Messages

316

General Discussion / Re: New York City film - 1911

« on: December 14, 2018, 02:00:48 PM »

Does anyone have a NYC roster handy to verify the identity of engine No. 1904?

Nothing for 1904, "...but [the NYC's] 1940 roster listed five Shay type locomotives, Nos. 7185-7189 (originally numbered 1896-1900). " So that's likely not a Shay.

317

Two Footers outside of the US / Re: Electric two footer

« on: November 06, 2018, 04:14:43 PM »

First: Holy Pantograph, Batman!

I took the rare opportunity to exercise my admittedly-elementary German skills, and translated the video description, and learned a couple things along the way.
---
In Salzlandkreis, in eastern Saxony-Anhalt, there is a soda works that brings their lime to the factory from a quarry over a two-kilometer-long railway.

In the beginning of the video, one sees the loading at the "main station" of the railway. The locomotive shops are also located here.

From there, the railway runs through fields near Staßfurt and crosses the line from Schönebeck to Güsten.

Motive power is supplied by LEW type EL-12 electric locomotives. During the week the train runs around the clock in a two-train configuration.

Of special note in the video is the blinking light system which was converted from a Deutsche Reichsbahn system,  and the use of Type S49 standard gauge rails. And this is 600mm gauge!

I have censored the face of the man in the beginning of the video, because I do not know if he was following proper operating procedure!
---

S49 is 100-lb rail. Deutsche Reichsbahn was the East German state railway.

318

US Two Footers / Re: Henschel loco

« on: November 05, 2018, 11:48:09 AM »

Not a car guy, but my guess is that photo was taken in the 50s.  I believe that one of the Boothbay Henchels came from New Jersey, which might fit the landscape.   Another Henschel came from Steam Village in NH.

If someone tells me the photo is from the 70s then it wouldn't be a Boothbay engine.

That black car is a 1960 Impala. (Chrome jet on the side molding.)

319

Two Footers outside of the US / Re: Concrete ties for two-footers

« on: October 23, 2018, 03:23:13 PM »

CCA is banned for residential use in the US since 2004 due to concerns about the metals leeching out of the wood, but is still allowed for commercial/industrial uses.

That ACQ stuff they replaced it with is brutal on steel fasteners, though...you can almost watch it corrode away.

320

Work and Events / Re: Trout Brook Bridge - Official Work Thread

« on: September 27, 2018, 01:06:53 PM »

I would think the standard gauge locomotives were either Consolidations or Mikados. 

Consolidations would be my guess, too. (B&M didn't roster any Mikados.)

Steam power aside, the photo gallery on the fundrazr page shows B&M GP7 #1560 crossing the bridge, which clocks in at ~250,000lbs. So that means the original span was comfortable with at least ~125,000 plus half a loaded freight car.

Even without the stringers, I think WW&F usage is well within its limits.

321

Volunteers / Re: A few stories ...

« on: September 17, 2018, 12:44:24 PM »

Usually my family makes the annual "In-Laws World Tour of Mid-coast Maine" in August, but this year we came up in early June on account of our second child who was due in August. We rode one of the Sunday trains, in the coach with the bench seats. "A good time was had by all."

Fast-forward a month, to my annual birthday outing at Texas Roadhouse. As we waited for our table, my two-year-old exclaimed, "We're riding on the train!" After a few moments of puzzling (and a few more proclamations to the same effect), it hit me. The long, narrow waiting area, with its wooden bench seats along both walls and large windows down the entire length, looked an awful lot like the inside of the coach we had ridden a month before!

I tell ya, nothing gets past a toddler. 

322

Whimsical Weirdness and Foolery / Re: WW&F Visits....

« on: September 01, 2018, 08:34:50 PM »

That two-tone IS sharp...reminds me of the original British Railways "crimson lake and cream" get-up, which is also quite sharp.

323

Work and Events / Re: Coach 9 - Official Work Thread

« on: August 20, 2018, 08:48:18 AM »

Just curious, the lettering that can be seen within the 2 patterns appears "normal" and read-able. Shouldn't it be in reverse? Perhaps I'm missing something.

The back-and-forth of normal and reverse images for the casting process can be confusing, but this is correct. The wood pattern is what we want to end up with. Each pattern gets a frame ("flask") on top of it which is packed with casting sand. When the pattern is removed, the sand will hold the reverse image. The two halves ("cope" and "drag") are brought together to form a complete cavity into which the metal is poured. Since the sand image was reversed, the metal will be the "correct" way 'round, the same as the wood that initially formed the mold.

324

Museum Discussion / Re: Useful Stuff on eBay

« on: June 28, 2018, 02:04:11 PM »

When you say "The Museum": Is there only one individual bidding on behalf of the museum, or multiple individuals? I do see a few posts back that Linc Reed-Nickerson is the official "ebay guy" but I didn't know if others are bidding as well.

