Bennett Levin's E-8's on the Pennsy this past week....

[DPD1]

Ah ha... Here it is:

http://kc.pennsyrr.com/faqs/trainphone.html

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

[Modelcar]

....It was an inductive system and the signal was somehow carried by the tracks....Not radio as such. Go to Google or Ask Jeeves and enter in "Pennsylvania Railroad Train Phone" and you will find some info on it....Look at any older Pennsylvania equipment and you most likely will find those long "pipe antenna's"....

[DPD1]

Interesting... It must have worked in one of the HF bands, because that's about the only reason that I can think they'd use an antenna like that.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

[dwil89]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

....That was a Pennsylvania exclusive system {if I am remembering correctly}, was it called an "induction system" of a sort...I'm sure Dave W. will come on here with the details. It was an early train radio system. I've forgotten the details.

Yes...a train phone system...the caller dialed a phone but it worked like a radio....I'll see if I can find info somewhere on it and post more info later...

[Modelcar]

....That was a Pennsylvania exclusive system {if I am remembering correctly}, was it called an "induction system" of a sort...I'm sure Dave W. will come on here with the details. It was an early train radio system. I've forgotten the details.

[DPD1]

Nice shots... I think I asked this on another thread, but I can't find it now... Does anybody know what the deal is with the antennas? Were those used for a lower band or something? I can't see how an antenna that size would be needed for VHF.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

[Anonymous]

Asketh bobwilcox:

"Was this trip in conjunction with the Lexington Groups annual meeting in Harrisburg?"

Yep! Biggest Lexington Group meeting in history. Almost 200 members. About 180 of them were on the train.

Old Timer

[dwil89]

QUOTE: Originally posted by oltmannd

Lotsa good pix of the rehab here:

http://www.prrths.com/Phila_PRR5711_Restoration_Menu.htm

Yeah, I have that as a link on my Yahoo Group....

[oltmannd]

Lotsa good pix of the rehab here:

http://www.prrths.com/Phila_PRR5711_Restoration_Menu.htm

[dwil89]

I was told that the Special had a group of Rail Historians in it...I don't know anything about the Lexington Group, but if it is a Rail Historical group, then that may be the answer....

[bobwilcox]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Old Timer

AntonioFP45 -

Why was having center idler axles on a passenger locomotive a "drawback"? The FP45 in passenger service certainly didn't need the extra tractive effort of the two additional traction motors; these became a liability when the engine was working at high speed . . .

Oh, and I was on that train. Nice ride.

Old Timer

Was this trip in conjunction with the Lexington Groups annual meeting in Harrisburg?

[Anonymous]

AntonioFP45 -

Why was having center idler axles on a passenger locomotive a "drawback"? The FP45 in passenger service certainly didn't need the extra tractive effort of the two additional traction motors; these became a liability when the engine was working at high speed . . .

Oh, and I was on that train. Nice ride.

Old Timer

[AntonioFP45]

Yep, one "drawback" of E units is that the center axles are unmotored.

[dwil89]

The E's do have 2 prime movers in each locomotive...the old 567 non-turbocharged variant...I believe that each loco produces somewhere around 2250 HP, so that would be about 1125 HP for each prime mover....I caught the consist from an elevated bluff overlooking the Loop track at AR Tower at the top of the grade, and the engines lost traction just as they were getting to the East end of the Loop....Prior to their arrival, the Dispatcher directed a NS SD40-2 helper set to sand the loop because the E's seem to have trouble with wheel slip on the tight radius. They gingerly coaxed the train forward until they finally regained good footing.

[dwil89]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

....Just read your "E-8 chase report" over on your site Dave....Boy, you're right in the middle of lots of action there.

Yeah...I am quite involved in that area, since its my family roots....I am heading down to Enola for a weekend in mid October, and then taking a week's vacation in later October and heading back out to the Altoona area for more railfanning....

[Modelcar]

....Just read your "E-8 chase report" over on your site Dave....Boy, you're right in the middle of lots of action there.

[Modelcar]

...Wow....those are beautiful looking engines...Apparently restored accurately. E-8's have 2 prime movers in each, right....?

[dwil89]

Well, the only pic I can figure out how to share here at the moment, is to click onto the nsaltoonajohnstown link and look at the pic on the homepage of it...it shows a pic I took of the E's passing Alto Tower...

[Modelcar]

...Understand Dave.....I am not the wizard to do it here either....Several folks have offered to help and I appreciate that but I decided to quite worrying with it....

[dwil89]

I would love to post my pics on here...If there was an easy way to post pics here, I would be posting them all the time...I post pics regularly on Trainorders Eastern Board, and on my Yahoo Group, because on them, there is a simple option to open browser, and then attach pics from 'my documents' directly onto each post ......I have tried to figure out the modus operandi to do it here, and it seems too complicated......

[samfp1943]

Modelcar is right..I would be a real treat to see the photos dwil89 took of this "special'.. The E-8's by their very nature and presence brought that touch of class to passenger trains, moving or standing still.. And that terrain in central Pennsylvania was just 'guilding the lilly'.

[Modelcar]

...Dave, by chance will you post any of the photos you mention you took above....Sounds like an outstanding day of railfaning...! Should have been quite a site up along the "old" 220 rt. with the N&BE RR along side the highway....Wow, I would loved to have seen that operation up through there...Used to travel up to Lock Haven that way quite often...Such a nice valley up through there....

[dwil89]

I believe that they have 5 chime horns on them.....

[AntonioFP45]

I've downloaded photos of those two units last year. They're gorgeous testaments to "Made in the U.S.A" and represent what was once the pride of fast passenger service!

Someting I found interesting on a video clip I saw with these units. "Sounds" like the horns have been updated to either a K3 or K5 series. I would like to have heard them with the originals which were likely either Nathan "M" series or Leslie honkers.

[dwil89]

Got a chance to chase and photograph the beautifully restored Juniata Terminal E-8's in the Altoona area on Friday. NS ran a Private Office Car Special between Rutherford (Harrisburg) Pa to Altoona, up around the loop track at the Summit, and back down to Altoona, where the attendees had lunch. The train then headed East to Tyrone, where it diverged off the NS Main onto the Nittany and Bald Eagle through Tyrone and up to Lock Haven, where it caught the Buffalo Line South back to Rutherford. The train was all Tuscan Red with the 2 former Pennsy E-8's, followed by a mix of Bennett Levin's cars and some NS cars....I caught the consist from an elevated vantage point as it rounded the loop track between UN and AR, and framed AR Tower with the sparkling clean E units. I then lensed the consist as it passed Alto Tower in Altoona. and chased it up through Tyrone and up part way to Lock Haven. All in all a great day and nice to catch some restored Pennsy motive power on its old stomping grounds.