I just watched the "Mallard" film, just wonderful, and honestly I was surprised to see how small "Mallard" is compared to an American locomotive.
Big enough to get the job done though!
I was struck by the narrators "question" of bringing a priceless artefact like "Mallard" out of the museum and putting it under steam on the mainline again. As a British friend of mine would have said "Why not? That's what it was made for!"
Oh yeah, that cameraman out on that bare iron made my skin crawl as well, but I strongly suspect there was a finished floor under him, out of sight, probably no more than a ten foot drop, "If worse comes to worst."
And lighting up a smoke! Talk about savoir-faire!
Camera trucks tearing around like crazy? They'd only do that now for silly-ass celebrities like the Kardashians of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey," or "Orange County," or something.
Different world now, and in some ways not necessarily a better one.
daveklepperAre A4s only hand-fired? Or do they havepeed stokers?
A4s have always been hand-fired - astounding as that may seem. They are small enough locomotives that lack of a stoker does not impair their ability to run at high speed; on the other hand the often-quoted observation that a narrow-firebox engine like a Castle or King can cover the same size train to much the same timekeeping may be an indication that the full potential of radiant uptake is not being fully realized. We might remember that even after many A locomotives had been designed and built, PRR specified the K5, a much larger engine, as obligate hand-fired, and it essentially took an 'act of Congress' to change that.
I think the general perception in Britain was that stokers were wasteful of fuel, excessively expensive (there would be similar reasons for boosters not to be adopted, after some fascinating experiments) and probably seen as unnecessary when you were paying someone to shovel...
Miningman Fireman Tommy Bray, driver Joseph Luddington and inspector Sid Jenkins, July 7, 1938
I had the privilege and pleasure, summer 1960, of seeing A4 Kingfisher, serviced at the Aberdeen Engine Sheds and then riding behind her to Edinburgh, regular service, including crossing the marvelous Firth of Forth Bridge.
Are A4s only hand-fired? Or do they have stokers?
Flintlock76 Any idea what the composition of the "curtain" was?
Any idea what the composition of the "curtain" was?
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
That's the spirit Penny! Of course!
Thanks for the video Wayne. Can't get over that camera guy up way up there on the beams. Lugging all that equipment, wearing a suit no less, then lights up a smoke! I get the willies just watching it. Also the cameramen on the roofs of the 'News' trucks as they speed across the field. Can you imagine that today? No way, no how.
Miningman2) The Graf Zeppelin arrives in New York to a grand welcome in 1929. A big model toy of this always went nicely along with your trainset.
I agree wholeheartedly!
The Graf, the Hindenburg, the R100 and the R101!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Now here's a question for you chemistry majors out there.
That photo of the "Graf Zeppelin" making it's entry through a "Curtain in the sky." That shot's a still from a newsreel film of the G-Z making it's arrival in New York, and (for lack of a better term) a crop-duster airplane passed in front of it laying the "curtain."
PS: Here's the whole arrival sequence. What a day it must have been!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG_wnJeH0fk
That was very nice Overmod, luv the sweeping overhead sequences in the countryside long before drones. The narrator did say the helicopter had a difficult time keeping up with Mallard. Sure glad they gave the cricket score at 12 minutes and something, I mean we all want to know right?
Not often in a flick like this we get to see a few of the technical innovations and details inside the smoke box.
Why not cheer you up with this? A sort of English counterpart to the '69 Mistral film...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXPSSM00e-E
I need a little cheering up after getting chewed and spit out at the Casino today so humour me a bit fellas with your take on these. (Otherwise a great day, made one mistake, one lousy crappy error in judgement ... well ok three, but it only took like 12 minutes for the hard fall)
1) They had a handle on this a long long time ago, so don't think we came up with the brilliant idea.
2) The Graf Zeppelin arrives in New York to a grand welcome in 1929. A big model toy of this always went nicely along with your trainset.
3). The mighty Pennsylvannia RR has become nothing more than a ghost. I think Dickens could have a field day with this.. it's quite a stunner and very inspirational.
