Yeah, those guys would brag about getting 30 miles to a gallon on their Mopeds, but we had them beat! If we ran twin straight megaphone pipes during the quiet of night, we could easily get 35 tickets a mile! We had horse shoe cleats on our boot heels, and could drag sparks for half a block to thrill the kids at night too! Great fun!
Lest we get too close to showing colors here, let me show this draggin' waggon that is not often seen. This is a 250 ton reinforced deperssed center flat car with tandem trucks at both ends. It brought in a new refrigerated transformer to the TXU plant near my home. I could not get any closer for photos without getting onto TXU's property, but maybe I can get permission when the weather gets warmer, and if it is still here. The big transformer is sitting off on one side now. I have a model of one similar to this one.
Back in the late 50's and early 60's when I worked as a telegrapher for the SP I lived right next to a section gang houseing.. We used to call those little things "put put's". I put that phrase on Train Board a couple of months ago and nobody seemed to know what I was talking about. That's what we called them when I wuz a kid. used to see them(and older versions) all the time up on the GTW elevated main line out of Elsdon Yard(now its the Hayford Siding). The GTW had their famous 0-8-0 switchers working there until the early 60's
Hank, my photos are up OK now. I went to the TXU office this afternoon, and was told that due to the "Sept. 11th." no one could be allowed inside the fenced areas of any Power Plant. Otherwise I would have been allowed to go take all I wanted. One of the fellows did take me down through an old grave yard and up to the nearest fence, and let me take one photo through the wires. It is from the opposit end, but I did find out the car is lettered for 185,000 lbs. tare weight (empty weight of just the flat car), and 400,000 max load wt. (total weight the car is allowed to safely carry). So is a 200 ton flat, not 250 ton. It has the largest brake shoes I have ever seen! The trucks are an unusually heavy design with axles that look to be about 10" diameter. The wheels are tapered inside and have radiating ribs around the axle hub. The car is owned by Ideal Electric Company to deliver their High Tension Transformers. The one this car brought in has 8 refrigeration fans on 3 sides! He suggested I drive around to the other side of the property, and take some photos from the gate over the tracks, because TXU owns the siding, and In the morning the sun will be at my back so I can get better shots. I'll try. He said they had two heavy duty cranes to unload this transformer. It does look like a building! Charlie, I have ridden on several kinds of the little Put-Puts, as well as the Hand-Pumper, and a bicycle I rigged to ride the rails like a velosipede, but I could go faster. Yes they are lots of fun! It takes four men to get a Put-Put on and off the track. [ 09 January 2002: Message edited by: watash ]
I believe the Delaware and Ulster Railroad Railroad in Arkville, NY has a "Speeder" run once a year. Or at least they used to. I saw it once. Really cute!
Speaking of putt putts, they used them on the Tidewater Southern till the early eighties. When the UP took over they eliminated the job and had the track foreman drove a hi-railer. Anyway, when I was in Jr. High school, the track guy would come by every afternoon. My friend had a grape vine in his alley and we would pick the grapes and smash them on the rail head. The putt putt would come along and lose its traction. One day the drive, an older Mexican track man got mad enough that he started yelling at us. My friends mother heard him and wanted to know why he was telling us to go to sunny beaches. Ahh the days of youth and lots of energy.... Greg Elems
