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Oh, those Russkies!

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, December 21, 2020 3:30 PM

Flintlock76
As far as the Russians are concerned it doesn't have to look good, it has to work.

Well, there are some limits.  The Tu-4 and -144 do come to mind, as does a certain class of diesel-electric that had recognizable Alco-GE casting numbers in its very Russian engine block.  And certain opposed-piston locomotives that often make Alcos look like hydrogen fuel-cell power by contrast.

And not that they can't make it look good when they want -- see the Raketa class of lake hydrofoils.  Foose or Coddington could do no better...

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, December 21, 2020 3:25 PM

CSSHEGEWISCH

I can't really speak to steam locomotive esthetics but the Russians have managed to come up with some of the ugliest diesel locomotives and railcars on earth.

 

Different design philosophy.  As far as the Russians are concerned it doesn't have to look good, it has to work.  

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, December 21, 2020 1:49 PM

I can't really speak to steam locomotive esthetics but the Russians have managed to come up with some of the ugliest diesel locomotives and railcars on earth.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Overmod on Monday, December 21, 2020 6:28 AM

charlie hebdo
And this isn't some supercilious Malbec description from the Wine Snob. 

Damn, that's good!  You get extra style points in my book!

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Sunday, December 20, 2020 9:08 PM

And this isn't some supercilious Malbec description from the Wine Snob. 

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Sunday, December 20, 2020 8:02 PM

Try 'look' crossed with a little hint of  'oak' if you can.  Not really hard.  

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, December 20, 2020 3:57 PM

So the English might be like 'luck' drawn out a bit?

That I think I can do.

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Sunday, December 20, 2020 3:31 PM

It is somewhat regional but it is not pronounced as in 'Firelock' ('ah') rather more a drawn out 'uh' sound as best I can do it in English phonemes.

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, December 20, 2020 11:29 AM

charlie hebdo
But for a German,  it is pronounced the same as a long O as in Lok (locomotive).

Which is where I get into terrible trouble.  I was taught very carefully, by more than one teacher, that the first "O" sound in 'lokomotive' was as in a quickly-spoken 'loh', and that's the way I remember (perhaps, in retrospect, a bit selectively!) German railroaders saying it in the mid-Seventies (the only time I heard native speakers using that word in those pre-Internet days).

Then I come up against the dreadful fact that ESU pronounces it 'lock', essentially just as in Firelock1776, and at least one native German speaker over on the MR side does, too.  Try as I might, I can't make my mouth do that.

Perhaps this is a regional thing of some kind.  Perhaps I'm just plain wrong.  But if the long 'o' sound of 'Lok' is applied to a German 'Boxpok' ... it would be just as true to the right semantics of the tradename as 'spoke' is.  

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Sunday, December 20, 2020 10:59 AM

But for a German,  it is pronounced the same as a long O as in Lok (locomotive).

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, December 20, 2020 10:26 AM

Overmod

 

 
Flintlock76
As in "Box-Spoke?"

 

Why, yes.  Yes, it is.

 

 

Makes sense, the spokes are boxy!  

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, December 20, 2020 9:47 AM

Flintlock76
As in "Box-Spoke?"

Why, yes.  Yes, it is.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, December 20, 2020 9:29 AM

Overmod

 

 
7j43k
The regular way, I see (hear).

 

Alas, the regular wrong way.

 

(For those who don't know, the second 'o' is long.)

 

As in "Box-Spoke?"

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, December 20, 2020 5:26 AM

7j43k
The regular way, I see (hear).

Alas, the regular wrong way.

(For those who don't know, the second 'o' is long.)

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Posted by 7j43k on Saturday, December 19, 2020 11:19 PM

Overmod

 

And I got to hear how the Germans pronounce 'Boxpok'!

 

 

The regular way, I see (hear).

 

 

Ed

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, December 19, 2020 9:51 PM

selector
These locomotives look to be about the same weight and size, including driver diameters, as a Mike intended for freight service.  I wonder why they felt they needed two of them for that short train...unless.....

And you forgot to mention the bad slip ... doubleheaded ... with a nine-car train.

A Voyce Glaze design, or a Oaul Kiefer design, these things ain't.  But that doesn't make them any less fun to watch than, say, NKP 587 or Southern "Project 4-5-0-1"

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Posted by selector on Saturday, December 19, 2020 9:46 PM

Funny you should say that, OM...it has always been a bone of mine to pick with so many videos and films where a big fun fires, one can often observe direct fire if there's a tracer involved, and then there's a big boom down-range as soon as one sees the fall of shot.  Nope...never gonna happen that way.

These locomotives look to be about the same weight and size, including driver diameters, as a Mike intended for freight service.  I wonder why they felt they needed two of them for that short train...unless.....

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, December 19, 2020 8:22 PM

Who cares if the P36 is a comparatively small design by our 4-8-4 standards?  Kolomna was certainly -- and justly! -- proud of them.

And I got to hear how the Germans pronounce 'Boxpok'!

Note the interesting editing, where they quietly take out the distance time-delay from whistle and exhaust in the long telephoto shots.  Someone was thinking.

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Oh, those Russkies!
Posted by 54light15 on Saturday, December 19, 2020 8:04 PM

You have to admit, they make some handsome locomotives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1KXudVNZNg 

 

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