I ask because the bid histories for the two recent auctions of interest (Wiscasset Yard and Albion Yard) look squirrelly. eBay obfuscates user IDs, but I suspect the feedback rating is honest. If it is, then the "Museum" that won the Wiscasset auction is not the same "Museum" that lost the recent Albion auction. The winner of the Wiscasset auction has a feedback rating of 97, but no participant in the Albion auction has such a rating.

The only overlap on the two auctions is the user obfuscated as e***2 (8645), who won the more recent Albion auction. That same user lost the older Albion auction from Oct 5 as well.

Otherwise, all the participants and winners in the auctions (for which ended-listing info is still available) are all unique. So as far as I can tell, there's no "rival" WWFRy historian snapping these up. I think it's just people interested in slides of cool old train stuff.

It is an unfortunate side-effect of blind auctions, but all we can do is all we can do, and try not to cannibalize each other's efforts.

325

Museum Discussion / Re: Useful Stuff on eBay

« on: June 21, 2018, 12:33:41 PM »

This popped up yesterday. I'm having trouble determining the orientation, but my guess is looking north?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIG-SLIDE-Wiscasset-Waterville-Farmington-yard-scene-Albion-Original-Kodachro/163107519098

326

The Original W&Q and WW&F: 1894-1933 / Re: Mapping the W&Q and the WW&F

« on: March 28, 2018, 03:01:48 PM »

When you pop open the map, there should be a legend on the left side that shows each section with some colors. In case there isn't, here's a brief description of the colors you're interested in:

Burnham Extension is largely white, plus a few small sections of different colors around the Belfast and Moosehead Lake RR crossing that show the various alignments that were proposed.

The bottom-most red piece indicates the Wiscasset yard/shop/wharf area.

The rest of the red pieces indicate the "as-surveyed" alignment, in places where it deviates from the "as-built" alignment:

While working on the Wiscasset to Weeks Mills segment I noticed that there were a couple of locations where the survey and the as-built was off more than it normally is, these deviations in the survey were added as a separate layer to the map to show how the original survey had the line laid out and how it was actually built.

1.)  Probably the best known was the route around the Head Tide Church.  This included a compound 5 to 3 degree curve south of the church.
2.)  The mud flats at Wiscasset.
3.)  North Whitefield.  The topography tells a different story than the simple tangent in the survey.

Nothing on this map indicates the current status of the ROW regarding ownership, integrity, etc.

HTH

327

General Discussion / Re: PRESERVATION EMERGENCY - 4-6-0 About to be SCRAPPED in TX!

« on: March 07, 2018, 01:26:16 PM »

The sentiment is oddly reminiscent of the collapse of US passenger rail in the 1960's. I remember one particularly cynical individual's take on the matter: We Americans view our train stations like we view our churches (and some other institution I can't quite remember): We rarely make use of them while they're around, but God help the man who tries to take them away from us.

328

Museum Discussion / Re: #9 max steam pressure

« on: March 06, 2018, 03:48:37 PM »

I suppose it could be done, but I suspect the economics of it are a big reason it's not done. I found a resource addressing the exact question of EN-plating a firetube boiler which indicated that electroplating "in-situ", especially for such a mechanically intricate piece as a boiler, would be prohibitively costly due to the complexity of bringing the process to the workpiece, and ensuring thorough coverage. Galvanic corrosion may also be a factor, or it may place additional restrictions on the water supply.

329

Museum Discussion / Re: Engine house

« on: February 28, 2018, 02:15:49 PM »

Alain,

Not a pun. A "smoke jack" is a funnel installed in the roof of the engine house to evacuate the engine exhaust gases from a hot or overnight-banked engine, to avoid filling the roundhouse with smoke and other combustion by-products.

I'm trying to find a picture, but apparently there's this BBQ joint named Smokejack that keeps polluting my Google search results...stay tuned.

While not the ceramic type Dave is referring to, these are pre-cast reinforced concrete type smokejacks from a Lehigh Valley RR Roundhouse in Ashmore, PA.
http://www.anthraciterailroads.org/lvrr/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Ashmore-Roundhouse.jpg

Concrete usage in this area was disproportionately high due to the large Portland cement industry in the Lehigh Valley. This may explain the usage of concrete for such a mundane appliance as a smoke jack. Sheet-metal would be a more typical (and usually more cost-effective) material.

330

General Discussion / Re: PRESERVATION EMERGENCY - 4-6-0 About to be SCRAPPED in TX!

« on: February 20, 2018, 11:59:48 AM »

Echoing the thanks of others for sharing this here, specifically. My rounds on other social media are infrequent enough that I would have missed this entirely through those channels alone.

Donation made, situation shared via FB, now awaiting the outcome with baited breath.