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The Transylvanian, lunatic, non-T1 thread

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The Transylvanian, lunatic, non-T1 thread
Posted by Overmod on Monday, November 10, 2014 6:24 PM

Time has come, I see, to move nonproductive 'discussion' out of a technical thread I have an interest in following.  Herewith, to paraphrase another poster concerned over wack digressions from topic:

My intention is to invite those who already had started this discussion in a thread definitely dedicated to a different topic to continue it in a thread of their own , explicitly put up for that – to make transition easier is why I kept it to the same forum.

So have at it, folks!  It's all yours now.  And for anything not T1-related in Dave's original thread: How about them Packers?

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Posted by Firelock76 on Monday, November 10, 2014 6:32 PM

Dammit, late to the party again!  I just put a Transylvanian observation on the T-1 thread!

 

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, November 10, 2014 6:37 PM

And a demmed good one, too, if I may say so!

(I knew a girl from that region when I was in foreign-policy school ... imho they have good reason to be proud of themselves and their region, and I would be among the last to make fun of them.  There's about as much spooky in Transylvania as there is in Salem.  Arkham, now ... that might be a bit different...)

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, November 10, 2014 10:10 PM

Schlimm posted, in the wrong thread:

Some folks can only dish out rude or dismissive or conteptuous remarks to others, but get controlling when the tables are turned.  I apologize to all for this brief diversion, but Overmod brought it on himself, although I am quite certain he will deny that.

Yes, I certainly did bring it on myself -- and would probably do it again (albeit not in the T1 thread!)  It would appear that a few key posters don't really enjoy a strictly etymological discussion, enough so that they'll try to find personal attacks in it.  On reflection, I have little to say about the 'Transylvania' business as it transpired aside from that.  Schlimm rightly noted that 'Pentsylvania' fails as it mixes a Greek prefix with a Latin stem (as 'television' does) -- but he seems to have forgotten that the original supposed pun was not mine; I just cleaned it up so the prefix made sense in context.  And so it goes... MEGO to anyone reading a T1 thread, and probably MEGO to everyone else... and all, oh the irony!, because Juniatha was trying to get the discussion back off Australian locomotives and onto the T1 again.

Strange how, once again, the people starting the ad hominem criticisms are... not me.  And then they attempt to claim that it was me.  The difference is that I try pretty hard to keep my focus on the ideas, not the people, in the things I post, and I think most of the readers here recognize the difference.

Now, it is true that much of the time what I post does come across as argumentative.  That's not intended as argument for the sake of argument, or as trolling, and while I apologize in advance if it may seem that way, I also do not apologize if people pre-emptively start attacking whatever it is I say -- often without carefully reading what I wrote -- and then retroactively attempt to use some form of the 'look what you made me do' justification.

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 2:19 PM

There should be a new rule on this Forum -- short, concise paragraphs.  I knew the German language runs words together to form new nouns -- Poppa told me about how Great Grandfather Viktor working for the Austrian State Railway had such a run-on word for Three Cylinder Superheated-Steam Express Passenger Locomotive.

But they use paragraphs in German, don't they (ducks . . .)?

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 2:30 PM

With respect to the Australian T-1 looks-somewhat-alike, there really is only one T-1 with its rigid-frame twin two-axle divided drive, and yes, those poppet valves, especially of the rear engine, buried somewhere in the innards of that locomotive.  The Australian locomotive may look cool, but it is sort of like those historic tinplate model trains where the details were merely painted on the sides, or those American Flyer PA models that in reality have two-axle trucks but have sideframes pretending there is a center axle.

This goes back to some of the compromises in bringing steam to the rails in the 21st century.  Steam locomotives burn coal, don'tcha know it, and if they are burning #2 Diesel oil in excursion service, is that really the same thing?

By the way, is the last coal-burning steam, no, make that coal-burning reciprocating steam power in "commercial service" the SS Badger Lake Michigan ferry boat?  The ASME honors it as a "technological landmark", but the EPA is perpetually at war with it as a polluter for discharging coal ash into the water.

It is a technological marvel on the order of Chapelon or Porta or Wardale with its Skinner "steeple compound" Uniflow engines, but I suppose "the works" are down in the engine room where I doubt they give tours so it is just anothere lake boat

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by Victrola1 on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 3:09 PM

If there had been a Translyvania Railroad running T-1 locomotives in the 15th Century, would Vlad the Impaler have motivated engine crews to control wheel slippage issues? 

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 4:24 PM

Victrola1

If there had been a Translyvania Railroad running T-1 locomotives in the 15th Century, would Vlad the Impaler have motivated engine crews to control wheel slippage issues? 

 

Probably would have ordered quiet zones so the screams of his impalees could be heard.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Sunday, November 30, 2014 1:38 PM

BaltACD

 

 
Victrola1

If there had been a Translyvania Railroad running T-1 locomotives in the 15th Century, would Vlad the Impaler have motivated engine crews to control wheel slippage issues? 

 

 

 

Probably would have ordered quiet zones so the screams of his impalees could be heard.

 
I have a photo of a modern Japanese MU cab car that looks kind of like Darth Vader's helmet - with a row of steel rods just about chest high to a person standing on a railhead-high crosswalk.  I think Vlad would have shoved people on the tracks in front of it...
 
Chuck
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Posted by carnej1 on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 11:34 AM

Victrola1

If there had been a Translyvania Railroad running T-1 locomotives in the 15th Century, would Vlad the Impaler have motivated engine crews to control wheel slippage issues? 

 

Don't know about Vampires and railroading but I seem to recall reading that there was a railroad in Egypt that burned mummies as fuel in the the fireboxes of their steam locomotives..

"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 8:29 PM

carnej1
I seem to recall reading that there was a railroad in Egypt that burned mummies as fuel in the the fireboxes of their steam locomotives...

"Stated to me for a fact. I only tell it as I got it. I am willing to believe it. I can believe anything."

-- Samuel Langhorne Clemens

But soft -- there is also this little tidbit from 1904... and it would seem that Nick Baker has something to say about the idea, too.  (Although I have never been quite sure whether to take the Isaiah Deck hypothesis entirely seriously!  On the other hand, a not-too-different piece of wack papermill sourcing was the downfall of that awful Geneen...)

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Posted by Victrola1 on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 8:35 AM

Flange lubrication on the Transylvania Railroad. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngfHgsV0HRs

 

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