Another beauty, Roger. 2-8-2 as a switcher is interesting. Is/was McCray's a local business? Is it still in existence? Nice display of the Central's six bolt rail joiners. Many roads used four bolts.
Looking at old aerial views and topo maps, the McCray site was located in the northeast corner of a crossing between the east-west NYC line and a north-south PRR line, with a connecting track between the two lines. It appears that all of the sidings entering the McCray property branched off the PRR line. If so, did the NYC have rights on the PRR to switch McCray, or would those cars have been interchanged with the PRR for final delivery/pick-up?
Thats how they pronounce it in Kandallville ! I work there now and then. Its been my experience that 100 pound rail and up used the six bolt joint bars. And I get to Anderson on a regular basis Roger. Gorgeous depot downtown.
That is a NYC&HR loco ,in 36 12o9, 48, 1402 retired 8/49 . It was still hand fired as I do not see any indication of a stoker . We had about 60 mile of 90 lb. rail and it was all 6 hole bars. It was 30 mph with steam and 40 mph with diesel after up grade with ballast and new ties . LEW
I am reading H. F. Cavanaugh's New York Central System Gone But Not Forgotten (c. 1983) and learned a fun fact. The highest point on the NYC's New York <=> Chicago "Water Level Route" main line was out on the prairie at Kendallville, Indiana at 995 Feet Above Sea Level. I read that the summit wasn't discernable though, as the gradients on both sides were gradual. The NYC crossed the PRR's Grand Rapids & Indiana there at UK Tower. By contrast, the PRR's summit at Gallitzin, PA was at 2,167 Feet.
NYC had more of a Granger railroad profile while PRR was a Mountain railroad. Yet their times for their premier trains between NYCity and Chicago were about 20 hours each. The PRR had the shortest route miles between the two cities. The NYC "Water Level" permitted faster speeds to make up the difference.
NYC's 20th Century Limited departed NYC at 1800 EST and arrived CHI at 0900 CST, 16 hours later. If the Century's arrival at either end was more than 30 minutes late, all passengers' extra-fares were refunded without question.
The speeds kept getting faster due to the competition between the two railroads over the years as locomotives and trackwork improved. "Twenty hours was for many years the running time of the “Broadway” and the “Century”, except during a brief period when a schedule of eighteen hours was tried. But it proved too exacting for the engines of the day, and after a disastrous accident to one of the trains it was abandoned. In 1932, however, the eighteen-hours schedule reappeared. In 1933 fifteen minutes were cut from it; and in 1935 the bold step was taken of accelerating both the “Twentieth Century Limited” and the “Broadway Limited” to a seventeen-hours run. This means an overall speed, including every stop, of 56.4 miles per hour by the New York Central route, and of 53 miles per hour by the Pennsylvania, for a journey of nearly a thousand miles."
As a kid our family lived in Garrett, IN for several years. I played Little League and Pony League baseball and we had several games against Kendallville at their field which overlooked the NYC's Main Line. Recall watching the 20th Century Limited fly East past the ball field. I don't know the actual grades on the NYC, however on the B&O between Pine Jct. (where the B&O and NYC were side by side and Willard, OH the maximum grade was 3 tenths of one percent ie. less than 4 inches per one hundred feet. With the NYC traversing similar territory East of Pne Jct., I would expect them to encounter a similar grade profile.
Eighty-five years of progress later, it takes the government twenty-five percent longer. And if it's on time, EMTs are there to help you cope with the shock.
The only significant grade I know of on NYC's Water Level route was westbound up from the Hudson River valley in Albany, NY. I remember seeing a photo of the Commodore Vanderbilt being pushed by an 0-8-0.
With CSX's I-95 corridor being in my working territory on both its Northern and Southern ends over the the years - Calling EMT's to meet Amtrak trains was a very common occurrence, and not because they were running On Time or Late. AutoTrain was the most frequent train that needed EMT's.
