Vintage trains

[Blackthorn]

I Love the old steam trains, the sounds and smells can not be matched really by modern diesels or electrics. As another poster has mentioned we do have a fair number of preserved old branch lines run by volunteers where you can still ride on a steam train here in the UK. The older carriages are in many ways far more comfortable than modern rolling stock. there are also some special charter steam trains that run on the main lines and to travel on one of these is a lovely experience if all goes to plan. Seeing the reaction of passengers awaiting regular trains when one of these steam specials rushes through the railway stations is quite interesting too, total surprise and then a smile.

I can imagine!

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

I'll bite! I like trains and other forms of rail transport, and do railway-related things every now and then. In September I'm going in the annual vintage train journey to the Swedish national railway museum in Gävle, which is always fun, and this year the train will be drawn by the only surviving, still functioning steam F class locomotive in Sweden, the largest nationally produced steam engine, which pulled express trains from 1914-16 to the mid- to late 1930's, when they hade been all but replaced by electrical engines and were sold to Denmark. Sweden was electrified early. This particular locomotive, F1200, also has the dubious honour of being the one involved in the worst train crash in Sweden, in 1918. It was repaired and did a number of years in service after the accident, before being sold and later bought back to Sweden by the museum.



View attachment 16011

Third class passenger car, 1930's.

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1950's second class interior.

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From left an O class electrical locomotive, 1940's, freshly renovated and functional, originally from a smaller regional railway company; the orange one is the 1950's express Ra class engine that pulled our train from Stockholm to Gävle and back, and various vintage passenger cars.

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Better photo of another Ra class express locomotive. These were built in Sweden from 1955 on and were in use to the 1990's. Ten were built and at least five or six of them are owned, maintained and run by museums and vintage railway organisations today.

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Interior of a 1935 dining car, still in use by a vintage railway organisation. We volunteered as serving staff in this one.

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One of the local public transport lines in Stockholm do regular outings with their vintage vehicles every now and then. Narrow gauge EMU, 891 mm, 1920's, with wood paneling(!).

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We did a gig with the fife and drum corps in a small town that has a vintage tram line. Went along with the tram for a bit, jumped off and played a couple of tunes on the platform, hopped on again and so on. Trams are fun too.

I really like these photos. Does the inland railway in Sweden still operate in the summer?

 

[Frk.W]

STEVIEBOY1, yes, it does! One train a day in either direction during the summer season, I think - I did a check on that last year. It still services several small, fairly isolated towns and villages, in some places it's virtually the only available public transportation. The museum weekend at the national railway museum had an odd vehicle theme last year, with lots of rail trolleys, steam driven as well as electric and a few diesel engines shown, and they also had a lot of different models of the EMUs that traffic the inland railway, as well as maintenance vehicles. These are all vintage EMUs from the inland railway, IIRC:



1950's to 1920's or thereabouts, I think.

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.

 

[Fading Fast]

Frk.W. those are incredible pictures (and you looked right out of a classic movie - wonderful). I love the romance of steam, but can appreciate the electric street cars mainly as they have a romance of their own.

 

[buelligan]

SP Cab Forward -- The cab forward design was to keep train crews from being overcome by smoke in long tunnels.

Thats very cool I've never seen one of those before. Now I have a question for you, how do they get the coal all the way from the tender in the back into the firebox which is presumably now in the front? Or did they keep the main body of the train facing the same way and just move the controls and the cab up front? The picture makes it look like they just turned the engine around backwards and just sealed up the cab to me.

 

[Blackthorn]

That's a great question.

 

[Fading Fast]

That's a great question.

Yes it is, now it is troubling me - seems very impractical and challenging.

 

[1930artdeco]

Buelligan, they are oil fed not coal. I got to sit in it when I worked at the museum and boy do you get a view of the tracks!

Mike

 

[buelligan]

Buelligan, they are oil fed not coal. I got to sit in it when I worked at the museum and boy do you get a view of the tracks!

Mike

Well that explains that. Thank you for the explanation, I've never heard of oil fired steamers before quite interesting.

 

[1930artdeco]

If I remember correctly, the western rail systems went oil while the east stayed with coal for the most part. This was due to availability of fuels.

Mike

 

[Blackthorn]

Interesting, I never thought of that.

 

[Fading Fast]

Well that explains that. Thank you for the explanation, I've never heard of oil fired steamers before quite interesting.

Nor have I - and I've read a decent amount about steam trains. Oh well, always more to learn.

 

[Haversack]

Blackthorn,

If you include Germany on your European travels, I would recommend to you the German Steam Locomotive Museum, (Deutches Dampflokomotiv Musum), in the small town of Neuenmarkt. It lies between Berlin and Nuremberg near the brewery town of Kulmbach. They've got over two dozen operating steam locomotives. In the summer the museum runs excursions over one of the early steep grades to one of the Kulmbach breweries. The link below is to their English language brochure.

http://http://www.dampflokmuseum.de/fileadmin/content/default/Museum/Image-Flyer/DDM_Imageflyer_ENG_0514.pdf

 

[Blackthorn]

Blackthorn,

If you include Germany on your European travels, I would recommend to you the German Steam Locomotive Museum, (Deutches Dampflokomotiv Musum), in the small town of Neuenmarkt. It lies between Berlin and Nuremberg near the brewery town of Kulmbach. They've got over two dozen operating steam locomotives. In the summer the museum runs excursions over one of the early steep grades to one of the Kulmbach breweries. The link below is to their English language brochure.

http://http://www.dampflokmuseum.de/fileadmin/content/default/Museum/Image-Flyer/DDM_Imageflyer_ENG_0514.pdf

Thank you for the recommendation, Haversack, I will look into that. Can you check the link, though? It seems to be broken.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

[video=youtube;n_ErZ5SgkVw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ErZ5SgkVw[/video]

 

[Dan Allen]

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

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

STEVIEBOY1, yes, it does! One train a day in either direction during the summer season, I think - I did a check on that last year. It still services several small, fairly isolated towns and villages, in some places it's virtually the only available public transportation. The museum weekend at the national railway museum had an odd vehicle theme last year, with lots of rail trolleys, steam driven as well as electric and a few diesel engines shown, and they also had a lot of different models of the EMUs that traffic the inland railway, as well as maintenance vehicles. These are all vintage EMUs from the inland railway, IIRC:

View attachment 16022

1950's to 1920's or thereabouts, I think.

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.

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.

 

[Blackthorn]

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 picture, Dan!

 

[Blackthorn]

[video=youtube;n_ErZ5SgkVw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ErZ5SgkVw[/video]

Interesting video, VC!

 

[buelligan]

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.