I hope y'all enjoy a promotional film about steam locomotives produced in 1938 by the Central's PR Dept. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBFdpBol3l4
I had forgotten about that NYC film. Somewhere I have a copy of it, but enjoyed viewing it here. Things I never noticed before, like the closeup of the running gear on one Hudson showing the main driver a Scullin disc, and the others Boxpok. Another 5200 series with Walschaert valve gear. The exhorbitant cost of $200,000 per engine. On the turntable, the one Hudson that had the Niagara type dual light headlight. Thanks for posting this, Hank. :tb-biggrin:
Great film - the feature where locomotives pick up water on the fly was interesting. That's something I don't recall seeing on layouts.
I think water troughs would be an interesting feature, certainly raise a few questions...just don't add water. All three versions of the Con-Cor Hudson had a scoop molded into the tender frame.
I'm pretty sure I remember some photos of someone's model of a water trough. I'll dig through my magazines and see what I find.
This nearly 10 minute YouTube video has excellent color footage of British steam locomotives during the 50s. However, the reason I'm posting it is that, between 3:30 and 5:30, there is an almost continuous procession of locomotives taking on water at speed. You can't see many details because of the spray, but the troughs on the adjacent tracks are clearly visible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQPdRS-9p_I IIRC, the Central's water troughs near the Cold Spring Tunnels on the Hudson Division were wider than those in the British video, also about one mile long.
That is a very interesting video. I had no idea the British railways had a need to take water on the fly as most of their runs were much shorter than those in North America.
Mike, I agree with your observation. However, I assume the troughs in Britain may have been used only along the more deserted stretches on the lines from the south into Scotland. As a side note, I believe the Central spaced their troughs about 40 miles apart, but I have no knowledge how the Pennsy spaced their troughs. EDIT - I Googled Lune Gorge (Valley). From the photos it appears to be a rural area. So I assume any railroad line running north/south would require troughs every 20-40 miles.
Finally found an example of a Central engine taking water on the fly...an Empire State Express 4-4-2 fimed by Edison in 1905. It's interesting to see how empty the Empire's pan appears to be after the last car passes, compared to the full pan on the right. You have to look quickly before the screen switches to the next menu, or rerun the video a few times. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdeZhsBoznc
Hank, I dug out my 1943 NYCS book of everything. It is quite confusing, looking at where the track pans were located. It seems they are about 60 miles apart, where they existed. Some are very close together in milepost numbers. Could it be that eastbound and westbound pans were in different locations? Tivoli, which seemed to be a favorite location for photos back then, was 64.4 miles from Croton (start of steam after the electrics handed them off). Another on the Hudson Division is Clinton Point, which I can't even find on the maps. Then on the Mohawk Division, Yosts, 48.6 miles from Albany, and Rome, 106 miles from Albany. From there it gets really confusing. :tb-confused:
Jim, if the Tivoli pans were about 60 miles north of Croton-Harmon, that puts them about 30 miles south of Albany. Clinton Point is in the southwest corner of Duchess County, about 30 miles north of Croton-Harmon, and about 30 miles south of Tivoli. I'm guessing the Clinton Point pans are the ones I remember seeing as a kid, north of Cold Spring, near the Breakneck Mountain tunnels. Having said all of this, I'm guessing the Central had pans spaced every 30-50 miles, with water cranes at major stops like Albany, Syracuse, and Buffalo. Forgive me for not including Glens Falls as a "major" stop. :tb-tongue:
Great show. Did you notice on the British trains on the frieght trains most of the cars were 40 and eight cars. The 40 and eight means 40 people and if animals only eight .These cars only had 4 wheels and many did not have brakes.At that time it would take 3-4 of those cars to equal one of ours.Most of the trains shown would only have 15 to 25 U.S. cars. This is why most European locos would not work in this country because they were to light.I know they were in hill country but can you see those engines pulling 85 -90 40 and eight cars. France copied our army 2-8-2 mikes and used them until the end of steam in France. As has been said these were great film. LEW
Lew, did you ever run routes that had pans? I assume the Central used pans along the Water Level Route between Chicago and Buffalo. However I'm not aware if pans were used in other areas of the NYCS, B4, MC, etc. I was surprised to see how few freight cars the French and German railways ran on through trains ~15 years ago, and they appeared to be 40-50 foot, eight-axle cars for the most part.
Stumbled across this line art/litho of track pans on the Pennsy while I was searching for something else. Came from this book.
Here are shots of three of them that I have gotten photographs of... [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica] - [/FONT][FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica] - [/FONT][FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
