Classic Train Questions Part Deux (50 Years or Older)

[narig01]

The number 6 Pelham line has express service in the Bronx. Currently.

[narig01]

This will probably be an easy one of maybe not.

This 2 foot narrow gauge was not in Maine. Had a length of 15 miles. Ran 44 miles from the state capital. It also ran on dual gauge track for a short distance. It shared track with another narrow gauge. It ran excursions each summer. The excursion was 75 cents with lunch. The line had a warming house for use in winter.

 

Name the line.

 

[Miningman]

Wholly Mackinaw Dave K, those explanations and descriptions of yours about the NY Transit and Subway systems are heavier than Overmods screeds ,( they are fabulous, dazzling)) on technical descriptions of the how and why something in motion works or doesn't and a whole lot of other things. 

I envision a power point presentation with multi coloured spaghetti all over the place and Rodney Dangerfield, Ben Stein and John Cleese taking turns with the pointer. 

Test tomorrow, so pay attention. 

( I really do try to follow... does anyone really know the whole thing?)

[daveklepper]

The two-foot gauge at South Caever, Massachusetts, Edeaville (Sp?) around cranberry boggs, with some standard gauge track for preserved equipment? 

[daveklepper]

Ellis t Atwood was the owner, I believe, and some of the standard gauge equipmenet went to Nelson Blount and Steamtown in Bellows Falls, except the Flying Yankee to Hobo RR and a separate organization.  The Maine narrow-gauge museums got the 2-foot gauge equipment.

Rode it around 1950.

[narig01]

It shared track with another narrow gauge.

Another clue this common carrier and it's connection were west of the Mississippi River.

[daveklepper]

"Gilpin Tram"

[rcdrye]

The only two footer I could find involving a state capital was the Montgomery Southern, which seems to have operated in Alabama between 1881 and 1886 (or 1882 and 1889) without leaving much of a literary or cartographic trace.  There were some three footers in the Montgomery area.  The Montgomery Southern seems to have been useful enough to have ended up as part of the Atlantic Coast Line.

[narig01]

daveklepper

"Gilpin Tram"

You got it.

Originally started as The Gilpin Tramway Company in 1887. Later renamed The Gilpin Railroad was a 2 footer from Blackhawk, Co. It ran on a short distance of dual gauge track in Blackhawk with the 3 foot  Colorado Central, later Colorado and Southern. Sold to the C&S in 1906. Ended trains in 1917 and then sold for scrap.

     I think all the locomotives were Shays. The railroad had numerous switchbacks to gain altitude. It had curves of 50 foot radius. 

 

[narig01]

rcdrye

The only two footer I could find involving a state capital was the Montgomery Southern, which seems to have operated in Alabama between 1881 and 1886 (or 1882 and 1889) without leaving much of a literary or cartographic trace.  There were some three footers in the Montgomery area.  The Montgomery Southern seems to have been useful enough to have ended up as part of the Atlantic Coast Line.

 

I should apologize here for not being more specific. The Gilpin Tramway measured distances from Denver. It was not where it originated. 

[daveklepper]

We are waiting for rc's question.

[rcdrye]

A coal hauling narrow gauge railroad operated in and around the capital of a state known for narrow gauge railroads, but could not interchange with the other NG lines, even though they touched at more than one point.  Name the state and the reason the interchange wouldn't work.

[daveklepper]

Denver Tramways was narrow gauge and did haul coal on at least one interurban line.  But the gauge was 3 feet, six inches.  It also had some dual-gauge track, used for railroad interchange standard-gauge freight.

[rcdrye]

Correct.  The interurban line operated under the name Denver & Intermountain.  The 3' 6" gauge was inherited from Denver's cable cars.

[daveklepper]

A railroad that into the 1950s was known for good, reasonably fast, full-service (all varieties) passenger service, including some interline with more than one other railroad, and where Amtrak does indeed operate today, had one main-line local train with a nickname that occasionally was used officially and that included a sea-creature.  Railroad, train, and end-points please.

[daveklepper]

The train lasted into dieselizatin, 1950-1952, and was discontinued only after a merger.  It did not last until Amtrak.  The name had two words, one the sea creature and one a human.  The two words could be joined by a hyphen or a space.

[rcdrye]

New Haven's Clam Digger? Mostly New Haven-Providence, sometimes New Haven-Boston?

[daveklepper]

Exactly.  Your question please?

And try for my 1960s (Not 1970s!) train with the all-roomette sleeper, please?

[rcdrye]

daveklepper

And try for my 1960s (Not 1970s!) train with the all-roomette sleeper, please?

There's no Pullman diagram for a 14 roomette sleeper, so I'll have to guess a little.  The nearest I can come up with for a diagram is a 14 rmt 4 DBR, which was found on a bunch of NYNH&H, SR, Frisco, MKT and KCS cars.  There was a weird variation (14 rmt 2 DR, later rebuilt as 7BR 2DR) on the Atlantic Coast Line.

I'll post a new question some time later today.

[daveklepper]

Perhaps my memory slipped, but I think the RR public timetable listed it as a 14-roomette car.  Possibly built as 16 roomette, with one taken out for the porter and one reserved for company business?  Given the nature of the train,  that would make sense.

I rode this train more than once, at least once in the sleeper 

[daveklepper]

The other question was resolved, and rc, we still await your question.

And as long as streetcars operated, the New Havn continued to own the Connecticut Co .

[Deggesty]

Dave, the listis of lightweight cars that I have (From Zephyr to Amtrak and Car Names, Numbers, and Consists) show the cars as having been built as 14 roomette and 2 drawing room cars--and then rebuilt to 7 bedroom and 2 drawing rooms.

I do not have ready access to my timetables of the period they were in use, but I doubt that the ACL did not list the drawing rooms in their equipment listings.

[rcdrye]

Deggesty

I do not have ready access to my timetables of the period they were in use, but I doubt that the ACL did not list the drawing rooms in their equipment listings.

The 1960 ACL official guide listings did show the drawing rooms, though I doubt they were occupied very often.

This railroad had more F3, F5 and F7 boosters than cabs, normally assigning 9000 horsepower to its freight trains.  For second generation power it adhered to the same plan, buying eight 2250 HP GP30s and nine 3000HP SD40s. 

[Miningman]

That has to be the Chicago Great Western! 

[rcdrye]

Of course! The CGW's six-unit sets of F-units lasted into 1969 or 1970 on the line west of Chicago.  Merger partner C&NW quickly poached the GP30s and SD40s.  For a while they were the only dynamic brake equipped units on the C&NW roster.  There are a few photos of mixed consists - a pair of SD40s and a pair of B-units, but each type mostly stayed with its own.  Surprisingly, CGW does not seem to have ever installed nose MU.

Hard to believe the merger was over 50 years ago... July 1, 1968.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Note that the SD40 is having its C&NW number applied.  Much of the CGW was abandoned within a few years of the merger, mostly because it didn't serve any major intermediate points.

[Miningman]

In this picture we see a rather robust looking pipe laid out on the running board of the locomotive, but it leads to no where, is open ended not connecting back to anything within the locomotive  This had a very specific purpose in this case, although there could be other reasons. 

What is the very specific purpose and some other purposes?

P2 class 5361 on the shop track Chalk River August 1955 when it was just another P2. Dr. Richard Leonard 

[rcdrye]

Cold boiler fill?

[Overmod]

Supply for a fire train?  (Or ROW maintenance train needing hosedown to prevent fires...)

[Miningman]

rcdrye-- No

Overmod-- No