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Classic Railroad Quiz (at least 50 years old).

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Posted by rcdrye on Friday, October 20, 2017 6:36 AM

North Shore was known for its trolley-battery locomotives, which enabled the road to offer industrial sidings without overhead wire.  Another large interurban in Illinois also had trolley locomotives capable of "wireless" operation for much the same purpose.  Name the railroad and describe the locomotives.

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 7:07 PM

Guess this one needs replacing...  I was looking for Illinois Terminal, which rebuilt several small electric locomotives into gas-electric-electrics.  St Louis and Belleville Electric, a rare freight-only electic line, had one built by St. Louis Car for the Illinois Central.

In 1950, five different railroad systems served Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha and the Twin Cities.  Name all five, plus any wholly owned lines that were part of the systems that got them to one of the cities.  Two of them served St. Louis under their own names as well.

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Posted by NP Eddie on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 8:06 PM

Rob:

I checked a 1948 OG and found that the CGW, CBQ, RI, and MILW served those four cities. The CBQ and RI also served St. Louis.

Ed Burns

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 8:21 PM

That's the list.  I was thinking of C&NW when I added the part about wholly owned line, though C&NW didn't get to K.C. until it got the RI's Spine Line in the early 1980s. Milwaukee and Rock Island had a paper subsidiary for their joint entry into Kansas City, as well as the jointly owned Davenport Rock Island & Northwestern.  The Burlington and the Rock Island cooperated on the Zephyr Rocket between the Twin Cities and St. Louis, since neither had a particularly direct route.

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, October 26, 2017 3:01 AM

I knew it was the IT, but I did not know any details about the locomotives or had forgotten them.

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Posted by NP Eddie on Thursday, October 26, 2017 4:55 PM

Rob and All:

It took a bit of doing, but I figured out that the last road was the MILW.

My question: There is a famous former railroad bridge in this midwestern city that is now a pedestrian and bike bridge. Only emergency vehicles are allowed on said bridge. Name the town, former owner of the bridge, and who was it named after?

Happy hunting.

Ed Burns

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, October 30, 2017 2:17 PM

The bridge is still owned by the Union Pacific and officially is/was the Boone Valley Viaduct, near Boone, IA.   It was and is popularly knoen as the Kate Shelley Brudge.  Aaround 2009 UP built a new parallel bridge used for rail service with the old one used as you described.

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Posted by NP Eddie on Monday, October 30, 2017 4:59 PM

Dave:

Wrong bridge--think farther north and in a large midwestern city.

Ed Burns

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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Monday, October 30, 2017 9:40 PM

NP Eddie

think farther north and in a large midwestern city.

Ex-GN Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis.

Formerly known as "Hill's Folly", after the Empire Builder himself.

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by NP Eddie on Tuesday, October 31, 2017 11:42 AM

SD70M-2 Dude:

Wow---you are correct and get to ask the next question.

Ed Burns

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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 11:52 PM

Just before the First World War, a Class I railroad chartered and began constructing a new subsiduary in an attempt to gain access to another ice-free seaport.  Construction progress was slow due to the war but although grading was mostly completed no track was ever laid, and the project was abandoned.  Name the Class I, the subsiduary, and the port they were trying to enter. 

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, November 11, 2017 7:22 AM

I have been digging at this for a while but haven't found anything that quite matches. I have to assume this was in Canada since most US ports are ice-free.

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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Saturday, November 11, 2017 5:00 PM

The Class I was Canadian, and the line was also intended to give them greater access to a region dominated by another Class I.

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, November 12, 2017 12:48 PM

You wouldn’t be talking about the SNE into Providence, competing with that infamous Canadian class I the New York, New Haven and Hartford, would you?

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, November 12, 2017 12:49 PM

You wouldn’t be talking about the SNE into Providence in pre-noodle CV days, competing with that infamous Canadian class I the New York, New Haven and Hartford, would you?

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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Sunday, November 12, 2017 1:19 PM

Almost there, but who controlled CV, and was the real force behind the SNE scheme?

The New Haven is the other Class I, whose region they were trying to enter

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, November 12, 2017 2:01 PM

Grand Trunk, of course.

If only the Titanic hadn’t sunk!

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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Sunday, November 12, 2017 2:46 PM

Overmod

Grand Trunk, of course.

If only the Titanic hadn’t sunk!

