cuyama richhotrain: So what is the answer? How did railroads deal with wood burning locomotives? To what extent was the wood chopped and split? This has been answered already. Vintage photos show that the wood loads were split -- at least for logs of the size John used. Smaller branches and limbs might be used without splitting, but nothing the size John modeled would go through the firebox door, let alone allow room for arranging the fire. Those railroad crews of a bygone era were the real "experts" -- and we can see what they did.
richhotrain: So what is the answer? How did railroads deal with wood burning locomotives? To what extent was the wood chopped and split?
So what is the answer?
How did railroads deal with wood burning locomotives?
To what extent was the wood chopped and split?
This has been answered already. Vintage photos show that the wood loads were split -- at least for logs of the size John used. Smaller branches and limbs might be used without splitting, but nothing the size John modeled would go through the firebox door, let alone allow room for arranging the fire.
Those railroad crews of a bygone era were the real "experts" -- and we can see what they did.
Thank you sir !
Alton Junction
richhotrain So what is the answer? How did railroads deal with wood burning locomotives? To what extent was the wood chopped and split?
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Morton's CarThe choice I have here is between a straight passenger car or a combo.The first choice would be to pretty much scratchbuild the whole thing beginning with the shell.The lower combo car has some of the work already done for me.Having already built a wood version I think it may be fun to do the plastic version and make it look like wood.Luckily for me the plastic itself is colored and not just painted which will make my job a lot easier.It is also more interesting as it is already broken down into two sections passengers and baggage. The baggage side could be set up for movie making purposes while the passenger side could contain a portion of Morton's car as seen in the movie.This is an abandoned movie set so a lot of stuff would have been removed and the set will be depicted as having fallen into some disrepair.The steps at the far right I can use for Jill's arrival scene and the view through the windows will be of Monument Valley.
Once Upon a time.........
My photobucket:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
I am a man of few words but lots of pics
I quit drinking beer because the download was taking longer than the upload !
Yup, I'll get a grip on my axe and maul and start splittin some wood.
While unsplit wood may certainly have been used, kindling and split wood would build a fire much more quickly - with the help of a splash or three of fuel oil.
Don't forget, the fireman had to get that wood thru the firebox doors, and then "place" them where they would do the most good. Obviously, a log split in fours would be easier to handle that the unsplit log - and offer more surface area to burn.
One other comment,.... during the heyday of wood burning locos, labor was cheap, especially down south.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Guys,guys lets get a grip !
I can only speak to wood burning fireplaces where split wood makes more sense because it provides more surfaces to facilitate combustion.
What were the requirements on a 19th century loco like the General? What size wood would fit in the firebox?
We need the experts to weigh in here.
Rich
Curiosity got the better of me so I looked through a bunch of the online Government Photo Archives. The pic's ( from the 1800s) I saw of wood in tenders ranged from neatly stacked split wood piled high in the tenders ( grandpa would have been proud) to solid logs, to piles of sticks no bigger than branches. It all burns I guess.
Whatever the wood type, in about ninty percent of the pic's it was a messy pile as if dumped in. Neatly stacked wood appeared to be for photo ops for the mucky mucks.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Happy toodling !
Ya just can't get decent extras these days.They are all unionized and cuttin' wood ain't in their contract !
Artistic license is a fine thing for each of us on our own layouts -- and each of us makes our own judgement as to what is "good enough".
On the other hand, if the standard is "museum quality" (as John has promoted), then such an inaccuracy seems worth re-doing, IMHO. Those hefty logs wouldn't fit through the firebox door, wouldn't burn properly, and really detract from the overall impression, again in my view.
In addition, if built to accurately represent a studio prop, the backside probably wouldn't be a mound of a thousand pounds of sand or gravel. It would be hollow, supported by framework of 2X4s.
But it's up to John what he builds, so I'll toddle along.
JohnReid What's wrong with you guys ? never heard about artistic license ? besides spitting logs is too much work.
What's wrong with you guys ? never heard about artistic license ? besides spitting logs is too much work.
LOL
Gotta agree with you there.
