I know it was in the 80s. What year and month of Trains magazine had an issue on a modern design steam engine with a drawing of it on the cover? Anyone have an extra copy of that issue to sell?
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
Sounds like you're thinking of Withuhn's article-- it was April as I recall, probably 1975, maybe 1974. Don't recall any other issues with drawings on the cover.
It might be "Did We Scrap Steam Too Soon?" by Bill Withuhn in Trains, June 1974, Vol. 34, No. 8, pgs. 36 - 48 inclusive, although most of the article seemed to be a post-mortem of why the steam locomotive died. In the opening sentence, he writes that "the steam locomotive lost by default", and again at the end of the 2nd paragraph. But he doesn't start to discuss "a design which could easily have been built in 1948 or 1949 . . . to meet the early EMD onslaught" until the 1st column of page 46, although pgs. 44 - 45 are a series of side elevation drawings of his proposals, and the rods and drives are drawn at the top of pg. 46. There are also several 'sidebars' on subsidiary topics, such as Dynamic Augment (pg. 40), High-Speed Compounding (pg. 43), and the Giesl Exhaust (pg. 48), as well as an internal critique of Withuhn's thesis in the form of a page's worth of commentary by Robert A. Le Massena across the bottom of pages 42 - 43, titled "Whither Steam 1940-1950?" The front cover of this issue is a montage of mostly side elevation drawings of the modern steam locomotives, the top one being shaded red, the middle one a light brown, and the bottom one a blue hue. Sorry, I don't have an extra copy to sell.
Withuhn might have written a similar article in the 1980's in connection with Ross Rowland's experiments - A.C.E. (?) - with the 610 or 614 or a similar locomotive - my memory keeps getting them confused . . . maybe a cab ride would help me keep them straight . . . Also, sometime on the 1990's or so F.H. Howard wrote a 'fantasy' article about designing a then-modern cab-forward for the Canadian Pacific - as I recall, he would have called it a "Connaught".
- Paul North.
I think the OP should clarify his request. The term, "modern" could be misleading. There is the modern era of steam, and then there is the more modern era since steam's demise.
Articles have been written about abandoning steam too early in a rush to dieselize And another vane has explored whether steam could be brought back as the primary railroad motive power.
Both topics are worthy of exploration.
And lo, there comes the true millenium when controlled, sustainable, nuclear fusion becomes an economic reality. And thus, the price of electricity essentially becomes frozen for all time, 50,000-volt catenary is strung above all mainlines, and the BNSF Orin Subdivision, "The Main Street of the Powder River Basin" becomes eight streaks of useless rust.
Steam locomotives? Come again? And they do what?
Bob-Fryml And lo, there comes the true millenium when controlled, sustainable, nuclear fusion becomes an economic reality. And thus, the price of electricity essentially becomes frozen for all time, 50,000-volt catenary is strung above all mainlines, and the BNSF Orin Subdivision, "The Main Street of the Powder River Basin" becomes eight streaks of useless rust. Steam locomotives? Come again? And they do what?
Your forgetting coal turned into coke that is used for making steel. We will be using coal for a long time to come.
Back to the subject of a modern steam engine design. I didn't start getting Trains magazines until 1981 when I was 14. This article I am thinking about was definitely not in the 70s. I wish I had not sold off all my 80s Trains magazines back in the early 90s.
"And they do what?" Why, they inspire the souls of men, that's what they do!
To the OP: Time to get that "70 years of TRAINS Magazine on DVD-ROM"!
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Bob-Fryml Steam locomotives? Come again? And they do what?
Giant mobile teakettle 'app' !
Were it not for 'Thomas the Tank Engine' and friends, that would not be a mere rhetorical question, even today, what with how few are running and the ubiquity of diesels . . .
Boyd Bob-Fryml: And lo, there comes the true millenium when controlled, sustainable, nuclear fusion becomes an economic reality. And thus, the price of electricity essentially becomes frozen for all time, 50,000-volt catenary is strung above all mainlines, and the BNSF Orin Subdivision, "The Main Street of the Powder River Basin" becomes eight streaks of useless rust. Steam locomotives? Come again? And they do what? Your forgetting coal turned into coke that is used for making steel. We will be using coal for a long time to come. Back to the subject of a modern steam engine design. I didn't start getting Trains magazines until 1981 when I was 14. This article I am thinking about was definitely not in the 70s. I wish I had not sold off all my 80s Trains magazines back in the early 90s.
Bob-Fryml: And lo, there comes the true millenium when controlled, sustainable, nuclear fusion becomes an economic reality. And thus, the price of electricity essentially becomes frozen for all time, 50,000-volt catenary is strung above all mainlines, and the BNSF Orin Subdivision, "The Main Street of the Powder River Basin" becomes eight streaks of useless rust. Steam locomotives? Come again? And they do what?
Trains did run an article about the ACE300 in a 1980's issue but it wasn;t the cover story. It was in 1981,IIRC
You may be thinking of a cover story that ran in "POPULAR MECHANICS"?
http://books.google.com/books?id=d-MDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA114&dq=ace3000&hl=en&ei=HTASTfOBCIj6sAOW4p23Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false
I seem to remember an issue of "Railroad Model Craftsman" featuring a drawing of the ACE 3000 on the cover with scale drawings around the early 80's as well..
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
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