Indeed, Hays was quite the visionary.  Grand Trunk's eastern ports (Portland, New London, and of course the attempt at Providence) never really panned out and eventually faded away, and the GTP project bankrupted the company, but now 30,000 feet of double stacks head east from Prince Rupert every day, with only low grades to tackle across the continent.  That place has finally come into its own.  Only took 100 years.

The next question belongs to you Overmod.

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by ReadingCo.Productions on Sunday, November 12, 2017 6:37 PM

Actully, I'm pretty sure the company that Controlled the Central Vermont Railroad was the Canadian National, because the track was originall owned by The Grand Trunk but when all Canadian Railroads where consolidated, and then GTW was made into a subsida for CN for U.S. Operations, there tracks in the East went to The Centeral Vermont. The Centeral Vermont was also made into a subsidary for running in the U.S., making the three companies very similar.

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 8:46 PM

Grand Trunk didn't become Canadian National until 1923.

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 9:21 PM

All the ‘excitement’ for SNE construction had essentially ended by the time Federal control of railroads did, years before Grand Trunk was folded into CN.

I am still tickled by the heroic measures taken to keep the route out of Connecticut.  Something I had not adequately realized was that CV already served an ice-free port on the Sound... but it was New London, in the NYNH&H’s home state.

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Posted by wanswheel on Thursday, November 16, 2017 11:54 AM
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Posted by Miningman on Thursday, November 16, 2017 7:47 PM

Thanks Wanswheel. Saskatchewans smallest "city" is Melville, an important and great Railroad place, named after Charles Melville Hays.

What if he had not perished on the Titanic? History would unfold quite dramatically different.

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Posted by wanswheel on Friday, November 17, 2017 11:20 AM

Miningman, thanks for reading two pages by Edward Hungerford, who was a pretty good story teller. He put together B&O's 1927 Fair of the Iron Horse, 1939 N.Y. World's Fair Railroads on Parade, and 1948 Chicago Railroad Fair.

 

Excerpt from http://www.sitnews.us/Kiffer/Titanic/040912_titanic.html - It’s impossible to know what might have happened had Hays lived. He was in his prime when he died, a month shy of his 56th birthday.

 

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Posted by Miningman on Friday, November 17, 2017 10:05 PM

Wanswheel-- Yes, Edward Hungerford is a very good story writer, easy to read, flows nice and never makes you feel like it's work. Very enjoyable.

Pure speculation --The Grand Trunk Pacific never goes bankrupt, New England railroading is dynamic and dominated by the Grand Trunk. Canadian National never happens. As a result Canada is much less government dependent and has a strong free market philosophy. We are all rich, like Switzerland, only way bigger. Life is beautiful. 

 

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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Saturday, November 18, 2017 12:25 AM

Doesn't Switzerland have a state-owned Railway system?

And even if the GT system somehow managed to stay financially healthy, there are still the Canadian Northern bankruptcy and the Intercolonial's ongoing losses to deal with, those two would probably have been merged into a single state-owned system, no matter what happened with the Grand Trunk.

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by Miningman on Saturday, November 18, 2017 12:44 AM

"Rich" like Switzerland, not like Switzerland, and the wealth was NOT ill begotten gains and with no questions asked. 

Canadian Northern gets a few tips from Hays and does just fine They have a symbiotic relationship with the Grand Trunk. The Intercolonial gets sold to the New York Central and Canadian Pacific much like the TH&B was set up. It becomes legendary for its passenger service. Today it is an important part of Norfolk Southern/Canadian Pacific. 

Somewhere in the quantum universes this happened. 

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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Sunday, November 19, 2017 3:53 PM

Miningman

The Intercolonial gets sold to the New York Central and Canadian Pacific much like the TH&B was set up. It becomes legendary for its passenger service. Today it is an important part of Norfolk Southern/Canadian Pacific. 

Interesting, but the Intercolonial's lines did not directly connect to any of NYC's.  Perhaps the Central also acquired either the D&H or Rutland (and joint ownership or trackage rights east of Montreal on CP) to better connect to its new division.  This route also becomes famous for its priority newsprint trains heading from Canadian mills to big American cities, competing in a fierce rivalry with the GT/CV/SNE system.  

The strength and close relationship of CP and NYC also means that the Penn Central merger never happens.

Anyway, shouldn't Overmod ask a question?

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, November 19, 2017 6:42 PM

SD70M-2Dude
Anyway, shouldn't Overmod ask a question?

He should, but he’s still trying to think of a good one.

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, November 20, 2017 10:31 PM

How much heavier were PRR's first SD45s than the previous 3000hp SD40s?

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