I'm quite familiar with the U-4a's. It's just that they, and most other steam, were long turned into razor blades before I was aware of their existence. Consequently, steam means little to nothing to me.
The most beautiful 0-8-0 ever desiged were the three rostered by the IHB with high mounted Elesco feedwaterheater, offset bell, and booster mounted on the front tender truck. No, I never got to witness them, but they have appeared in model, both HO and O scale, in brass and plastic. I often wondered why John Allen never acquired one for his Gorre & Daphetid?
Nice try again guys...well, I guess CSSHEGEWISCH never heard of IHB 0-8-0's! ...and RME if steam had to double the hill, well that would be a spectacular sight with steam cocks blowing, wheels slipping and gripping, exhaust sounds alone would be unmatched. Plus we get to see twice the show with an instant replay. Not even close dudes! Of course you could always try again, maybe savour the sights, sounds and smell of a city bus and rethink things.
CSSHEGEWISCHHowever, miningman must have never heard three NW2's working their guts out on the IHB with a train load of coils, bars, plates, etc. It's something to behold.
As was just about anything going uphill over San Gorgonio Pass in the Coachella Valley -- the glorious experience changing as engine technology did. I particularly liked being able to sit at Hadleys (wish I liked those date shakes!) in the mid-Nineties with periodic distributed power down in the corner and shakin'.
I was also privileged to observe a couple of SW units at 'eleven-tenths' in Shreveport, on KCS, pulling a long dead string of cars up a fairly steep approach grade. One had creep control, and it was interesting to hear the wheels ringing with the frequency corresponding to the many 'make-and-breaks' in traction, almost like a groan, while the other remained silent but somewhat derated. This was sustained in Run 8 and forward motion was just barely visible, something I have only seen on AC units a couple of times since: you almost needed a visual parallax reference or a stain on a wheelrim to notice the progress. Historic steam would have given up the ghost and probably doubled or tripled the load long before.
I have no interest in steam, mostly because I barely remember it (NKP 2-8-4's only). Everything else, including NKP passenger trains and switchers, was diesel-electric powered (except South Shore Line). However, miningman must have never heard three NW2's working their guts out on the IHB with a train load of coils, bars, plates, etc. It's something to behold.
That's interesting. The only Daily Planet building I remember is the one from the 50's TV show, and that's actually the Los Angeles city hall.
But in the rest of the country, who'd know?
Eeeeeeeeehhh! Wrong answer! Siegel and Schuster grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. The Daily Planet was based on the Ohio Bell Telephone Building: http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cut/id/3417/rec/62. This was the bustling metropolis they knew: http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/brookins/id/195/rec/3
Anyhoo. Back to the topic at hand. I like Alcos.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
MiningmanBuses...thats a different cookie...now those I hated and still do! You can take your bus and shove it.
Locally the city transportation agency is touting the 'hybrid diesel-electric' technology of their busses. Only an idea that is now approaching 100 years old.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
RME- Thanks for the Anita Morris reminder...I've forgotten more than I know! Only the good die young...what a talent!
Now I just knew this would happen...but I never stated that I hated diesels...I distinctly hedged that saying I disliked them when they first came out en masse and started to seriously put away my beloved steam...and they did all look the same and the subtle differences meant nothing, nor did I appreciate the sounds emanating from them...later on I did, at least somewhat.
Buses...thats a different cookie...now those I hated and still do! You can take your bus and shove it.
Firelock76Per RME's earlier mention of Angie Everhart I've got to admit I drew a total blank on that one, so I had to look her up. Not bad, not bad at all.
And 20 years later I still have a hard time accepting that Anita Morris is gone. Everything she did was so full of life...
Per RME's earlier mention of Angie Everhart I've got to admit I drew a total blank on that one, so I had to look her up.
Not bad, not bad at all.
In my case, after 40 years I've still got a crush on Jenny Agutter.
And I have to add, I don't hate diesels, in fact they can be pretty interesting once you realize they're the only ball game in town and can be quite dramatic in their own way. And in this day of run-through power when you're trackside you just might see anything.
But it ain't steam. It's just not the same.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/superman/superstar.html
Trinity River Bottoms BoomerThe idea of the gold robbery in modern times may be where the late Hollister Noble took his for the novel he wrote, published by Doubleday in 1954, "One Way to Eldorado". You can find it if you visit www.abebooks.com and search the title.
Better yet, sign up and take fourteen days to read it free.
Wow, count the Goosebumps! Despite the fact I passed Milepost 70 on the Fourth of July I still get a thrill watching Superman.* This is a Baby Boomer Bonus proving you only grow old if you let the aging process take possession of your mind.
Now for comments from the Peanut Gallery:
1. Neat train. The streamlined bullet nosed locomotive is a 4-8-4.
2. Position Light Signal. N&W used them. It was controlled by the PRR was it not? A semaphore signal is also shown in the clip. Might be on the New Haven. The cars appear to be close to the "American Flyer" cars that New Haven rostered.
