Trains and travel of the Art Deco Era.

[lord_k]

IIRC, NYC's first 4-8-2's, of which the engine used was one, weren't built until the 1910s or '20s.

I'll be most happy to get any additional info on this Mohawk.

 

[Warbaby]

Here's another nifty streamliner:

 

[lord_k]

Here's another nifty streamliner:

But of course! M-10000 City of Salina and other UP Cities with petrol engines.

 

[Gilboa]

What a stunner ...

I am very fond of the Art Deco (and prior Art Nouveau) era.

Transportation in particular, it was very much ahead of its time. Imagine how it must have felt standing in the station, seeing these futuristically shaped machines arrive ...

Are some of these locomotives still in action, or are they now mostly privately run?

This is my favourite by far:

 

[lord_k]

Are some of these locomotives still in action, or are they now mostly privately run?

Most of them have lost their streamline "armor" in 1940s and were scrapped in the next decade. Here's a survivor's list for North America.
There are some preserved streamline locomotives in Britain, Germany and Poland. Some of them are in full working order.

 

[Diamondback]

I actually haven't been able to find my copy of Vol. 1 for years, but between books and blueprints, almost everything you could ever want to know about New York Central steam can be found in the various books and CD's at http://nycshs.blogspot.com/search/label/books . (Personally, I think using Blogspot to basically host your website is Major Cheeseball Time, but I suppose they should be given credit for the headway they've made over the past decade--when I first dealt with them in '99, they were marginally better than a joke.)

NYC 5344 was restreamlined to Dreyfuss specs ca. 1939, 5450 was never restreamlined after a 1944 catastrophic boiler explosion that derailed all but the last three cars of an eastbound 20th Century Limited. All were destreamlined ca. '47-'50, the last being one of the two Empire State engines reassigned to the Mercury in '51.

All NYC steam, with very few exceptions, was scrapped between 1954 and '58--shortly after NYC CEO Robert R Young ate his shotgun, the Smithsonian asked his successor about buying one Hudson and was basically told to pound sand. 2933, the Mohawk in St. Louis, only survived because the shop crew entombed it in a pile of crates and basically told the scrappers "ain't no locomotive here--now move along, an engine shop is a very dangerous place..."

Trivial note: beneath the bathtub, 5344 was basically used as Paul Kiefer's guinea-pig for improvements, and time of scrapping was closer to a J3 (1937-38 group, significantly more powerful) than to the J1e's it was built as one of.

 

[lord_k]

1. ... almost everything you could ever want to know...
2. (...Personally, I think using Blogspot to basically host your website is Major Cheeseball Time...)

1. Thanks alot.
2. For me, it's just enough - one short post per day, no complications. Besides, I run a rather busy LJ (another obsolete platform) and, most important, I'm honored to co-maintain and contribute to much more advanced network - the Dieselpunks.org

 

[Diamondback]

fftopic: Using Blogspot as part of something bigger, as I assume you're part of, is one thing--my quibble is an ostensibly "large and respectable" nonprofit corporation farming their entire site out onto it.

 

[lord_k]

fftopic: Using Blogspot as part of something bigger, as I assume you're part of, is one thing--my quibble is an ostensibly "large and respectable" nonprofit corporation farming their entire site out onto it.

Here I quite agree with you.

 

[lord_k]

Duke of Gloucester

The fifty years between the date newly built 71000 Duke of Gloucester first emerged from Crewe works to August 2004 when it left the same works fully restored, marks a unique chapter in the history of British steam locomotive development. A story surrounded by myth and speculation throughout its brief period of mainline service until withdrawal from British Railways in 1962. In preservation, the story of 71000 Duke of Gloucester is one of truly heroic achievement against the odds to produce a machine answering many of the questions posed regarding its original design and, above all, performance.
(71000 (Duke of Gloucester) Steam Locomotive Trust Ltd. Website)

Photo by loose_grip_99 @ Flickr

 

[lord_k]

LNER 60019 Bittern

York, 1968

Originally uploaded by loose_grip_99 @ Flickr

 

[lord_k]

LNER Coronation Train

via paul.malon @ Flickr

 

[lord_k]

NYC James Whitcomb Riley, 1941

 

[Diamondback]

LK, you might also check out the catalog at TLCRailroadBooks.com--most of their really good stuff's OOP, but their works on passenger trains are generally superb. Also, check out RPC's catalog at http://www.rpcbooks.com/ --a complete collection, while insanely expensive to build, would have comprehensive elevation diagrams, floor, frame and underbody plans for virtually every "lightweight"* railcar built in North America from ~1930 up to 1965.
*Technically a misnomer, the heaviest passenger cars ever to see rail (the Milwaukee Road "Super Domes" and Great Northern Ry. "Great Domes") were built with "lightweight" technology. The only thing heavier was the post-rebuild Ferdinand Magellan (old heavyweight private-car refit for Presidential use), at 142.5 tons.

If I could ever find it (most of my rail references went into deep storage while I was in college), I actually have an original copy of NYC's launch-day booklet on the JWR--if you contact Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville, they might still have copies. And if you call yourself a railhead and ever make it to the States, you HAVE to visit the museum and shops at Strasburg, Steamtown in Scranton and the museum at Altoona/Horseshoe Curve--all class acts, even when dealing with someone from The Other Team like me.

 

[lord_k]

LK, you might also check out the catalog at TLCRailroadBooks.com...

Thanks a lot!
I'm not absorbed this much into the railway history, but your recommendations are very valuable.

 

[lord_k]

NSW 3801, Australia

 

[lord_k]

London Midland & Scotland Railroad, UK

Princess Coronation class streamline locomotive. Late 1930s or mid-1940s.
via paul.malon @ Flickr

 

[CharlieB]

My current desktop wallpaper. "Leaders of the Fleet of Modernism" by Griff Teller - love this painting.

http://art-and-posters.com/pennsylvania-railroad---leaders-of-the-fleet-of-modernism.-article-763.html?lang=es

 

[lord_k]

My current desktop wallpaper. "Leaders of the Fleet of Modernism" by Griff Teller - love this painting.

http://art-and-posters.com/pennsylvania-railroad---leaders-of-the-fleet-of-modernism.-article-763.html?lang=es

Here's another PRR steam loco - not so elegant but powerful:

 

[HepKitty]

ohohoh my dad will love this stuff, thank you gentlemen!