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Some Random Classic Pics perhaps worthy of Discussion

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Posted by Penny Trains on Saturday, December 14, 2019 5:46 PM

Oh!  I love that painting!  Big Smile

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

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Posted by Miningman on Saturday, December 14, 2019 6:57 PM

Yeah I understand Penny.

What I would give for one night out on the platforms at Buffalo Central Terminal, say 1947-48 or so between 11pm and 4 am.  What a show. 

I was so close too.. geographically and time wise on the scale of things. 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, December 14, 2019 7:17 PM

Is there anything  Mike can't find?

He's beyond "needle in a haystack," I think Mike could find a needle in a cornfield!

1947 sounds good Vince, but how'd you like to be on the platform in 1937  when these bad boys "...passed in the night?"

https://www.albanyinstitute.org/details/items/eastward-westward.html  

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, December 14, 2019 7:48 PM

Penny Trains

Oh!  I love that painting!  Big Smile

 

Becky, I've done some furious research, and that painting's called "Midnight in Buffalo," and it was done by artist Larry Fisher.

I've checked several sources and the prints all seem to be sold out.  The only thing I could find was a 550 piece puzzle from mr.train.com. 

https://mrtrain.com/product/new-york-central-prr-midnight-in-buffalo   

Someone's going to need a hell of a lot more patience than I've got to do a 550 piece puzzle!  But the price seems to be right.

Wayne

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Posted by Miningman on Sunday, December 15, 2019 11:55 AM

Meanwhile about 100 miles away.

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, December 15, 2019 12:36 PM

Set as my new wallpaper.

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, December 16, 2019 2:21 PM

Flintlock pointed out the Camelback at the O&W station in Ellensville,NY. 

.... maybe it's one of these gals.

 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, December 16, 2019 3:39 PM

Those could  "Old and Weary" Camelbacks, the O&W was an early rider on the Camelback bandwagon, but the photos are just too indistinct to tell.  

The caboose behind the Camel in the second photo looks like it's got an O&W herald on it, but to my knowledge the O&W cabooses didn't get the herald until the 1930's, that photo looks much earlier.

By the way speaking of O&W Camels, did I show everyone my latest aquisition?

http://www.lionel.com/products/new-york-ontario-western-conventional-4-6-0-camelback-253-6-28755/  

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Posted by Penny Trains on Monday, December 16, 2019 6:35 PM

Ah, the kitty.  (Neeeyow!  Laugh)

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

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, December 17, 2019 7:00 PM

Neeeyow?

Oh, NOW I get it!

NeeeYOW!  NYO&W. 

Took me almost 24 hours.  I'm a little slow sometimes.

Do yourselves a favor gang, don't get old!  Whistling

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, December 17, 2019 9:50 PM

Flintlock76
Took me almost 24 hours.  I'm a little slow sometimes.

Don't feel bad.  I never got it.  (And I can't pretend I didn't try...)

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Posted by Miningman on Tuesday, December 17, 2019 11:07 PM

1) Well one last look at pleasant Ellenville on the NYeeeeOW.

 

2).  Multiple personalities. It states Penn Central on the sides. It's marked ConRail on the nose. It has a patch amidships that identifies MKT. Your choice I suppose. It was a tumultuous time.

 

3). Now if I was the CEO of Southern Pacific and saw this I would gather my sales force and tell them they have 60 days to find enough new business to put all of these locomotives to work. 

 

4)  Speaking of Southern Pacific, check out this beast. Not all their articulates were Cab Forwards. 

 

 

 

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Posted by Erik_Mag on Tuesday, December 17, 2019 11:49 PM

#4 is a Lima built AC-9, originally set up as a coal burner for the line that was originally the El Paso & Northeastern, which connected El Paso with the Rock Island. Not much in the way of tunnels or snow sheds on the line, so no need for a cab forward.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 6:30 AM

Miningman
3). Now if I was the CEO of Southern Pacific and saw this I would gather my sales force and tell them they have 60 days to find enough new business to put all of these locomotives to work. 

#3 is the SP's advanced adoption of PSR and the storing excess power.