OK, so the cartoon illustrator took some artistic liberties. Still cool!
3. Lois Lane could handle the throttle of the locomotive as well as the tommy gun. (Lady railfans take note!:)
Item: With the outcome of the election this year, we need Superman to save the world more than ever now! When he makes his return to earth will he leap over the Trump Tower in a single bound? Afterall, Metropolis was intended to be New York City was it not and will Amtrak put on a Billion Dollar Limited after Trump takes office?
Thanks so much for giving us a trip down Memory Lane. It made my day!
The idea of the gold robbery in modern times may be where the late Hollister Noble took his for the novel he wrote, published by Doubleday in 1954, "One Way to Eldorado". You can find it if you visit www.abebooks.com and search the title. It was even selected as a Book of the Month Club choice when released. The mythical Great Western Ry. has overtones of ATSF, SP, UP, and WP. Still a good read after some 62 years!
* Superman (Reg.U.S.Pat.Off.) is used here without permission from DC Comics. Tar & Feather me if you must but please don't make me eat crow!
Joe Toth, The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer of Dallas, Texas; Derailed in Deutschland.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING y'all! Pray for World Peace. We all win. Men, women, children, even Thomas the Tank Engine too!
Firelock76That was fun! Thanks RME! I didn't know Lois Lane could handle a tommy-gun...
I didn't know Lois Lane could handle a tommy-gun...
Evidently she could not obey Stop Signals.....
That was fun! Thanks RME!
Trinity River Bottoms BoomerThe first years of Superman, starring George Reeves, a GS Daylight 4-8-4 was featured in the beginning of each episode. The Diesel came later.
I remember the locomotive being a GS3 or as-built GS4, with the single headlight making the boiler look a bit fat and strange (I was only about 5, and to me the later GS4 smokebox door with the two lights looked 'normal'...) - wasn't this a publicity clip from around 1937, taken from stock? The color E units were MUCH clearer and brighter, probably shot right around the time the episodes were made.
If memory serves me well, in one of the Superman cartoons from the 40s, The Man of Steel saves a passenger train from certain disaster when he carries it across a ravine where a bridge has collapsed.
Complete with the N&W class A rendered as a 2-8-4, and perhaps the most famous and futuristic passenger locomotive in the world at the time rendered as a 4-8-4 with recognizable Fleet of Modernism-inspired cars behind it, here is...
(There is a restored version, but it displays on YouTube in the wrong aspect ratio, so I provide a version with correct proportions.) This was a memorable thing for a kid to watch, right up with 'Bulleteers' or the Speed Racer GRX reaching 'a dimension of ... pure speed'.
Firelock76- You should have saved that tidbit for the Classic Trains Question in case you are ever "up". Good one.
Absolutely right Mr. Trinity, the "Superman" shows in black-and-white had the GS locomotive, however when the show switched to color that's when the diesel showed up in it's Espee Daylight color scheme.
As an aside, I once asked a friend of mine who was quite a movie and TV buff just why the the later "Superman" shows (and the "Lone Ranger" shows) were filmed in color when so few homes in the country had color TV's at that time.
"That's easy," he said. "They were made for theatrical release in parts of the country that had no TV at all, and in the mid-to-late 50's there were still quite a few of them."
I thought I'd pass that along just in case anyone was wondering the same way I did.
The first years of Superman, starring George Reeves, a GS Daylight 4-8-4 was featured in the beginning of each episode. The Diesel came later. If memory serves me well, in one of the Superman cartoons from the 40s, The Man of Steel saves a passenger train from certain disaster when he carries it across a ravine where a bridge has collapsed.
I'm feeling old because I well remember that copy of the All Diesel Issue of Trains that a subscriber had torn in half. Wonder what it would bring on e-bay today had it survived?
BaltACD Nothing quite like the breathless prose of the 1940's
Nothing quite like the breathless prose of the 1940's
Thanks for posting this Balt! Those old railroad promo films may be over-the-top, but they sure are fun to watch!
A lot better than the crud that passes for TV nowadays.
wjstix- hmmmm...10 X louder?....Steam whistle's could be heard for great distances both coming and going...if you knew your hometown real well you could accurately ascertain where the loco was by the intensity or faintness of the whistle. I could hear them miles and miles away, coming from the escarpment and had plenty of time to get trackside at the station a few blocks away. Maybe Dave K. who is an accoutstics/sound specialist could enlighten us a bit on this. Pretty sure atmospheric conditions would play a role.
The point of my original post was not to start up steam vs. Diesel...I was not comparing today with the original massive transition era. It was a stirred up long past memory brought forth by that Photo of the Day. The recent gathering of first generation cab units in their original livery was an amazing event admired by all. I wish we had a Baldwin Centipede or Pennsy passenger shark BP-20 as part of it all.....but back then, well, ...not so much. As a pre teen (and later) watching a through passenger train at track speed headed by a CNR streamlined Northern was breathtaking, stunning, froze you in awe, was a marvel to behold....same train with diesels did nothing....all it conveyed to me was they took away the steam, ...four 567's meant nothing to me and sure didn't sound like anything pleasant at all. It took some time to come around. Same sentiment when we lost our streetcars in town, ripped up the tracks and put in buses. No bell, no clang, no whirr and hum, just stinky diesel exhaust. ( Hey..maybe there is something to this GM played real dirty conspiracy theory).
