Trains.com

Some Random Classic Pics perhaps worthy of Discussion

43500 views
725 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, November 23, 2019 9:03 PM

The bottom of that Detroit-Superior bridge!  Wow, what fantastic iron work!  A work of art in its own right.  Just look at it!  I just don't have the words.  

As amazing as any of the lost Seven Wonders.

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, November 23, 2019 9:37 PM

Penny Trains

Thanks!  Big Smile

I tip-toed through my photo box today and enhanced a few more.

...

I'm not sure which railroad owned this bridge but Whiskey Island and the Pennsy Huletts are off to the right (out of frame) so it could have been theirs:

And I decided to rescan these two and see if I could punch them up a bit:

B&O had 3 Bascule rolling lift drawbridges in Cleveland.  Bridge 460 at the North end of B&O's Clark Ave. Yard.  Bridge 463 & Bridge 464 were about a block apart, and were operated by the same individual, on the B&O line to the interchange with the NYC at Whiskey Island.  It was less than 50 car lengths between the North End of Bridge 464 and the entrance to the Whiskey Island interchange track - each track holding 35 cars and when the B&O engine pulled the last cut of a 100 car coal train into the interchange, they had to get permission from the NYC Operator at Drawbridge to open the switch at the West end of the interchange and use the NYC Main to run back to the East end and clear back into B&O trackage - Permission could not be grated until the last Controlled Signal on that track had been set to stop - That Controlled Signal was at Elyria - it could take HOURS to get the engines back on B&O track.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Parma Heights Ohio
  • 3,442 posts
Posted by Penny Trains on Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:07 PM

BaltACD

 

 
Penny Trains

Thanks!  Big Smile

I tip-toed through my photo box today and enhanced a few more.

...

I'm not sure which railroad owned this bridge but Whiskey Island and the Pennsy Huletts are off to the right (out of frame) so it could have been theirs:

And I decided to rescan these two and see if I could punch them up a bit:

 

 

B&O had 3 Bascule rolling lift drawbridges in Cleveland.  Bridge 460 at the North end of B&O's Clark Ave. Yard.  Bridge 463 & Bridge 464 were about a block apart, and were operated by the same individual, on the B&O line to the interchange with the NYC at Whiskey Island.  It was less than 50 car lengths between the North End of Bridge 464 and the entrance to the Whiskey Island interchange track - each track holding 35 cars and when the B&O engine pulled the last cut of a 100 car coal train into the interchange, they had to get permission from the NYC Operator at Drawbridge to open the switch at the West end of the interchange and use the NYC Main to run back to the East end and clear back into B&O trackage - Permission could not be grated until the last Controlled Signal on that track had been set to stop - That Controlled Signal was at Elyria - it could take HOURS to get the engines back on B&O track.

 

OK.  So then what I captured was both B&O bridges on the west bank?  In the "rowing" photo you can see the tip of the bridge by Shooter's poking up above the power house.

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Parma Heights Ohio
  • 3,442 posts
Posted by Penny Trains on Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:32 PM

Flintlock76

The bottom of that Detroit-Superior bridge!  Wow, what fantastic iron work!  A work of art in its own right.  Just look at it!  I just don't have the words.  

As amazing as any of the lost Seven Wonders.

 

This is what the best part looked like:

This next one always makes me think of Jimmy Stewart.  Wink

And this one makes me think of Sinatra.

This is one of my favorites:

I couldn't find a photo but rumor has it acrophobes were well advised to keep their eyes inside the car while passing over the steel arch section as there were only ties between you and the river 90 feet below!  Tongue Tied

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:51 PM

Great stuff Becky!  Thanks a lot!

You know, there's a lesson in all this.  As railfans we can get fixated on our own neck of the woods to the exclusion of others and lose sight of the fact there's a whole lot of ralroadin' world out there, not just trains but architecture as well.  I'm ashamed to admit I never would have thought Cleveland had such structures in and around it.   Not that I'm an East Coast snob mind you, I've driven this country from New Jersey to California and seen a lot, but it never entered my mind.  

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 1,530 posts
Posted by NKP guy on Monday, November 25, 2019 8:09 AM

Flintlock76
Not that I'm an East Coast snob mind you, I've driven this country from New Jersey to

   Years ago a New York City woman of about 50 asked my friend where he was from.  When he replied Dubuque, Iowa she laughed and said, "We pronounce it Ohio here."

   New Yorkers are sometimes very provincial people themselves.

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, November 25, 2019 1:25 PM

NKP guy

 

 
Flintlock76
Not that I'm an East Coast snob mind you, I've driven this country from New Jersey to

 

   Years ago a New York City woman of about 50 asked my friend where he was from.  When he replied Dubuque, Iowa she laughed and said, "We pronounce it Ohio here."

