56 replies to this topic

[Dave Crevie]

Matt; You are close enough to make a trip up. If not for Friday to see it come in, at least for Saturday or Sunday

while it is on display in West Chicago. It will be under steam the whole time. Well worth the trip. It will never happen

again in our lifetime. 

[Dave Crevie]

Just got back from running the route I intended to take to chase the train. And, of course, with Summer there is construction 

with road closures and detours. So I might not be able to keep up with it. The rumor is that the loco has been limited to 30 mph

over the west line due to the axle limit there. The axle loading limit for the west line is 60,000 lbs., and the axle loading on 4014

is 68,000 lbs. What is odd here, is that there is a road speed where every steam loco with side rods will do the least amount of

damage to the rails and roadbed. It has to do with the harmonics of the rods flailing around and the counterweights on the drivers.

Back when I was working on one of these, and we were actually thinking about running it, I did a fair amount of reading of the

engineering papers and logbooks that the U.P. supplied with the engine. If my memory is any good at all, I seem to remember

that the "ideal" speed was 42 mph. I have to wonder if the person from the FRA did any research into this before issuing an

edict on how the train should be run. Oh, well. What can you do? It's all politics. But if the train is indeed limited to that speed,

and the speed limit on the roads I have chosen averages to 40 mph, I just might have a chance.

 

The real killer is that I ordered a new fancy-dancy digital cam-corder to video this. I ordered it from Amazon, but since it was

from a third-party seller, it never came. I contacted the seller, and after hearing four different versions of their lie, I am now 

convinced that it never will. And it is too late to order another one, from Amazon directly this time, so I guess I will just have to

be happy with cell-phone video. At least there are tons of people posting their videos on the net. 

[Phil Smith]

The coolest thing about trains is what they will do to a penny.

[MattD]

Dave, it's busy weekend for us. Street Rod Nats are next week and I have some fixing to do. I can't keep putting it off. Friday and Saturday I have access to a friend's lift and need to use it while I can.

[SpeedyNH]

I never saw a street rod train engine. but I'd like to.

[Dave Buchholz]

At 67 years old and both a nodel railroader and slot racer, both lifetime hobbies, I am happy for you that you have found a way to enjoy your interests.

 

 Best wishes from the "North Coast Railroad" along the shores of Lake Ontario.

[Dave Crevie]

Right. I'm a little jealous of Greg. I wish my health was better. I'd kinda like to get back to restoring old trains. Unfortunately, too

many of the "tourist" operations have shut down due to FRA regulations. Sometimes they just don't make sense. I have been 

watching videos posted on the net. One in particular showed 4014 running at full chat across west-central Wisconsin. I timed

the driver RPM and with some quick calculations I judged the speed at 45 MPH. Here's the interesting part. The 4014 is limited

to 30 MPH on the west line, which is 210 lb. rail (60,000 lb axle load limit). The northwest line in that area is 190 lb. rail and should

also be speed restricted. So either the engineer was taking liberties, or the FRA didn't impose any speed restriction. Plus I know the

NW line doesn't get the maintenance the west line does, since the west line is in constant use for commuter and heavy freight traffic

out of Proviso yards. Could be the engineer suffers from the same affliction I have when driving a fast car on the highway. I can't

drive 55!