4) Well not weird but here is the Carlton Trail Railway bridge spanning the North Saskatchewan River in Prince Albert, Sask. Built in 1907-1909 it's still a dandy.
Ex CNR, nee Canadian Northern. I'm crossing on the parallel Diefenbaker bridge as I approach PA with a considerably fatter wallet.
I'm really impressed the SNCF didn't shoot that promotional film for the Mistral on cheap film, it looks as good today as it did 50 years ago.
M636CHere is the very French SNCF introductory video for the 1969 Mistral
I did not appreciate the classic Australian understatement in this sentence until watching the video. Note the testicle reference at 3:08 and the bare bottom at 5:25, and the contrast between the poor girl eating plopped-down whole fish at the Eiffel Tower and having an elegant dinner on the Mistral. Who but the French would use a jew's-harp as a lead instrument? The design language of the late Sixties is there ... but ... different. See the cutting-edge typewriter from Italy, and wouldn't you think somebody would smack that guy merrily dictating into his handheld?
And what is that thing the executive type is working on at 6:01?
We prided ourselves on the Century having a cubicle for a barbershop at 85mph. The French have a hair salon at 125. There seems little comparison.
Thanks!
I thought for many years that the 'Taiga Drums' in Russia were their free-piston experiments, but Juniatha (of sainted memory) mentioned they were OP engines
In fact the Taigatrommel were the M62, a class built for export with a Russian interpretation of an EMD 567 without any of the clever engineering (the Kolomna 14D40) which had a turbocharger in series with a roots bower, like the early UP experiments.
I only remember the later 1969 Mistral. Here is the very French SNCF introductory video for the 1969 Mistral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3MXTJ37CSo
I really liked the 1969 Mistral and the slightly later Grand Confort cars. I was most disappointed in the TGV which in no way matched the quality of accomodation in those trains. The locomotive hauled trains were allowed 200km/h (125mph) and could probably have run faster on the Lignes de Grande Vitesse.
Peter
M636CDon't forget EMD and the FG9. The locomotive was built but I can't say if it was ever tested.
The carbody was built, but to my knowledge much of the mechanical arrangement that would have gone inside was never finished. Reminiscent perhaps of the 'production order' of PRR L1 electrics (built by Lima!) which never finished getting electrical gear although apparently complete right down to window glazing.
Don Strack has an interesting report on the history of free-piston locomotives, including the FG9, here.
But the French had a few of these... neither [source] indicates the loud pulsing sound that I understand these things had..
The two 'later' models, with higher horsepower out of two turbines of 1100kW apiece, were 060-GA-1, assigned road numbers CC80000 and 80001. Tantalizingly enough, I am advised Renault owns 80001 and intends to put it in a museum of the company's technical achievements. (I am also advised that an HO model of these locomotives was produced; now I have to try tracking one down...)
The documentation online indicates that the nickname "Belphegor" was applied after the locomotive was converted to diesel ... which seems unusual. I thought for many years that the 'Taiga Drums' in Russia were their free-piston experiments, but Juniatha (of sainted memory) mentioned they were OP engines, and perhaps the conversion of 80001 involved a similar booming exhaust. Perhaps we can find out!
The intake boom seems 'silenceable' to me if there is sufficient precompression of the intake air (via an approach like BLH's 'turbocharger' into a suitably-shaped pressure tank. These engines can run at almost ungodly compression ratios (and both the displacement per stroke and CR are adjustable while running) so comparatively high pressure is possible, and this limits the intake pressure excursions that produced the BOOMing observed on the Patterson.
... the interior shots of 040-GA-1 are great. I'm a bit worried by all the belt drives. Note the mechanics, smoking and without ear protection...
The whole affair is almost quintessentially French; you can't help but love it. You haven't seen worrisome belt drives until you see what drives the water pump on a Baldwin RS-12; these are just unusual for lacking any sort of safety guard whatsoever.
The following entry on BB-9003 is good too. The rotating camshaft controller shows what real electric locmotives were, and remember, this unit made a world speed record later....
These locomotives were the equivalent of spacecraft to me when I was a child: faster than hell, and the power used on the Mistral, the fastest train in the world. Note that this is so early they don't have Faiveley pans yet.
