Johnny Trains has found a veritable time capsule of old B&A photos from his family. Here are just a few to start things off. B&A's first Hudson, 600. Tell you what, it's super bowl Sunday, and these files are way big. I need to downsize them and drink a lotta beer. Be back later.
This 4-6-4T may have been exclusive to the B&A, I'm not sure. I like to refer to them as "mini-Hudsons." [ 03. February 2004, 22:31: Message edited by: fitz ]
My father-in-law grew up in Wellesley, Ma. and he and his brother (who the photos came from) were big steam buffs, and were especially fond of the Boston and Albany. Thank goodness that some real neat photos survived! Thanks to Fitz for posting them. I hope you can post a few more of them too!
Never heard of such a loco before! Learn something new each day. Also, looks like the stack is really a shorty. Boxcab E50
The B&A 4-6-4T was used in commuter service out of Boston. At the end of the run they ran around the train and ran it back to Boston backwards. You might call it the steam version of push pull operation. You will also notice it has the inductive train stop pickup mounted on the tender truck. There was also one on the other side so it could operate in train stop territory in either direction. [ 03. February 2004, 03:29: Message edited by: signalguy ]
Gil, thanks. Can you tell us more about that engine? It has always fascinated me and I never saw one in person. Johnny, two emails from me to you today (2/2) have given me Mail Delivery System errors. Did you receive them? My Norton stuff also says I am under attack from a virus each time I break the phone connection.
I only saw one once near Worcester, MA so don't know much about them. Worcester was one point where B&M and B&A had an interchange.
This is great, John. How many of these pix do you have? What size are the prints? Do you have the negatives?
Oh my, Fitz. Maybe I sent too many at once. I don't know what to say about that. Peirce, I have.....a bunch of them! I think there were a dozen 5x7s and at least 15 really small ones like 4x4 or some old format. There are no negatives and nothing written on them either. The conditon of them makes them much less valuable but they are amazing and one of a kind I must say. There was a letter to the editor of RR Magazine (?) from my wife's uncle included with the photos. I will try to scan that in and darn if he isn't giving info to the editor that I assume even he didn't know! LOL! I hate to say this, but I had the horrible thought for several months that I had accidently thrown them out while cleaning out my closet, and you can't image the weight of the World was taken off my shoulders when I found them way up on a shelf buried behind other stuff. Whew.........!!!!!! Ah, the tilt on some of them is because some were not printed evenly on the photo paper. Guess you could get bad service even back then! I had to scan the photos straight and didn't try to angle them so the were level or they really would have been spoiled. My scanner doesn't crop things with any thing other than straight lines!
Peirce, here are a couple more. I really need to resize them. I have about 20 that Johnny emailed me. I haven't "talked" to him today but we are working something out to get them all posted. This was Lima's first Berk, no. 1, tested on the B&A. B&A Berk being serviced. [ 03. February 2004, 22:43: Message edited by: fitz ]
The tender is permanently attached on that? It look like it would be too small to handle that but apparently it did? Charlie
Here's the beginning of the real "home" photos Johnny sent. He's not sure of the depot, but these are great. Notice the guy carrying a bag at the end of the ramp. I'll let JT comment on the pix. Good stuff, Johnny.
Ken - It is called Intermittant Inductive Train Stop. At each signal there is an inductor that is mounted on the ties close to the rail. They are about 3 feet long and have a coil of wire inside them connected to the signal and it is a closed circuit when the signal is clear. This allows the energized receiver coil on the receiver bar (Pickup) on the locomotive to remain energized and keep a relay picked up which gives a green aspect and no whistle in the cab. The wayside inductor coil is not connected (open coil) when the signal is not clear (it could be yellow or red) so the current flow in the locomotive receiver is reduced and the relay drops and a warning whistle sounds and a lunar aspect is displayed in the cab. The engineer has 6 seconds to acknowledge the whistle or a full service brake application is made by the train stop equipment on the locomotive. The wayside inductor and the locomotive receiver are both set to standard heights so they will pass in very close proximity. The railroad also uses inert inductors with open coils to enforce civil restrictions such as curves. This will give the same whistle and lunar aspect in the cab and the engineer has to acknowledge. They call these inert inductors dummys as they have an open coil and can not give a clear indication. I had to edit my answer after thinking about it as I had an error in it. It has been a few years since I worked on one of these. The only railroad that uses this system now is the former ATSF from Chicago to Los Angeles and the only locomotives equipped are Amtrak. [ 04. February 2004, 05:08: Message edited by: signalguy ]
