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Offline CG6468

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #125 on: November 24, 2011, 01:30:15 PM »
Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 Big Boys.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAjsTA8ptwE&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt00jwsYqh8&feature=related[/youtube]
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Offline Wineslob

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #126 on: November 30, 2011, 02:24:35 PM »
Quote
we junked it entirely and adopted the automatic knuckle coupler and air brake systems.



This reminds me, I have a book "Air Brake Catechism" thats rather fun to read through. I believe the copyright is around 1921. (orig. 1st ed is 1906)
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Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #127 on: November 30, 2011, 03:50:38 PM »
Quote from: Wineslob on November 30, 2011, 02:24:35 PM



This reminds me, I have a book "Air Brake Catechism" thats rather fun to read through. I believe the copyright is around 1921. (orig. 1st ed is 1906)

It was a huge lifesaver.  Before airbrakes, the brakemen had to scamper up along the train on the catwalks atop the cars to turn or release the brake wheels by hand, on signal from the whistle, limiting the length of trains drastically...hard enough to do in clear weather and straight track, but risky as all Hell in freezing conditions or even rain and wind.  Upwards of 15,000 railroad workers met their Maker every year in operations accidents before the air brake and automatic knuckle coupler.  Life and labor were held cheap by the owners and management, and it all gave legitimate rise to the unions in reaction to that attitude.
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Offline franksolich

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #128 on: December 01, 2011, 09:15:44 AM »
This morning, I finally got around to doing something.

I'm trying to determine the real size of 132 feet, the length of a 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive; I dunno if that includes the tender or not, but whatever.

The longest side of this house is 84 feet.

The eaves from the roof reach down to about 12 feet from the ground one's standing on.

(I dunno what the height was of one of those locomotives.)

That 4-8-8-4 was truly a big one.

It must've looked even bigger when in operation.

I know this might seem stupid, but simply to say something is "twenty feet long" means nothing to me; I have to actually see twenty feet of length to "conceptualize" it.
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Offline CG6468

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #129 on: December 01, 2011, 10:10:15 AM »
Quote from: DumbAss Tanker on November 30, 2011, 03:50:38 PM
It was a huge lifesaver.  Before airbrakes, the brakemen had to scamper up along the train on the catwalks atop the cars to turn or release the brake wheels by hand, on signal from the whistle, limiting the length of trains drastically...hard enough to do in clear weather and straight track, but risky as all Hell in freezing conditions or even rain and wind.  Upwards of 15,000 railroad workers met their Maker every year in operations accidents before the air brake and automatic knuckle coupler.  Life and labor were held cheap by the owners and management, and it all gave legitimate rise to the unions in reaction to that attitude.

Thank you to George Westinghouse, who invented the air brake system for trains in 1869. It was simpler, more reliable and offered a high level of safety to generations of railroaders back then and today.

Westinghouse Railroad Air Brake
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Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline Wineslob

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #130 on: December 01, 2011, 12:23:52 PM »
Quote from: franksolich on December 01, 2011, 09:15:44 AM
This morning, I finally got around to doing something.

I'm trying to determine the real size of 132 feet, the length of a 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive; I dunno if that includes the tender or not, but whatever.

The longest side of this house is 84 feet.

The eaves from the roof reach down to about 12 feet from the ground one's standing on.

(I dunno what the height was of one of those locomotives.)

That 4-8-8-4 was truly a big one.
It must've looked even bigger when in operation.

I know this might seem stupid, but simply to say something is "twenty feet long" means nothing to me; I have to actually see twenty feet of length to "conceptualize" it.


While not as big (I think) I've stood next to this Loco. It's absolutely massive. Ya, unless you get next to one it's very hard to imagine just how big they are.


http://www.csrmf.org/library-and-collections/full-size-railroad-equipment/steam-locomotives/southern-pacific-cab-forward-no-4294
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“The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

        -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 BC (106-43 BC)

The unobtainable is unknown at Zombo.com



"Practice random violence and senseless acts of brutality"

If you want a gender neutral bathroom, go pee in the forest.

Offline CG6468

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #131 on: December 01, 2011, 01:10:15 PM »
Frank, you might try going to a local big store (grocery, big box, or even a strip mall) with a long wall and have a friend stand at the end of a tape measure in front of the wall and another friend stand at 132'; that might graphically illustrate the length of the locomotive.

Or if you get near Omaha, there's supposed to be one at Lauritzen Gardens, whatever and wherever that is. (No. 8 on the website.)

BIG BOYS
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Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline FreeBorn

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #132 on: December 09, 2011, 12:33:52 PM »
Gleaming British steel.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN-flDNwCws[/youtube]

Another on the same line at Yeovil in the south of England, an 0-4-0 tank engine switcher.

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Offline Wineslob

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #133 on: December 09, 2011, 01:37:37 PM »
I donno about Brit steamers, they look too pretty.
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“The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

        -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 BC (106-43 BC)

The unobtainable is unknown at Zombo.com



"Practice random violence and senseless acts of brutality"

If you want a gender neutral bathroom, go pee in the forest.

Offline franksolich

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #134 on: January 17, 2012, 03:23:32 PM »
Well, it took a very long time--a very very very long time--but I finally found some of the promised photographs.

They're from the New York World's Fair of 1939-1940; the individuals shown are my parents.  My mother was 21, my father 27, at the time.

I'd really like to find one from September 4, 1939, that my father snapped, of the Polish Pavillion with the sign announcing it was "closed."










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Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #135 on: January 17, 2012, 05:39:44 PM »
Confirmed Anglophile that you are, it'd probably interest to you to know that the Coronation was a Brit locomitive; while the couplings weren't compatible systems, they did (And do) run on the same guage track as US trains, and have a lighter maximum axle weight, and have made periodic 'Good will' appearances in the US, most notable among those probably being the tour of the "Flying Scotsman." 
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Go and tell the Spartans, O traveler passing by
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Anything worth shooting once is worth shooting at least twice.

Offline franksolich

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Re: horsepower
« Reply #136 on: January 17, 2012, 05:42:29 PM »
Quote from: DumbAss Tanker on January 17, 2012, 05:39:44 PM
Confirmed Anglophile that you are, it'd probably interest to you to know that the Coronation was a Brit locomotive; while the couplings weren't compatible systems, they did (And do) run on the same gauge track as US trains, and have a lighter maximum axle weight, and have made periodic 'Good will' appearances in the US, most notable among those probably being the tour of the "Flying Scotsman."

Yeah, I was aware of the Coronation locomotive, and this being 1939-1940, the coronation of George VI having only recently taken place, in 1937.

There was, I believe, a famous passenger train at the time, London-Edinburgh, the "Coronation Scot," and it was pulled by this sort of locomotive.  That is, if the memory's correct.

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