Along with them was the CC7100 class (the other locomotive class that went over 200mph in 1955, but the one that I believed wrecked the track so dramatically). These are the locomotives, and the electrification scheme, for which Chapelon's advanced steam development was sacrificed, but I find I love them no less for that. Note the suspiciously American Commonwealth tender truck at 5:05.
Here is the Mistral in 1956.
Miningman Cubed water makes less mess and very efficient! Kind of sort of anyway.
Cubed water makes less mess and very efficient! Kind of sort of anyway.
Analagous to sugar cubes, I guess..?
I'm with you on "Little Zip". It's ugly but it seems to grow on me sometimes.
I always thought the Baldwin looked more like a dolphin.
I thought Canadian steam only took cubed water from tower spouts.
the free-piston engine that progressively sank Hamilton, then Lima-Hamilton, then Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton as the true 'turbine of the future' that didn't have the high TIT and lavish compressor horsepower issues that conventional gas turbines at railroad size and power did.
Don't forget EMD and the FG9.
The locomotive was built but I can't say if it was ever tested.
But the French had a few of these... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5FCyc46QHI
And an excellent animation of the Pescara system:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_turbine_locomotive
However neither of these indicate the loud pulsing sound that I understand these things had..
But the interior shots of 040-GA-1 are great. I'm a bit worried by all the belt drives. Note the mechanics, smoking and without ear protection...
Overmod Interesting how Baldwin retouched the picture of PRR 6200 so it has either Baldwin Disc or Boxpok driver centers (actually looks like a little of both in the picture). I look at that list of Baldwin companies with some sadness. Didn't they have participation in General Steel Castings at that point?
Interesting how Baldwin retouched the picture of PRR 6200 so it has either Baldwin Disc or Boxpok driver centers (actually looks like a little of both in the picture). I look at that list of Baldwin companies with some sadness. Didn't they have participation in General Steel Castings at that point?
I was under the impression that GSC was owned by Baldwin at the time. I also recall that GSC was making some impressive castings for non-railroad use such as ships propellers and the beds for very large material testing machines.
MiningmanIt appears to me that Baldwin really put a lot of time, effort, monies and hope including a great deal of vision for the future. Consider the Turbine attempts. The Pennsy S2 1946 ( steam/coal), the C&O M1's 1947-48 ( steam/ coal), B-W Demonstrator # 4000 1950 ( gas/bunker C), and the N&W Jawn Henry 1954 ( steam/coal).
We shouldn't leave out the BCR coal turbine (especially since it did have a sequel tested at full locomotive scale ... and what a scale!) or the free-piston engine that progressively sank Hamilton, then Lima-Hamilton, then Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton as the true 'turbine of the future' that didn't have the high TIT and lavish compressor horsepower issues that conventional gas turbines at railroad size and power did.
I'm personally sad that Ingalls never built their contemporary high-speed passenger unit, which would have made #4000 look ridiculously expensive and fuel-inefficient by comparison (as well as being inherently quite a bit faster and more rail-friendly at high speed). Now, if you used turbine in place of diesel power, that transmission might have given some highly interesting results...
From Mike: A much clearer image
If you click on the link here you will get a super clean image and can read the text
http://www.jumpingfrog.com/images/magazineads7/mgd9215.jpg
https://www.thejumpingfrog.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=1757484
Yes, it was nicknamed the Blue Goose because of its powder blue paint and causes confusion with the Santa Fe's only streamlined steam locomotive also painted powder blue and called the Blue Goose.
It appears to me that Baldwin really put a lot of time, effort, monies and hope including a great deal of vision for the future. Consider the Turbine attempts. The Pennsy S2 1946 ( steam/coal), the C&O M1's 1947-48 ( steam/ coal), B-W Demonstrator # 4000 1950 ( gas/bunker C), and the N&W Jawn Henry 1954 ( steam/coal).
