mother WORKS there, (no, not with trains, with preschoolers) so yeah, if anyone wants to stop in, lemme know, and I can get you a great tour.
 
Three of the nicest steam locomotive museums I've visited are located in:

Baltimore, Md
Sacramento, Ca.
Strausburg, Pa.

Steve
 
Just for fun, Specs on the Challenger

From the 1950-52 Locomotive Cyclopedia:

Clinchfield 4-6-6-4 Challenger:
Number built: 8
Date: 1943

Weight on Drivers (in lbs): 420,000
On front truck: 79,000
On trailing truck: 108,000
Total Engine: 607,000
Tender (2/3 loaded): 316,900

Wheel Bases (ft - inches)
Driving, each: 12 - 2
Engine, total: 59 - 11
Engine and tender, total: 106 - 8
Driving Wheels, Diameter: 69 inches

Cylinders, diameter & Stroke (inches): 22x32

Boiler
Steam Pressure (lbs. per sq. in.): 265
Diameter (first ring): 94 9/16 inches
Firebox, L x W (inches): 213 1/32 x 108 3/16
Tubes (number and diameter): 222, 2 1/4
Flues (number and diameter): 60, 5 1/5
Grate area (sq. ft.): 108

TENDER
Water Capacity (US Gallons): 22,500
Fuel Capacity (tons): 26
Trucks: 6 + 6

GENERAL DATA
Tractive Force, engine, lbs: 101,120
Piston Speed (@10 mph, in feet): 259.7 (*there is no time reference for this data, so I'm not sure how to interpret this one!)

Up next: The Big Boy!
 
UP's 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy"

From the 1950-52 Locomotive Cyclopedia:

UP 4-8-8-4 Big Boy:
Number built: 20
Date: 1941

Weight on Drivers (in lbs): 540,000
On front truck: 97,000
On trailing truck: 125,000
Total Engine: 762,000
Tender (2/3 loaded): 342,200

Wheel Bases (ft - inches)
Driving, each: 47 - 3
Engine, total: 72 - 5 1/2
Engine and tender, total: 117 - 7
Driving Wheels, Diameter: 68 inches

Cylinders, diameter & Stroke (inches): 23 3/4 x 32

Boiler
Steam Pressure (lbs. per sq. in.): 300
Diameter (first ring): 95 inches
Firebox, L x W (inches): 235 1/32 x 96 3/16
Tubes (number and diameter): 75, 2 1/4
Flues (number and diameter): 184, 4
Grate area (sq. ft.): 150.3

TENDER
Water Capacity (US Gallons): 25,000
Fuel Capacity (tons): 28
Trucks: 4 + 10

GENERAL DATA
Tractive Force, engine, lbs: 135,375
Piston Speed (@10 mph, in feet): 263.6 (*there is no time reference for this data, so I'm not sure how to interpret this one!)
 
gearhound said:
Three of the nicest steam locomotive museums I've visited are located in:

Baltimore, Md
Sacramento, Ca.
Strausburg, Pa.

Steve
Click to expand...

one miight want to add, Steamtown, Scranton, Pa.

But for a living, breathing and working bit of History it's difficult to beat Chama, NM. Myself, a third generation railroader, and a student of the D&RGW narrow gauge, I never grow tired of this place.

I've attached a few pics of "Steam" the one is a pair of Mikado's ascending the 4% grade out of Chama on their way to Windy Point and Cumbres Pass.
Might just be some of the very best 'stack talk' one can still get here in the lower "48" !

the other two are of live steam on my garden railroad, my Shay and my 2-8-0 'Consolidation', both are butane fired.
 
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Too cool.. I didn't know they had a museum in Baltimore... Thanks gearhound.. that's on the "to do" list this summer too... I've always loved everything about the old steam engines.. the smells, sounds, mechanicals... they are just so cool.. I had ridden on one when I was a kid up in the rockies for a mine track tour, and it was the coolest thing having your head out the window, and the smoke and steam wrapping around your head... I'll never forget it..
 
gearhound said:
Three of the nicest steam locomotive museums I've visited are located in:

Baltimore, Md
Sacramento, Ca.
Strausburg, Pa.

Steve
Click to expand...


I've visited these three also. All well done. I was impressed with the "cab-forward" locos in the Sacramento museum. The adaptation was needed so the engineers wouldn't gag on smoke while chugging through long western tunnels.

Ron.
 
There is also a vintage TROLLEY museum located outside of Kensington, Maryland.
A friend of mine at work, has spent most of his spare time there, doing restoration work.
He just finished restoring a 1911 Pennsylvania RR snow plow!!
They have about 2 miles of track.
ONE DAY a year....they have an open-house....trolley rides included!!
Very cool!!

Steve
 
WW II train story: How my father lost his stripes!

NOT my Dad's finest hour!?
He was stationed in Memphis, Tenn. during WW II.
Memphis was a large RR center during the war.
He was an MP with the rank of Sargent.
One day my father was in charge of a small MP detail at the train station.
I guess his Lt. figured it was a "slow" summer day.
So he ordered my father and the other MPs present, to unload an ammunition train that had just pulled in.
My father was thrilled!!
Who doesn't like to bus-a-gut under a hot summer Southern sun!?
Right after his officer left....another train pulls up to the platform.
A train full of Italian prisoners-of-war.
Now dear old Dad gets one of his brain flashes....or maybe it was the heat....but HE decides to have the Italian POWs unload the ammunition train!?
All goes well....until the Lt. returns.
The officer goes ballistic seeing Italian POWs carrying boxes of ammo, and GOD-knows what else?
So now my father is hot, tired.....and BUSTED!!

Sgt. York he ain't!

Steve :nono:
 
ozmoid said:
Shay's are very cool, radical design difference from standard loco's. Mostly used in narrow gauge logging, IIRC. Neat little rigs.
Click to expand...

Here in the East it's Cass, WV for some great Shay action, upwards of 9-11% grades. Not far from Cass in Durbin, WV is home to the "Durbin Rocket" a 'Climax' class of Locomotive also used in the logging industry as opposed to the Shay's with their vertical pistons driving shafts that work through ring and pinion gears on each wheel / axle, the Climax pistons are @ 45 degree angle and operate through a gear box. The 'Heisler' class of Locomotives are somewhat similar.
 
similost said:
Too cool.. I didn't know they had a museum in Baltimore... Thanks gearhound.. that's on the "to do" list this summer too... I've always loved everything about the old steam engines.. the smells, sounds, mechanicals... they are just so cool.. I had ridden on one when I was a kid up in the rockies for a mine track tour, and it was the coolest thing having your head out the window, and the smoke and steam wrapping around your head... I'll never forget it..
Click to expand...

I had the opportunity to visit the B&O Museum in Baltimore back in 1994 and it is a VERY cool museum with lots of restored steam locomotives displayed in the old roundhouse. A lot of the locomotives were the old coal-burning Camelback style which was an entirely new type to me. Really interesting stuff. Eastern and Western railroading are completely different breeds of the same animal, each taylored to the unique needs and requirements of the respective operation. I really enjoyed my vist and hope to get back there someday soon. Plan on spending the whole day, bring your camera, and wear loose clothes because you'll be climbing in and out of a lot of locomotive cabs (now how COOL is that?!).
 
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