   New Yorkers are sometimes very provincial people themselves.

 

They can be brother.

Ever see that "New Yorker" magazine cover (made into a famous poster) where New York City prominantly occupies most of the foreground, and in great detail, but the rest of the country shrinks to insignificance west of the Hudson River?

Certainly meant as a joke, but remember, for joke to be funny it has to have a grain of truth to it. 

Found it.

http://www.mappingthenation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Rumsey-Steinberg-New-Yorker-1976.jpg  

Seeing my native New Jersey reduced to a miserable strip makes me want to do THIS...

https://www.njpalisades.org/images/fortleeCannon.jpg  

OOO-RAH!  And don't think that 32-pounder wouldn't hit the city either!  

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Parma Heights Ohio
  • 3,442 posts
Posted by Penny Trains on Monday, November 25, 2019 6:39 PM

Why bother.  It won't be too much longer.

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, November 25, 2019 6:42 PM

And people say global warming leading to a rise in sea level's a bad thing...

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Thursday, November 28, 2019 9:01 PM

Flintlock76
Ever see that "New Yorker" magazine cover (made into a famous poster)

...

Well, how about this?

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 6,199 posts
Posted by Miningman on Thursday, November 28, 2019 10:45 PM

The Milwaukee Road is my #1 pick for the 'All American Railroad' so I agree entirely with the depiction. 

Last time I was there I purchased a purple suede SHIRT! It was the heaviest shirt I ever owned and you could not wear it on a hot day, but let me tell ya, I looked smashing. Very special occasions only! Made in Milwaukee. 

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, November 29, 2019 7:28 AM

Overmod
 
Flintlock76
Ever see that "New Yorker" magazine cover (made into a famous poster)

 

...

 

Well, how about this?

 

That's cool, I don't mind a city from Flyover Country crowing a bit, especially considering all the great cheese and beer that comes out of Milwaukee!

Holy ground as well, considering David. P. Morgan used to work there!

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Friday, November 29, 2019 7:59 PM

Of course, a great deal of the cleverness goes out of Steinberg's cover when you know where it came from (Chicago Tribune, 1922)

Much more amusing (to this native New Yorker, at least) was the 1936 guide from Columbia Press with the slightly more complete map of the United States according to we:

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, November 30, 2019 7:46 AM

Well, at least that 1936 map gives New Jersey slightly better representation.

I won't load up that 32 pounder.  This time.

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, November 30, 2019 10:45 AM

Wayne, does still a good bit of the fresh food still come from the Garden State?

For the benefit of those who are not up on their cannonology, the "32 pounder" refers to the weight of the ball. The cannon itself weighs a good bit more.

Johnny

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 6,199 posts
Posted by Miningman on Sunday, December 1, 2019 8:28 PM

Can't let 24 hours go by with not a single peep on Classic so here's a couple of interesting pics for sure.

  

Now then, the above certainly looks like a terribly inefficient way to ice a reefer... There are 4 hatches after all on 2 sides! This could take some time but I'm sure someone will explain what a good idea this really is. 

 

Here is something you will never ever witness again. Steam tractors, from the factory, being unloaded from a flat car spotted on a siding at the station. Must have been a day of excitement and anticipation. 

 

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, December 1, 2019 9:03 PM

Deggesty

Wayne, does still a good bit of the fresh food still come from the Garden State?

For the benefit of those who are not up on their cannonology, the "32 pounder" refers to the weight of the ball. The cannon itself weighs a good bit more.

 

Quite a bit does Johnny, but New Jersey isn't the agricultural powerhouse it was decades ago.  A lot of farms have disappeared under developments.  Can't blame them really, if I was "Farmer Jones" and a developer came along and offered me several millions for the "ol' spread" I'd have a hard time saying no myself.

Oh, that 32 pounder?  With a standard eight pound powder charge and a five degree elevation on the tube the range would be 1.1 miles.  No problem shooting over the Hudson and "waking up" Manhattan!

Wayne

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, December 1, 2019 9:08 PM

Miningman

Can't let 24 hours go by with not a single peep on Classic so here's a couple of interesting pics for sure.

  

Now then, the above certainly looks like a terribly inefficient way to ice a reefer... There are 4 hatches after all on 2 sides! This could take some time but I'm sure someone will explain what a good idea this really is. 

 

Here is something you will never ever witness again. Steam tractors, from the factory, being unloaded from a flat car spotted on a siding at the station. Must have been a day of excitement and anticipation. 

