Jim,No never worked 1423 or the 1456 but came close. Fired the 1428,1454 and 1415 Here is a run down on all of these locos. 1423:Blt. 2/13, Retired 12/51. 1456: Blt. 10/16, Retired 2/56. 1428:Blt. 11/13, Retired 8/56. 1454:Blt 10/16,Retired 3/55. 1415: Blt. 1/13 Retired 6/57. I fired the 1428,1415 several times during the last days of steam on the Greensburg yard engine. The engines at that time were not to bad ,but one or two leaked almost as much water on the side sheets as you put in. Most H-5s that I fired were good riders on the road and good steamers and they also had good throttle response when used as yard engines. If any questions ask. LEW
My Canon 9000F Scanner arrived today. I got it working, but boy, do I have to learn how to make it right. This is the first scan I attempted and saved.
I am really bummed with the results of this scanner. Must be "new stuff" designed to work with "new stuff," as after disappointing results on the old black and whites, I scanned a recent color print and it did just a perfect job. So far my best method of reproducing these is to tape them to a window and copy with my DSLR. I have decided to pick some good ones, scan them, then spend a lot of time on IRfanview and/or Photoshop Elements to try to improve them. They are coming out very dark with little contrast, despite my "correction" inputs. Here is the "best" one so far.
Being a person of little patience, this morning while sorting some of these gems, I resorted to a quickie version of my "tape to the window scanner." I have designed a contraption that I will build to eventually capture the rest of the collection. These were done sort of half-a$$ed so they aren't much better than my Canon 9000 does. First one is a collection of power on the "Put," or Putnam Division out of NY City. And a beautiful side view of J-1b Hudson 5248.
Eureka! I have found it! The solution to my scanner "problems." Seems the problem was between the ears of the scanner operator. We engineers are curious people. We "don't need no stinkin' manuals, can figure this stuff out for ourselves." Then along comes some software person who really bungles up our logical thinking. Anyway, I found the 120 size film guide mount and the "Advanced" section of instructions on how to use it. Amazing, it does a very nice job. I will post one as soon as I upload it to RailImages, and it would appear that there is a lot of scanning in my future. It also does a great job on color slides.
Congratulations, I guess an "Old" Engineer can be taught new tricks....snicker, snicker. Is there any info as to the location of the Put photo? Having four F-Class all together blows my mind. Definitely not down at Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx due to trees in the background and no buildings. Possibly the yard at Brewster North, but I doubt if four F-Class would have been stored there as "cold iron" at one time. I doubt if it's at the Harlem's North White Plains shops because the near engine has coaches behind, but doesn't appear to be under steam.
Hank, I'll bet you have done similar things, eh? Interesting that of all the photos in this collection, that one has no accompanying info. In my haste I have left out a lot of details as to where, when, etc. A few others of the 2-6-0s indicate they were taken in Yorktown Heights. Were there four tracks there? A yard, maybe? Here is a contraption one would not necessarily associate with the NY Central:
Jim, Yorktown Heights was the largest customer base on the Put between Sedgwick Avenue and Brewster North. However that isn't saying much because it was (is?) basically a bedroom community with some farms. The Put provided commuter service to Sedgwick Avenue for transfer to NYC subways, or to Brewster and the Harlem into GCT. I believe the late evening/early morning commuter overnighted in Yorktown Heights, but that would not have required a yard of any size, though possibly a turntable. IIRC, Yorktown Heights may have had a coal/lumber/feed customer, possibly one or two others, but nothing that would have compared even to Little Falls. Most of the major customers in Westchester, Putnam, and Duchess Counties had moved to the mid-west by the 30s due to increased taxation and labor costs. The industrial history of those counties would surprise folks. For instance, the Borden Company originated, had its HQ and major manufacturing in Pawling, NY, and was a major customer of the Harlem Division. Oh well, the status quo always loses to progress, then 50-75 years later society looks back and says "Rats, Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart". I admire your acquisition, and hope to see many more..thanks.
This post is also a test to answer a question in Support about how many images can be added to a given post. I am going to put as many Niagara scans as I can on this message and answer the question in support. The first Niagara was from a larger negative that my scanner could not handle, so it is cut off at the top and bottom, but it is an action shot of Niagara 6016; Next we see Niagara 6006 And Niagara 6011 Niagara 6012 If more than four are allowed, 6017
I still think it tantamount to criminal negligence that NONE of those beautiful 4-8-4s were ever preserved! Charlie
Charlie, it was all about the paranoiac desire for immediate cash from the sale of scrap steel and anything else that wasn't tied down to declare hollow profits to investors. This mindset lasted from the mid-50s through the PC merger, until the creation of Conrail when our tax dollars bailed them out. The saddest thing to me personally was the abandonment and scrapping of the northern 50 miles of the ex-NYC Harlem Division between Millerton and Chatham, NY, and its interchange with ex-Boston & Albany, now NS. PC management effectively told an extremely large contingent of visionary land owners and developers in the three-county area, and the strategic planners and economic developers of the New York City metropolitan area to go pound sand. PC not only claimed profit from the sale of the scrap steel, but also took tax write-offs by deeding the ROW to anybody who would take it off their hands at no cost....grumble, grumble, grumble.
Have you read the book "The Men Who Loved Trains"? I have a copy of it somewhere around here. One of the most ill-advised mergers being the PC merger. What a travesty! Charlie