The point being they were not standing still and took a bold path. Considering all the very fast changes, from war production and steam locomotives to the sudden and somewhat unanticipated demise of steam so quickly, in the blink of an eye really, all those traumas were hard to keep up with. Throw in all those survival mergers with Hamilton and Lima, things were really spinning fast. Westinghouse abondoning them by exiting the locomotive business entirely certainly added to the mess.
It must have been quite something to open the doors every morning at Baldwin, swimming in wartime cash, a workforce and professionals mired in steam technology, more returning loyal workforce from military service, facing Diesel catch up at a frantic pace, the clock ticking at warp speed and shareholder demands. Plus the hopes for the future in Turbines. They at least tried very hard for 8 years in one way or another.
I think the #4000 demonstrator proved sucessful but it was designed primarily as a high speed passenger locomotive at the exact same time that passenger service started its fast decline and other well established models from other builders were already built and filling that role.
Re: UP "Little Zip". The paint job matches what I remember being described in Kratville's book on the UP Streamliners. The gray came later.
2) The "Westinghouse Engineer" had a writeup on the gas turbine locomotive in a 1948 or '49 issue. One of the foci of the article was the Westinghouse developed alloy for the turbine blades, that, IIRC, allowed for a 1200F turbine inlet temperature. My guess is that most railroads were turned off by the fuel consumption, though the turbine exhaust would have been a good source of heat for steam generators - IIRC, the locomotive was intended for passenger service. I would think an exhaust driven steam generator would have kept the steam ejector A/C units happy.
Here's a slightly better resolution:
https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/143405268189_/Penn-Central-Despatch-Shops-Inc-Sw8.jpg
Despatch as in "Merchants Despatch", the legendary refrigerator car line. This was the shop switcher at their East Rochester, NY facility.
We've been enjoying mostly warm weather so far this winter, with daytime highs usually only a few degrees below freezing (T-shirt weather). But it's going to get cold in about a week.
Yes a water tower, there were many many like it across the land. Have one still standing a few hours down the road from me.
July is nice... it would be all golden fields of wheat and canola. Not so much in Nov. all the way to May. So we curl. And watch hockey.
At least the Dude gets Chinooks in Edmonton but I'm afraid there is no such reprieve for us North Westeners on the Shield. The Northern Lights are nice. Fishing is good. Gimme time, I'll find another good thing.
Great assortment of pictures, let me take them seriatim...
Photo 1. Yeah, that looks like something out of "Dune" all right. That was one weird movie, the one with Kyle MacLachlan and Jose Ferrer. I watched it once and got the impression you needed to have smoked at least three doobies to make sense out of it. I heard there were sequels planned titled, "Lorna Dune," "Howya Dune," and "What-cha Dune?" but since the first "Dune" bombed they dropped plans for the sequels.
Photo 2. Speakin' of doobies, what were they smokin' at Baldwin?
Photo 3. The Penn Central was described as "A marriage made in Hell and the bride wore black!" Hence the funereal black paint schemes on PC engines.
Except for that switcher. It looks pretty good! Must have been a bridesmaid.
Photo 4. My God, it's July in Moosejaw! Rough stuff all right!
Seriously though, that's a water tower in the picture, isn't it? One of the insulated and reinforced ones?
I gotta stop, I fell asleep watching "Antiques Roadshow," woke up suddenly and I'm still groggy. When did I start watching TV like Dad used to? Scary...
A very interesting and well done rendition of the Union Pacific M-10000. In the at least 50 years I have known and seen the M-10000 I have vasilated between liking it and really not liking it and have still not settled one way or the other. Well it's quite colourful in this presentation and looks like something from the movie 'Dune'. They did afterall call it the 'worm'.
2) Another possible not too pleasant design was the Baldwin Turbine. I think Loewy had a hand in this. The schnoze is way too overdone. If the Pennsy had sharks then this is a killer whale. Apparently it worked ok but alas no orders for poor old Baldwin.
3) What is going on here? Penn Central logo, weird paint scheme, and it actually looks nice! Can't read the road name along the side.. too fuzzy.
4) Just in case you guys, who enjoy much more temperate climates, have forgotten about us in the land of living skies and Northern Lights, a reminder that we are really really .. really...cold up here.
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