Vintage trains

[Blackthorn]

All this train talk is making me wish it was the end of September so I can stop in at the B&O railroad museum in Baltimore Maryland. I cant wait.

Now I can add another museum to my bucket list.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

I used to sit on my grandparents porch and watch the steam locomotives pass by every couple of hours. The only diesels were the passenger trains . that was in the late fifties . by the early sixties they were all gone, what a loss. A couple of years ago the Union Pacific Challenger #3985 overnight near my home and I took my grandson to see it. The next morning it roared threw our little town and the grandson became a convert. Impressive is an understatement when you are thirty feet away and it goes by at 55mph

Great pic, Dan....glad your grandson is a convert!

Rob

 

[Frk.W]

Thank you, I will have to try to come over to Sweden and do that line along with others, I have read about it and it does sound interesting.

Yes, do! Lovely views, too, that's a very beautiful part of the country. There are disused lines around those parts where you can rent rail bicycles, too.

 

[buelligan]

Well if you have never been to it I highly recommend the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn Michigan. It's an all around great museum with a vast collection of aviation, automotive and of course railroad displays. Old Henry had quite a nice collection of locomotives.

 

[ChiTownScion]

End of the line, Silverton Colorado, taken July 2013.

 

[Blackthorn]

So many cool trains and museums! I'm loving this.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I really like electrical engines, myself. Steam is wonderful too, but I have a soft spot for early electrical locomotives, I suppose partly because I live in a country where the rail system has been dominated by them for a very long time. The most beautiful international locomotive I know is the GG1.

One of my favorite trains is the Swiss Crocodile. I've always wanted either an HO or G scale model of one.

 

[DesertDan]

View attachment 16072

End of the line, Silverton Colorado, taken July 2013.

Nice one, I took the Silverton train ride many years ago and still remember how much fun it was. Beautiful countryside to say the least!

 

[Ghostsoldier]

I like the "big ones"....one of these days, I want to see these guys 'in the flesh'....these ground-pounders give me the willies!



NP/D,M, & IR/B&O "Yellowstone" 2-8-8-4 (3 surviving)

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/yellowstone/





UP 4-12-2 9000-series (only one survivor)

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/4-12-2/

Rob

 

[Stearmen]

View attachment 16072

End of the line, Silverton Colorado, taken July 2013.

Yes, that is a great ride, I highly recommend it! Some say, steam locomotives is the closest man has come to creating life!

 

[Frk.W]

One of my favorite trains is the Swiss Crocodile. I've always wanted either an HO or G scale model of one.

That's gorgeous. One of those strong ones built for steep slopes, I suppose? I really like the brutal functionalism of early electrical engines, no fuss whatsoever.

The early Swedish D class electrical engines had wooden bodies, just like the narrow gauge railcar I think I posted a photo of, apparently done a lot at ASEA (that built both types) in the 20's and 30's. It's an odd look for a locomotive, I like it. The wooden body D class engines were in use until 1977, the later steel body ones until 1988, and many of them are still reliable engines in frequent use by the museum railways. Built between 1925 and 1943, from 1933 on with steel bodies, not very fancy-looking, but one of the great classic engines here and the precursor of the Rc class locomotives.

 

[Fading Fast]

That's gorgeous. One of those strong ones built for steep slopes, I suppose? I really like the brutal functionalism of early electrical engines, no fuss whatsoever.

Yes to all you said and to what I bolded above of yours. That is also what I love about most steam engines - I can look at them and see how they work. You know from studying the steam engine that fuel is being burned, water heated, steam created, pistons driven, but it is emotionally rewarding to see it in action. While I appreciate the aesthetic of the streamlined steam engines, I feel something was lost when we could no longer see the pistons and all working - they represented "brutal functionalism" (wonderful turn of phrase - kudos to you). There is something almost "alive" in a steam engine huffing and puffing with steam bursting out here and there - you can feel the beast working.

While I feel this less so in electric engines (after all, the primal power is made at a power plant somewhere versus the firebox and boiler of the steam engine), you can still appreciate it in engines such as the one in your photo.

The digital world has its strengths and I have no problem with modern trains taking advantage of any efficiencies that they can - they need to to compete to survive - but the tactile joy / the visual appeal of those steam and early electrics can't be replicated today.

 

[Stearmen]

I wish I could have gotten a ride on this! The Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway steam engine. They would only go part way up because of lack of coal and water facilities, but still a once in a life time trip. I believe it is now retired because of mechanical problems. [video=youtube;5AYGhmaC-YQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AYGhmaC-YQ[/video]

 

[GHT]

What sort of clamour would there be, I wonder, if America ran a rail service, similar to Europe's Orient Express, hauled by one of their finest Art Deco Steam Engines?

 

[Blackthorn]

What sort of clamour would there be, I wonder, if America ran a rail service, similar to Europe's Orient Express, hauled by one of their finest Art Deco Steam Engines?

Wow, so many wonderful pictures! Thanks GHT!

 

[Blackthorn]

from Shorpy today, the Chicago & North Western Railroad shops, 1942:

 

[Blackthorn]

 

[Blackthorn]

Petone Railway Workshops circa 1905. H class steam locomotive, 0-4-2T type, for use on the Fell system on the Rimutaka Incline.

 

[Fading Fast]

from Shorpy today, the Chicago & North Western Railroad shops, 1942:

While I get that this is a vintage train thread (and I love it and have contributed to it), in addition to the scale of the engine, what struck me in this photo was the architectural elegance of the workshop. That wall of mullioned, casement windows - with (almost) all the opened windows contributing to the symmetry - reminded me of the large-scale elegance and architectural beauty of factories from the Golden Era. When I take Amtrak along the Northeast corridor, I can loose hours looking at all the Golden Era factories - many abandoned, some still functioning, some repurposed - that sit along the line. Like with so many other things today, the aesthetic of the modern factory lacks that grandeur and thoughtful elegance that I see in these old factories.

 

[Blackthorn]

Good eye, FF. Well said!