W.W.&F. Discussion Forum

WW&F Railway Museum Discussion => Museum Discussion => Topic started by: Ken Fleming on February 26, 2011, 12:28:25 AM

Title: Besler Bros. Steam Car, Steam Airplane and Steam Railway Cars
Post by: Ken Fleming on February 26, 2011, 12:28:25 AM

The below link is for a 15 minute promo film of Besler Brother's Steam Products.  Their steam powered railroad power truck was designed to "self-power" any coach.  After you watch this film, Google Besler Steam there is more information out there.  Including prints for their designs.  The railroad unions killed their boiler for railroad use. The technology was too far ahead of its time.


http://www.archive.org/details/BeslerCo1932

Title: Re: Besler Bros. Steam Car, Steam Airplane and Steam Railway Cars
Post by: Bill Reidy on February 26, 2011, 09:07:25 AM

The last seven minutes or so of the film show the Besler steam car and trailer that were purchased by the New Haven Railroad.  This train typically ran between Waterbury and Bridgeport, CT, where the branch line passengers would connect with Shore line trains.  The train set was not considered a success on the New Haven for a number of reasons, including 1)  the cars chosen for conversion were a pair of old New Haven heavyweight coaches -- far too heavy for the Besler power plant; and 2) as Ken noted, the trainset was not popular with crews, since the trainset was much lighter than the regular trains operated by Pacifics, and the crews' rate of pay was typically based in part on the weight of the train.  By 1943 this trainset was off the roster.

Information is by A.M. Bixby, Sr., one of the senior mechanical engineers of the New Haven Railroad, who was involved in the purchase and maintenance of this train set, as he wrote in the Vol. 14 Issue 1 1983 issue of the NHRHTA Shoreliner magazine.