QUOTE: In the battle for public opinion, Pearson took his campaign into the lions' den. In 1925, and again in 1945-46, the Orange Lodge had been the main force opposed to breaking the imperial link and losing the Union Flag. In 1964, the Royal Canadian Legion was the most vocal supporter of the status quo in the form of the Canadian Red Ensign. For months, every issue of their magazine, Legionary, had carried a picture of the ensign with the caption "This is Canada's Flag-Let's Keep it Flying." Prime Minister Pearson took his case to the 20th RCL Convention in Winnipeg on May 17. But, unlike King before him, Pearson was a veteran, having enlisted for service at the age of 17 during the First World War. The Prime Minister told a bemedaled and ensign-flying crowd at the convention that he meant no disrespect for the Union Flag, or the Canadian Red Ensign, but declared, "I believe most sincerely that it is time now for Canadians to unfurl a flag that is truly distinctive and truly national in character," to which the Legionnaires thundered "No! No!" There was an irony in the fact that the Legionnaires, who had recently replaced the Union Flag on their own badge with a maple leaf, rose to their feet, booed, and continued to yell "No!" after Pearson said: "I believe that today a flag designed around the maple leaf will symbolize and be a true reflection of the new Canada." But Pearson had sought a flag which would be "Canada's own and only Canada's" and the next day public reaction ran strongly in his favour.
QUOTE: Originally posted by West Coast S Speaking of Doodlebugs, time for a history lesson on the most unremarked of them all: The most unique in my humble opinion, were manfactured by the Mckeen Motorcar Company of Omaha Nebraska, predates the EMC entry by a decade. Mr. Mckeen was a pioneering advocate of internal combustion engines and a prolific inventor with visions of a economical to operate railcar. In 1909 he appproached Union Pacific offering the first model to them if they could provide him with shop space. UP was intrigued and agreed to lease a portion of the Omaha backshop. Construction progressed rapidly, despite numerous fits with the unfamiliar and the orginal gasoline engine, drive line that required a redesign, a protoype, wooden bodied 40 footer was ready by years end. All involved were shocked by the unusual appearance, prow like a ship, bob tail end and porthole windows, ugly was how most would describe it. Once in trials UP found that it was capable of replacing steam in branchline passenger service to a point. Lack of a reliable starting system and a poorly designed clutch caused engineers to curse themselfs blue. UP weighed in on the initial results with the opinion that, overall it was a sound design but all production models should offer increased passenger RPO/baggage capacity as well. Encourage by the sucessful test, It was back to the drawing boards, Ranson Olds assisted with a improved clutch design, Delco/Remy was contracted for a spark plug starting system. A new 50 foot steel body with RPO/baggage was manfactured, with the same unique knife edge front and porthole windows . These were more to UPs liking and proved reliable and economical to operate. As a plus to the ugainly nose design,UP found the knife edge fronts useful in light snow removal. Once in service and gaining a reputation, SP came calling and offered to host trials on a revised 50 foot model. SP was very pleased with the operating cost and overall reliability and ordered fourteen for itself to be divided among its various holdings. UP, meanwhile re-motored all earlier cars with a new 325HP V12 gasoline engine with improved carburators and fuel delivery system that eliminated spitting and potential explosions, for the first time a reverse mechanism that bypassed the clutch was offered. Due to being traction impared, only the front axles being powered, McKeen designed various configurations of lightweight 20-30 foot trailers as a option , these proved popular as well. Due to unfortunate events, Mckeen would not survive to reap the benefits of it's pioneering efforts. A Federal probe into the companies business practices led UP to withdrawl it's support and evict Mckeen from the Omaha Shops, EMC, Pullman and Winton became involved in the internal combustion rail car business and by 1925, after having manfactured 42 Motor cars and a failed attempt at building industrial locomotives, the Mckeen Motor Car Company filed for bankruptcy. The Mckeen Motor Cars had a service life far beyond that of it's ill fated manfacturer. The last SP Mckeen was retired in 1939, SP was unique in continually upgrading the power plant to take advantage of the latest technology. SP was the first to stray from Mckeen's design by rebuilding most of the fleet to 73 feet. UP performed the most radical changes over the years, flat fronts, repowering by EMC and application of streamliner paint and a lone example rebuilt to 86 feet in length were but a few of the modifications undertaken before retirement in 1943. Final assignments were on Nebraska branchlines, where it all began, so many years before, rather apt in retrospect. The last Mckeen in operation was the lone unit, purchased new, by the Virginia & Truckee, retired in 1951. After retirement, it was shorn of all mechanicals to become a roadside diner. Recently, this only surviving example, once again escaped the torch and has been perserved with a eye towards furture restoration, providing the unique mechanicals can be reproduced. Dave [tup]