Besides, who knows. Perhaps, the fireman got drunk at the last stop and is in no position to swing an axe.
Artistic license prevails !!!
It looks to me (& very nicely done) that the work, was adding the real nice "Bark" textures & tones to those parts. If you used real branches, let us know what they were, as they ''scale" out well, but then looking at your rear view, I thought some may be detailed dowels. Please expound on that..
Why not award yourself one ? Makes life a lot easier.
cuyama JohnReid: I can't remember ever seeing a photo of a real wood-burning locomotive with unsplit logs as fuel, certainly not logs of this large size.
JohnReid:
I can't remember ever seeing a photo of a real wood-burning locomotive with unsplit logs as fuel, certainly not logs of this large size.
cuyama,
That's a good point. If you look closely at the 4-4-0 in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan, all of those logs in the tender are split.
http://travelphotobase.com/v/USMI/MIDMR21.HTM
John, you better get out your axe and get to work.
JohnReid
The pile of wood on the tender will look real from the camera side only,the other side of course will be a mock-up.
Wow ! Thank you Chad for the heads up. I will keep it in mind for some future project.
John,
I have enjoyed your progress on this model, & know you do other kit building as well, so I have a question... Have you ever seen, or built this kit?
http://www.historicrail.com/product_info.po?ID=22701&product=Models+and+Kits&category=history&subcategory=Biographies
It is in a flyer I get from time to time & I don't know who makes it, or what quality it is. There is also a truck motor kit for it to make it run on G Gauge track.
Any experience with that one?
I won't be posting very often to this thread in the next little while due to other modeling commitments .Thanks ! Cheers! John.
Thanks Matt ! Yes I was quite surprised to see so little dealing with this era myself.The locomotives are beautiful works of art. There just has to be something that I am missing here?
It's been a while wince I surfed on this forum, but I was quite happy to see your progress.
Great to see your project is progressing steadily and all the main actors of the set are almost in place now. The extra details you're adding to this General are quite nice. In fact, it just tell us those beauties from the 1800's can only be reproduced in all their glory in large scale.
Matt
Proudly modelling the Quebec Railway Light & Power Co since 1997.
http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com
http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com
Sure there are lots of G scale figures around you just have to be careful that they all fit together within the possible limits of the human scale.Other scales ? I have seen lots that could be modified in just about any scale.
mmmm...just wondering here...has anyone seen any figures that can be modified into some form as if they were doing a movie?....that would be an interesting setting in itself I'd think...
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
You know I think that this would make a great model either as a entertainment park scene or a dummy locomotive.Model trains pass many structures on their journeys ,a movie set is just one of those structures that can be depicted in scale.
I have heard that this kit is subject to warping.This is probably true if left out in the sun on hot tracks,sand,pavement etc....I have tested the plastic myself and it is no more subject to this problem than any other plastic that I have worked with.And yes there are options,one of those being to support the structure before assembly.I think that I would try coating the interior of the larger pieces with exopy,fiberglass or some other warp resistant material.Where the plastic touches hot metal like tracks make a section of the wheels in wood which is a great insulator.
For indoor setting I don't see a problem at all unless you were to put it next to a wood stove or other high heat generating source.When I do my 2nd General I will experiment with this a little further.
As far as availability is concerned just do some networking.I am sure that there are lots of Generals sitting in closets waiting to be built.I got the one that I am working on now for the price of the postage.It was partially started (a small bit of the tender) but no harm was done and the parts were still all there.I have also seen many sell on ebay for less than 50 bucks,new and in the plastic packages.
Personally if I was to do a G scale layout I would do it with a movie making theme of which the General would be just one of the structures that I pass along the way.I would do it as a "out of season" amusement park thus avoiding anything that would move other than the train .Having to make or modify all those figures would also be quite unnecessary.
Sounds like fun doesn't it ?
cedarwoodronAnd given, that thru the years, MR has not been shy to publish photos of modeler's one of a kind creations in various scales, I see nothing wrong with the OP's project. Big tent here, right? Cedarwoodron
Thank you Cedarwoodron for your kind support Cheers! John.
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