 

 

Any of you folks ever see steam tractors in operation?  Oh-so-cool!  Really, they're miniature steam locomotives that don't need tracks, and the care and feeding of a steam tractor is exactly the same as for a steam locomotive.

I'd just love to have one to ride around the block in!

Also, some of what look like steam tractors weren't tractors at all, but portable steam engines that were pulled by horses to wherever the work was.

  • Member since
    September 2011
  • 6,449 posts
Posted by MidlandMike on Sunday, December 1, 2019 9:43 PM

We have a steam engine and old tractor association nearby.  Those steam tractors ran on a variety of fuels includung corn cobs.  They also have a 0-4-0 and a loop of track, and stationary steam engines.

  • Member since
    December 2017
  • From: I've been everywhere, man
  • 4,269 posts
Posted by SD70Dude on Sunday, December 1, 2019 10:33 PM

A lot of the early steam tractors functioned as portable power plants.  Able to move out into the field or bush and then run other machinery, while burning the byproducts of whatever process they were running.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 5,017 posts
Posted by rcdrye on Monday, December 2, 2019 6:52 PM

Miningman
  Now then, the above certainly looks like a terribly inefficient way to ice a reefer... There are 4 hatches after all on 2 sides! This could take some time but I'm sure someone will explain what a good idea this really is. 

Not too bad if you don't have space for an ice dock.  The ice box goes on the forklift tongs (so you can use the forklift to load other things), something that would give a modern safety engineer the heeby-jeebies...

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Monday, December 2, 2019 7:50 PM

rcdrye

 

 
Miningman
  Now then, the above certainly looks like a terribly inefficient way to ice a reefer... There are 4 hatches after all on 2 sides! This could take some time but I'm sure someone will explain what a good idea this really is. 

 

Not too bad if you don't have space for an ice dock.  The ice box goes on the forklift tongs (so you can use the forklift to load other things), something that would give a modern safety engineer the heeby-jeebies...

 

 

Yes, indeed, that practice would have frowned upon by my forklift instructors. I am confident that the forklift operator was very careful to make sure that the load was well balanced.  I may be mistaken, but it looks as though the icebox is on a pallet, which adds stability.

When I was working, I had many occasions to operate a forklift--and my company required that all lift operators have certified instruction in the use of such. Once, I made use of newbies in their introductory class to move pallets of empty drums about (unstack and restack) as I was preparing them to be returned to the vendor for reuse.

Johnny

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Parma Heights Ohio
  • 3,442 posts
Posted by Penny Trains on Tuesday, December 3, 2019 7:16 PM

Believe it or not, I used to drive one every day!  I think my instruction went something like "you pull this lever and it goes down, you push it up and it goes up and if the back wheels come off the ground the load is too heavy!  Wink  That was the way it was at the home improvement store I worked at in the 90's.

By the way, probably the most unusual railroad item I have in my collection is a pallet branded for DB.

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

  • Member since
    December 2017
  • From: I've been everywhere, man
  • 4,269 posts
Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, December 4, 2019 12:09 AM

Penny Trains

Believe it or not, I used to drive one every day!  I think my instruction went something like "you pull this lever and it goes down, you push it up and it goes up and if the back wheels come off the ground the load is too heavy!  Wink  That was the way it was at the home improvement store I worked at in the 90's.

This comes to mind.  "Pull the lever Becky!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_L5Z5z5w4s

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, December 4, 2019 10:29 AM

Penny Trains

Believe it or not, I used to drive one every day!  I think my instruction went something like "you pull this lever and it goes down, you push it up and it goes up and if the back wheels come off the ground the load is too heavy!  Wink  That was the way it was at the home improvement store I worked at in the 90's.

By the way, probably the most unusual railroad item I have in my collection is a pallet branded for DB.

 

Yes, Becky--if the rear wheels go up, the load is too heavy. I had that experience once; I was asked to take a new peice of equipment off a truck--and the rear end rose up as I  attempted to lift it; two men who were standing by asked if I wanted them to sit on the rear and I told that I did not. Since I was not able to help in the situation, I left, taking the forklift with me. I do not know how the equipment was moved, but it was, and put into service. 

Johnny

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 6,199 posts
Posted by Miningman on Friday, December 13, 2019 9:47 PM

1). Buffalo's Central Terminal on a moonlit night.  It is an artists rendition. On the far left is a Pennsy K4. Is this right?  Did PRR use this station?  On the far right is what I suppose is a PA, but it looks a bit too pointy. 

 

2) Another artist rendition. I just like it. It's the opposite of all those glitzy streamliners. Soo Line with a local run somewhere out there on the prairie. I can well remember trains like this... the CPR ran many that were almost a carbon copy of this scene and with their control of the Soo Line you can see the influence. They were all gone by 1959. The CNR train I took to Port Dover with my grandma each summer was just like this but it would be green cars and a Mogul up front. 