Even before PSR, railroads would store power that was excess to their current needs. With my career with CSX, at times there would be hundreds of units stored because of short term business fluctuations in business.  When business would rebound there would be no units stored.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 7:06 AM

BaltACD
#3 is the SP's advanced adoption of PSR and the storing excess power.

Someone with more SP knowledge and better eyesight may confirm this, but I see mostly four-axle and switchers in there -- could reflect preference changing as the railroad went to SD40/45s and the like, and away from Geeps for the mainline power.

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, December 23, 2019 3:28 PM

1). Kind of a creepy/spooky way to present a map of your railroad, I guess Cherubs were popular then but it would perhaps illicit howls of indignation today? 

2) Speaking of howls of indignation how would this go over today for the Auto Train. I remember the old Colonel 'what's his name' over at the 'other Railroad publication' had dozens of these shots. I think they are quite nice actually.

 

3)  Been talking about the now gone Electroliner over on trains. Here's a nice shot in the thick of the city with a matching crossing tower.

 

4)  Anyone besides me miss the Turbo Train?  Here's a lengthy consist departing Ottawa. Worked ok once they got all the bugs out.

 

 

5) A C&O Ingalls?  Of course not, only one ever built and it was for the GM&O. Too bad, it seemed destined for success and developed a reputation as being very 'tough'. Ingalls jumped in the market at the right time too, immediately after the war.  Apparently supplier problems made production difficult for Ingalls. Nice job on the photo shop, almost for sure that's what it would look like.

 

 

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Posted by M636C on Monday, December 23, 2019 5:38 PM

Miningman

  Worked ok once they got all the bugs out.

 

 

I had only one trip on a Turbotrain, Toronto to Montreal in September 1977.

I was still trying to find my seat as the train departed. There had been a warning about not standing as the train passed through the station throat, and it was quite rough.

Later I found my way to dome seats in the leading power car and was having a reasonable time (the partition to the cab was glass, so you had a good view forward.) Apparently there was a fire alarm from one of the forward turbines. The first thing that happened was the conductor appeared and collected all the upholstery, conveniently held in place by Velcro and dumped it all in the vestbule behind the dome.

There was no actual sign of fire. We had stopped close to Dorval Airport and one of their fire tenders had turned up on an adjacent road.

The following Rapido, hauled by a set of FPA/FPB-4s pulled alongside and we were transferred across via the ballast.

So I'm not sure they got all the bugs...

Peter

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, December 23, 2019 8:21 PM

Turbo train on fire
 
According to CN/VIA records, after the 1974 rebuilding the Turbo's had a 97% availability record.  Whatever that means. 
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Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, December 23, 2019 8:51 PM

Only 3% of them burned up?  Whistling  

Now on the photos...

Photo 2.  Dang, I do miss the women's fashions from the 70's, some were quite fetching.  

Photo 3.  Every time I see an "Eletroliner" I get the craving for an "Electro-Burger," but there's none to be had!   Crying  

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, December 23, 2019 9:36 PM

(Sigh)-- another reason to feel sad over Christmas, there will never be another Electroburger. 

The Turbo that burned was covered under a tarp for years in a yard. That 97% availability figure is a bunch of hooey. I suppose I could say I've had 100% availability since being born minus the 11 minutes I was actually dead. Still it's a pretty high number. 

As to the Auto Train Hostess... it's the shorts and those high socks. You know out in field exploration a lot of geologists wear shorts and high socks in the summer but they sure as heck don't look like that. Hairy legs don't work with the look and the gals aren't dumb enough to try it. 

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Posted by Jones1945 on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 2:17 AM

Picture 1: Spooky indeed. If you search the photo on Google, a lot of spooky stuff appears. If the artist shown the rail map on her long dress or the jewel on her neck, it would have been less creepy.

Picture 2: : )

Picture 3: The windy city, used to be the Capital of Railroading of the World, lost tons of great steel kings and different types of interesting public transportation vehicles in the past 80 years. Electroliner was only one of them. The livery of it still looked stylish and up to date, let alone the content like the Tavern Lounge inside this streamliner. Dining facilities have been replaced by Automat Food "Service" Cars, something like the canteen on the Starships in the movie. 

Picture 4: Never have a chance to travel on the Turbo Train. They were the answer to any higher speed railroad vehicle outside North America.

