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Classic Train Questions Part Deux (50 Years or Older)

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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 9:43 PM

5400 with some pretty dirty classification flags! Date unknown. Montreal. Stan Styles/Bruce Chapman Collection
Note the steam supply pipe along running board. This was for steam powered work equipment such as a 
Lidgerwood machine. A number of these P2's had it. Different piping arrangement on some. See: 5361.

Both The CNR and the CPR used Lidgerwoods for roadbed, embankments and around the roundhouse duties, turning wheels and also used for equipment that needed steam supply, mostly winches.  The P2 2-8-2's were everyday hardworking reliable engines and were used on work and maintenance trains out on the road in addition to doing everything else. 

The Lidgerwood logo has to be one of the all time top ten logos on any list of bests.

 

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Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 9:05 PM

Well I did say other work equipment.

A Lidgerwood certainly falls into that category!

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 8:36 PM

Dude-- you are the closest so far. Your're in the ballpark. 

Think of a somewhat famous, even though somewhat overlooked, American Company, that has ties that can be traced going back to Matthias W. Baldwin himself, and was instrumental in the construction of the Panama Canal. 

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Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 8:03 PM

Well I'm about stumped.  Never did pay much attention in class when the CPR came up.

Could the pipe be for supplying steam to a crane, rotary snowplow, or other work equipment that is being pushed?

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 9:31 AM

Nice try Dave. Very imaginative. It is possible some of these guesses were actually practiced here and there but that would be like saying a screwdriver is used as a prying tool. Folks do that but that's not what it was designed for. 

A number of the P2's were equipped with this, for a use. Now the P2's were 2-8-2's, also a clue as to use. 

Mike emailed me right away and got it spot on hours after asking the question. Dat don't count though! 

So if Mike can do it so can others!

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 8:57 AM

OK.  A regular water-tank for taking on water on a regular run was out of commission for some reason, like diesilisatlon with some steam returned because of an unexpected business surge, or just lack of maintenance; and the hose was needed to draw water from a stream or fire truck or fire hydrantwat

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Posted by Miningman on Tuesday, October 23, 2018 10:05 AM

No siree!

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, October 23, 2018 9:58 AM

Steam to thaw frozen switches?  Steam to warm passenger equipment otherwise isolated because of special moves?  Steam to thaw frozen brakes? 

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, October 22, 2018 8:10 PM

I'll drop a hint... NDG!

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, October 22, 2018 6:37 PM

rcdrye-- No

Overmod-- No 

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, October 22, 2018 2:15 PM

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

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, October 22, 2018 1:59 PM

Cold boiler fill?

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, October 22, 2018 12:20 PM

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 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, October 22, 2018 10:11 AM

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.

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 rcdrye on Monday, October 22, 2018 7:03 AM

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.

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Posted by Miningman on Saturday, October 20, 2018 8:06 PM

  That has to be the Chicago Great Western! 

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, October 20, 2018 6:36 PM

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. 

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, October 20, 2018 4:41 PM

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.

Johnny

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, October 20, 2018 3:08 PM

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 .

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, October 17, 2018 7:28 AM

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 

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, October 17, 2018 7:14 AM

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.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, October 17, 2018 3:04 AM

Exactly.  Your question please?

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

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 7:23 AM

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

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 4:13 AM

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.

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, October 15, 2018 9:43 AM

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.

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, October 15, 2018 7:28 AM

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

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, October 13, 2018 12:46 PM

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.

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, October 13, 2018 8:18 AM

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.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 1:15 PM

We are waiting for rc's question.

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Posted by narig01 on Sunday, October 7, 2018 3:01 PM

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. 

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