QUOTE: Here’s a little something from assorted sources from the internet regarding a class of steam locomotive operating in India many decades past. BESA Class 4-6-0 Tractive effort: 22.590lb (10,250kg). Axle load: 39,599lb (18t). Cylinders: (2) 20 ½ x 26 in (521 x 660mm). Heating surface: 1,467 sq ft (137m2). Superheater: 352sq ft (32.7m2). Steam pressure: 180lb sq in (12.7kg/cm2) Grate area: 32sq ft (3.0m2). Fuel: 16,800lb (7 ½ t). Water: 4,000gal (4,800 US) (18m3). Adhesive weight: 118,000lb (54t). Total weight: 273,000lb (124t). Length overall: 62ft 3 ¼ in (18,980mm). QUOTE: More Briti***han anything that ran in Britain, this archetypal Mail Engine gave over 75 years of service and is still actively in use. This is the British Engineering Standards Association “Heavy Passenger” 4-6-0, introduced in 1905, of which a number (but not one of the originals) are still in passenger service in India at the time of writing (1987). The railways of India were developed mainly by private enterprise under a concession system whereby the then British Government of India guaranteed a modest return on investment in return for a measure of control, as well as eventual ownership. The government felt that one of their perquisites was to set standards and, having made rather a mess of the gauge question, made up for it with an excellent job of wetting out a range of standards designs for locomotives. The first BESA 4-6-0s were solid hunks of sound engineering, bigger when introduced than almost anything that ran in the same country. Their closest relations at home seem to have been some 4-6-0s built in 19-3 for the Glasgow & South Western Railway by the North British Locomotive Co. of Glasgow. NGL were to supply the first standard 4-6-0s to India. The BESA 4-6-0s stayed in top-line work even after their successors the India Railway Standard (IRS), XA and XB 4-6-2s had arrived in the mid-1920s, because of unsatisfactory qualities amongst the new arrivals. The great success of the BESA designs seems to lie in the fact that they were taken from British practice as it existed, with the difference that both average and maximum speeds in India were 25 per cent lower than at home while loads were about the same. (from a web site that did not identify its source, therefore I shall not credit further.) And with appreciation to Captain Tom for prior arrangements in loading my pictures from email to his photo site, here are a couple you may find of interest: The HPS was a typical BESA design locomotive, and prior to the advent of the bullet nosed WP, was the standard and most popular express power on the Indian Railways. Several were hard at work well into the late 1980s, especially on the NR and SR. Express passenger locomotives were loosely referred to as 'mail engines' in India, and the handsome HPS class of locomotives was the standard mail engine till the WPs came in. The engines had a maximum speed of 90 kmph, in keeping with their sleek express engine profile. The HPS/2 was in fact a derivative from an earlier HP class of locomotive. Other variants of the HP were the HPS and HPS/1. All (except the HP class) were provided with superheating. (from: http://www.irfca.org/~shankie/nrm/outdoor3.htm)
QUOTE: More Briti***han anything that ran in Britain, this archetypal Mail Engine gave over 75 years of service and is still actively in use. This is the British Engineering Standards Association “Heavy Passenger” 4-6-0, introduced in 1905, of which a number (but not one of the originals) are still in passenger service in India at the time of writing (1987). The railways of India were developed mainly by private enterprise under a concession system whereby the then British Government of India guaranteed a modest return on investment in return for a measure of control, as well as eventual ownership. The government felt that one of their perquisites was to set standards and, having made rather a mess of the gauge question, made up for it with an excellent job of wetting out a range of standards designs for locomotives. The first BESA 4-6-0s were solid hunks of sound engineering, bigger when introduced than almost anything that ran in the same country. Their closest relations at home seem to have been some 4-6-0s built in 19-3 for the Glasgow & South Western Railway by the North British Locomotive Co. of Glasgow. NGL were to supply the first standard 4-6-0s to India. The BESA 4-6-0s stayed in top-line work even after their successors the India Railway Standard (IRS), XA and XB 4-6-2s had arrived in the mid-1920s, because of unsatisfactory qualities amongst the new arrivals. The great success of the BESA designs seems to lie in the fact that they were taken from British practice as it existed, with the difference that both average and maximum speeds in India were 25 per cent lower than at home while loads were about the same.
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