Wanswheel- Going through university with 4 roommates I can tell you we lived on Kraft Dinner...add lots of ketchup and, if we were especially flush, chopped up cheapo hot dog wieners. Nowadays my students live on those Chinese noodle packets with the add in flavour pack and dried add in vegetables. Hilarious to read "add in the vegetables" from a package smaller than a matchbook. Its like "Whaaaat?". You can get a months supply of this stuff for 20 bucks or less. Same thing only different!
Many of the early steam streamlined trains (and even some non-streamlined ones, like the original C&NW "400") had airhorns for the simple reason that they were much louder and carried much further than steam whistles did. When you're going 90-100 MPH you want to be sure the people driving up to the next grade crossing realize a train will be coming through in 15 seconds, even though you're still nearly a half mile away.
I grew up with the Minneapolis Northfield & Southern Ry., who went all diesel about 7-8 years before I was born. However, their Baldwin and FM (and later EMD) diesels all used Hancock air whistles, which sounded like a steam engine whistle. It was quite a shock the first time a Soo Line GP-9 came down the line after they bought the MNS, that BLAT airhorn was like 10 times louder than the Hancock air whistle had been.
Narrated by Ed Herlihy. Remember him for "Chicago 77, Illinois."
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/02/arts/ed-herlihy-89-a-voice-of-cheer-and-cheese.html
Now I forget just where I read this, but according to what I read the Espee's GS series steam locomotives had air horns for very practical reasons.
As the Coast Daylights and Coast Starlights ran along the California coast (duh!) they had to do some running in occasional fogs. According to the article the sound from the air horns penetrated the fog much better than a regular steam whistle.
Well that's what it said. The GS's did have steam whistles as well.
"A big, burly guy with a high-pitched voice..." Ever hear what the real General Patton sounded like? (You can find him easily on You Tube.) Let me tell you, he didn't sound like George C. Scott. Patton would have killed to have had a voice like Scott's!
HAAAMP is a great description of the Also RS series locomotives. The "bleat" horn downright terrible. Sad really. Would be better than nice to get C&O 490 back. 5550-how's it coming along?- (like really.) I got to keep my ticker going at least until it hits the rails. Good thing to look forward to, to keep one alive!
Miningman...and now the inevitable HOWEVER...not even close, in the ballpark or on the same planet as a NYC Hudson at speed, doubleheaded K4s ...
No, although I'd take AC4400s at speed over the teapot any time; I don't have the same love for the 'romance' of tiny and slow steam as you and so many others do.
The point I'm making is this: We may love watching people like Angie Everhart, but we also love watching the people we married. It doesn't have to be 'either-or' based on how amazing the best is. The point is, as Steven Stills said, you 'love the one you're with' -- and when 611 or 844 or 765 (in no particular order) are not in the neighborhood, you can enjoy the local dash-8 40 notching up, or watch for acquired-taste interesting details, without compromising your principles.
(And think of the fun when 5550 starts running, or we get C&O 490 out of the hole...)
The 'bleat' horn (A220 somewhat to the contrary) was, in part, an interesting sociological phenomenon: it was associated with the early high-speed motor trains (which imho could, and should, have been given chime horns early) and it was something like the 'status idle' of the S-class Mercedes diesels: a decidedly inferior thing that conveyed an idea of speed and sophistication that was largely if not wholly synthetic. Trains need a voice just as they need other aspects of sight and sound.
That said, I grew up with EL RS2s and -3s, and the "HAAAMP" of those horns is part of my childhood. Are they the equal of the K-class Pacifics they replaced? of course not. But they were fully worth watching and enjoying for what they were.
BaltACD and RME- Nice try guys. I'm not buying. The horn on the SP GS4's was nutty...chalk it up to California loopiness. It would be the tiebreaker in a most beautiful steam loco contest...the loser and now runner up: the GS4 on account of a dumb horn in lieu of a nice whistle. The GG1 horn was embarassing, especially considering the stateliness of the loco, like a big burly guy with a high pitched voice...not his fault but not a match either..yet considering the sheer volume of happenings in the corridors it ran in who could notice? Its like "What was that? Thats it's horn? Well that suc....oh look here comes something else".
Yes I must lament the passing of burbling Baldwins. The growl of F units and Geeps at night while I lay in bed...the wham wham hammering of Alco/Bombardier LRC locos on the front of Windsor-Toronto-Montreal trains as they pulled out of our local station...all very nice. ...and now the inevitable HOWEVER...not even close, in the ballpark or on the same planet as a NYC Hudson at speed, double headed K4's, a little Milwaukee Road teapot kicking cars around and departing with the local. As my aboriginal students say "Not Even!"
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