 

3)  Ok no more paintings.  How about a nifty action shot broadsides of a Pennsy Q2.  Short lived magnificient machines. 

 

4)  We have been discussing the NYO&W recently so here's a pic postcard of their station in Ellenville along the beautiful rustic and rural lines. 

Also fast forward to today and an old long ago closed Anthracite mine that apparently is still standing in Ellenville.

 

 

 

  • Member since
    April 2018
  • 1,618 posts
Posted by Jones1945 on Friday, December 13, 2019 11:06 PM

Miningman

1). Buffalo's Central Terminal on a moonlit night.  It is an artists rendition. On the far left is a Pennsy K4. Is this right?  Did PRR use this station?  On the far right is what I suppose is a PA, but it looks a bit too pointy. 

Always love to see those Art Deco skyscrapers lit up the building from the setback. PRR had trains used the Station, one of them is recorded in this video:

According to this file, some PRR trains ran between Buffalo and other major cities, but I am not sure if all of them stoped in the Buffalo Terminal:

http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/Hagley/PRR%20NAMED%20TRAINS.pdf

Baltimore Day Express, Buffalo Day Express, Northern Express, Pittsburgh Night Express, Southern Express, etc., : )

Miningman

3)  Ok no more paintings.  How about a nifty action shot broadsides of a Pennsy Q2.  Short lived magnificient machines. 

And they were entirely built by PRR's Altoona shops, all by PRR! The concent of Duplex came from Baldwin but these magnificent steam engines had nothing to do with Baldwin. 

 

Miningman
Also fast forward to today and an old long ago closed Anthracite mine that apparently is still standing in Ellenville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReYbrlG4BAU

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, December 14, 2019 9:57 AM

Well, it's truly a wasted day if you don't learn something new!

When I saw the painting of that K4 at Buffalo Union Terminal I thought "No way! Absolutely not!  That's New York Central territory!  The NYC probably had artillery postitioned around the Terminal with special 'anti-Pennsy' shells loaded!  That painting's got to be an example of artistic license!"

And then Mr. Jones posted the video!  Well, what do you know? They DID go there!  I guess rivalry is one thing, but "Business is business!"

Anyone notice that Baldwin "Babyface" at the beginning of the video?

Love that painting of the Soo line local in the snow-covered landscape!  Perfect Christmas card stuff! 

And did you notive that funky ol' Camelback at the O&W station?

By the way, that Ellenville station is still standing, though heavily remodeled.  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7652577@N05/31612135350  

Not to nit-pick, but if that ramshackle old building is in Ellenville it can't be an old coal mine.  The O&W's coal came from the Scranton area.  It might  be an old coal retailers facility where the coal was sold to local customers. 

No coal mining in Ulster County NY, but there WAS mineral mining, and I'm sure Vince will find this interesting.

https://thediggings.com/usa/new-york/ulster-ny111/mines  

So maybe that old building is from a mine after all?

  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 5,017 posts
Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, December 14, 2019 10:06 AM

Buffalo Central was supposed to be "Union Station" for Buffalo, but in the end only PRR was a tenant.  Day and night trains to Harrisburg with through cars to Philadelphia and Washington, with advertised connections at Buffalo to MC-TH&B-CP trains to Toronto.  Also local service to Oil City PA.  By 1948 there was a discharge-only platform at Lord St. close to downtown, but no other Buffalo stations.

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 6,199 posts
Posted by Miningman on Saturday, December 14, 2019 12:27 PM

Those were Centipedes at the beginning of the video. Still in 5 stripe paint scheme. Maybe shortly after being bumped off the Broadway but still fairly new. Did not know they went into Buffalo service. 

Does anything match the complete fall of passenger service as Buffalo Central Terminal? From a nightly miracle of amazing amount of switching cars of numerous named trains to utter devastation and nothingness in short order. Perhaps the 'other end' of the CASO, Michigan Central Station in Detroit.

I still find it hard to believe. 

Flintlock/Wayne-- Well it's a Mine of some sort. Perhaps Zinc. I went with the photo caption yet again. Perhaps it was an Anthracite distrubuter/dealer but it has the characteristics of a Mine. 

Glad the Ellenville station remains.. it looks like it's well kept, but it has lost all its charm as a railroad station. That red door and red star makes me think it's a base for Chinese hackers! 

Old pictures in and around the town of Ellenville sure make it look like a very charming and desirable place to live. 

SUBSCRIBER & MEMBER LOGIN

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

FREE NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Get the Classic Trains twice-monthly newsletter