Picture 5: The C&O livery fits the Ingalls 4-S very well. Only one was built but managed to serve for 20 years, impressive!

Thank you Miningman for keep adding coal to the choo choo train~!Yes

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 10:29 AM

Well, there IS that Electroliner under restoration at the (I think) Illinois Railroad Museum, and IF they get the grill car goin' again we MAY see the return of the Electro-Burger!  One can only hope...

I think only then will the restoration be 100% complete.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Photo 1.  Jeez, that thing looks beyond creepy, it's downright funereal!  Like something out of a Victorian gothic novel, like Bram Stoker's "Dracula."  

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 4:16 PM

Flintlock76
Well, there IS that Electroliner under restoration at the (I think) Illinois Railroad Museum, and IF they get the grill car goin' again we MAY see the return of the Electro-Burger!

My understanding was that IRM finished the restoration (quite some time ago!) and that the Electro-Burger galley is still seats, as rebuilt.  It is really too small to serve as much of an actual food kitchen for a preservation museum where all the passengers want a bite during the short demo ride.  That doesn't change the beauty of the restoration, or the thrill of having an actual running Electroliner in all its originally-shadow-lined glory.

Now, part of the rebuilding of the other Electroliner for the Memphis airport line explicitly did include not only restoration of the galley, but its operation in coordination with Elliott's downtown.  And the replacement cars would have had some food service too, since they would have shared the downtown loop.

Pity it got blown up into a $4 billion social-welfare boondoggle, isn't it? Wink

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Posted by Miningman on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 5:13 PM

Thank you Jones..it is fun shovelling the coal and keeping the Forum lively!

Firelock and Overmod-- don't think we can get the real deal and very famous Electroburger... food just is not the same , maybe come close but all the little nuisances have vanished. 

Care to expand a bit on that Memphis situation?

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 5:28 PM

Yeah Vince, if they got the restored Electroliner's grill going it probably wouldn't be the same blend of burger meat, or the the same grill grease, or the same bun, well, you get it.

But it would be cool if they tried!  

As Jimmy Stewart said in "Shenandoah..."

"We don't know if we don't try, and if we don't try we don't do, and if we don't do, then why are we here on this earth?"

Wayne

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Posted by Penny Trains on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 6:06 PM

Yeah, they'd take out the transfats, the gluten, the grease and everything else that made food taste like you WANT to eat it.  Wink

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

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Posted by Miningman on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 6:35 PM

A lot of the processing has changed, definitely substitution of less costly and, in this case I will use the word 'cheaper', ingredients in just about all of the aspects of putting this thing together. Of course the .1% can still get the real deal but not us plebs. They say ' the consumers will never know the difference' but that's an outright fable. 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 8:14 PM

Penny Trains

Yeah, they'd take out the transfats, the gluten, the grease and everything else that made food taste like you WANT to eat it.  Wink

 

Not at the places I go to!  Dinner

My standard question, "Is it good for you?"

"Yes!  Of course!"

"Then I don't want it."    Cracks 'em up all the time!

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Posted by Jones1945 on Wednesday, December 25, 2019 2:25 AM

Miningman

A lot of the processing has changed, definitely substitution of less costly and, in this case I will use the word 'cheaper', ingredients in just about all of the aspects of putting this thing together. Of course the .1% can still get the real deal but not us plebs. They say ' the consumers will never know the difference' but that's an outright fable. 

They also say 'the consumers will still eat them even though they are made of trash...because they have no other choice (giggles), all these brands are under the same parent company'. People have been slowly compromised on inferior, sub-substandard products from the country of the sweatshop, including model train stuff, food, clothes, etc., on the other hand, many folks are so getting used to the fast-food culture, IKEAization (Well they do have some good stuff). Bad money drives out good, it is getting old... Please don't order any replacement screw that was made in the country of the sweatshop, or the machine will be screwed by the broken screws that are as fragile as Pig iron. (I bet they use the same level of trash on their newly built "aircraft carrier" aka another vintage floating target)

 

https://www.cruiselinehistory.com/the-electroliner-90-miles-per-hour-from-milwaukee-to-chicago/

From the same website. The seat looked even more comfortable than the 1939 PRR Trail Blazer, despite the armrest wasn't wrapped by velvet! 

 

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