10 replies to this topic

[Cheater]

Here's a neat video made in 1928 showing the construction of Canadian Pacific Railway's no. 3101 4-8-4 locomotive, from pattern shop to rails. The loco was constructed at CPR's Angus Shops in Montreal.

The CPR K1a class is regarded as the most powerful steam locomtive ever produced in the Commonwealth. It was rated at 3,685 HP, weighed 435,000 pounds empty, and had a top speed of 80 MPH.
 

 
3101 still exists, on display in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

[Jairus]

BEAUTIFUL 4-8-4!

I would not mind going back to steam power for our rail service.

[Cheater]

LOL! The railroads would definitely mind, Jairus. The cost of maintaining steam locos is many times greater than diesel-electric.

I could easily have been a train buff instead of a slothead, as my father's father worked on the Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis railroad; it was the only job he ever had. He hired on in 1926 and retired in 1967. For the last part of his career, he was the conductor on the local that ran between Nashville and Chattanooga.

But if you wanna see a gorgeous loco, check out Norfolk & Western J class #611, which gets my vote for the prettiest steam loco even made.
 

 
611 was restored and used in excursion service for several years, but the loco is now on display in the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA. There is a movement afoot to return 611 to service and I hope it happens.
 
In the early '90s, I stumbled on 611 leaving Chattanooga with an excursion and was able to "pace" the train along Route 11 for about ten or twelve miles. Boy, was that fun!
 
A funny liitle story about 4-8-4 locos...
 
Most (but not all) locomotive wheel arrangements have "nicknames", for example a 4-4-0 is called an "American" type, a 2-8-2 is a "Mikado", a 4-6-4 a "Hudson", etc.
 
A 4-8-4 is called either a "Niagara" or a "Northern", except when the NC&StL started designing their own 4-8-4 locomotives. No way in hell were they gonna call them Northerns. To then, they were "Dixie" types. LOL!
 
The lone surviving NC&StL steam engine is class J3 Dixie #576, which has been on static display in Nashville's Centennial Park for over half a century.
 

[Tim Neja]

Yeah, I love trains, too. My dad modeled HO trains and we had a layout in my bedroom as a kid!! I also collected Lionel O guage and currently have a collection of G guage trains just waiting for my next house to have a nice flat yard to build an outdoor layout in!!  

 

A great part of Americana!! 

[zipper]

Not necessarily the most beautiful but the fastest - 126 MPH.

 

[Cheater]

Now, Pekka, lets not stretch the truth... Mallard didn't go 126 MPH, but only 125.88 MPH... LOL!

[Phil Hackett]

I like watching these old videos of how things were done. Somehow I believe people have lost an appreciation of the hard work and determination it took to build things like the railroads, ships, and buildings without the modern tools we use today.

 

The auto shop teacher at the high school I went to used to tell a story about steam and diesel locomotives. He was born and raised in Detroit and saw the end of the steam era and the beginning of the diesel era. His story was that one day there was about ten miles of empty double track and there was a drag race between the diesel and steam engine. He said the steam engine blew away the diesel engine. Don't know how that would play out today.

[Dan Ebert]

Funny Greg you never mentioned that, 

I retired almost 2 years ago after a 38 year career at General Electric.  I was a machinist for 20 of those making parts for the Electric Motors in the Locomotives.  I finished my last 18 as an Assembler and Inspector.  I worked in different areas in the Erie Ge Locomotive plant.  Building the Main Cab, worked on Blower Cabs, Dynamic braking grids, Electronics Cab and was a trouble shooter/defector before the Locos were shipped.  Chances are when you see a GE AC Locomotive on the tracks it is one that I touched.

[Mark Johnson]

I'm in my 39th year for cp rail ,have I got some stories .

[John Streisguth]

Greg, next time you're up in this area you should stop by Steamtown USA in Scranton PA.  They have a Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy"....it's very impressive to see close up, it's a monster.

 

About 10 years ago I visited there during a slow period, and the small group of us doing the tour was treated to a fairly extensive trip through the repair shop.  When people get romantic about a "return to the steam era", they need to see the complexity of these machines.  If railroads had to maintain these beasts today, they would quickly be out of business....

[Dave Crevie]

Weird to see this thread on this site. I used to restore steam era locos and rolling stock for giggles

in the late sixties and early seventies. Worked under the best steam guys like Dick Jenson, Carl

Summers, Oakie Mullins. Worked on the Milwaukee Road 261, St. Regis / Black Hills Central shay

number 7, LS&I 24, CNW 1385. I even did some of the resto work on the Dwight D. Eisenhower

train at the National Railroad Museum, which has a Mallard class loco. It was fun times and something

different from cars.