MiningmanSide view showing paint scheme as factory applied. Apr. 1950. Only 5 RS2's ever on CPR roster. Hoses attached to regulators center of locomotive and handrails are apparently air operated sanders. Early version!
Only 5 RS2's ever on CPR roster.
Hoses attached to regulators center of locomotive and handrails are apparently air operated sanders. Early version!
Paul_D_North_Jr That single number board on top of the short hood is different from the usual pair, 1 on each side.
That single number board on top of the short hood is different from the usual pair, 1 on each side.
It would seem to be a holdover from the steam locomotives:
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Spent many years as a geologist in Cobalt. There are no longer any active mining operations, at least in the conventional sense. There is a bio-leaching mining operation recovering silver from former tailings.
At one time there were 120 active mines. The Ragged Chutes compressed air line was still working and used into the eighties. The Camp is over a hundred years old now. The "ground" as we call it ( the rock through which it operates and the chamber), over the years deteriorated and cracked.
If you stand along the banks of the Montreal River today you will see a great deal of bubbling all over the place in the river, as if it were in a slow boil. That is the air escaping out through all the cracks and fissures down below.
I posed "Cobalt" as a the answer to a Classic Quiz not that long ago and an extended discussion ensued. We even got into William Henry Drummond, the poet of the "Habitat", the French Canadian farmer, the Voyageur and Coureur des bois. Wanswheel posted lots of historical mining and historical articles, including some on Ragged Chutes.
Here is a picture of the beautiful Ontario Northland Station, now shuttered. On the left side of the picture above the overhang of the station you can see a building block at a street corner. Those windows you see is where I resided in Cobalt.
The Northland from Toronto-Kapuskasing/Hearst is now discontinued. The Ontario Government has the railroad for sale but no takers to date. They are down to ONE train a day, the odd extra. The ONR is in danger of extinction, which is unthinkable.
Yes, the steam builders carried over what they knew into the early Diesel era. Actually very charming and very much railroad like. You see similiar occurances with early Baldwin and Lima locomotives.
I always thought the cabs of the Alco/MLW RS series looked very much steam era.
Thank You.
I can't help but notice that the switcher with the "seeing eye" holes in the windshield must have been interesting when viewed from the front...
Early "Thomas," complete with smile...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Miningmanthe beautiful Ontario Northland Station
That is as you say. a beautiful Station. Would that it was operational as a station.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E05EFD6113EE733A25754C2A9639C946797D6CF
Thank You
OOOPS!
Don't know what to make of that NDG outside of the fact that it's really dumb on the part of those involved. Glad they are not my students.
That is beyond risky.
The picture you put up in the link disappeared and got replaced by the story text. I tried to repost it for you but did not have any luck at all.
Will keep trying to get the picture up but in the meantime if you go to Railroader Stories "Get the old man" it is the picture that comes along with the story text.
The question is about the metal device with a wooden crank handle to the left of the engineer ...what is its function?
We will get to the bottom of this!
NDGUsing the Internet to find location of train in photo, 1952.
It takes a bit of detective work, sometimes. Good Find!
I often try to find the sites of Classic Train's "Birdseye View." It can be a challenge, as oftimes the only thing left is perhaps a street that was labelled in the photo.
Same with other locations mentioned in stories in the magazines. Sometimes it does take some odd feature you wouldn't otherwise notice to narrow down a location.
"Some time ago I asked what is the purpose of the Controller with the wooden-knobbed handle to the left of the Locomotive Control Stand and above the Heater" .-NDG
Well I have tried to find out for you. RME states that as a wild guess it is a shutter control for the City Of Denver type locomotives.
Perhaps if someone has a labelled cab interior of the UP locomotive we could get confirmation or better insight.
The Niagara picture is striking indeed. Billowing white smoke and the sun behind the left elephant ear forming a radiant glow. With the exception of the front of the smokebox the picture is remarkably clear.
A person can feel the air just from the picture. I witnessed many scenes as such...not a Niagara but maybe I did see one once on the CASO, maybe...but lots of others just like this. The snow is the key.
The other denotes a proud, important and progressive railroad.
That is what we have lost.
All of it. The mighty NY Central and it's 600 Mohawks.
How on God's green earth did this happen.
I'll take a gnostic spiritual view...it's not lost on Gods green earth...thats not where we are. We only get glimpses within ourselves.
NDGWere old EMD A1A cabs belt drive or electric on cooling fans??
I am an idiot. That is not a passenger unit at all; it is an early F unit, probably an FT, and the device in question is the "unit selector switch"
From the FT manual (circa 1944): item 10 on plate 3568.
The unit selector switch is a four position drum type switch located to the left of the engineer's instrument panel. Its purpose is to provide a means of keeping the main generator field excitation at the same relative value regardless of number of units making up the locomotive. This switch should never be moved while using dynamic braking, or when an engine is "off the line" or shut down. The switch must be set to correspond with the number of units making up the locomotive before leaving the maintenance point.
I apologize profusely for not having taken the time to look this up properly. As far as I know, by the time of the F3 this device was no longer used.
With respect to the fans: on the FT there is an angle drive with a 2:3 speed increaser at each end of the diesel engine, and these drive the innermost pair of fans proportional to engine speed (1200rpm fan to 800rpm crankshaft). The outer pair of fans is then driven from the inner with V-belts. By the time of the F3 this was replaced with four separate electric motors, controlled in pairs by relays.
Were two horn cords 'standard' in the Thirties?
They are for locomotives that have the two single-note horns facing in opposite directions; early E and F units were often made that way. The rear-facing horn is for calling in trainmen who are out flagging, or other signaling. I noted (on Jersey Central in the early 1960s) that the two horns could be made to blow different notes, and were understood to mean different things.
Does the light chain indicate the handle can be removed, as its knob seems to have a press/pull function, or, is the latter just a catch to step the handle thru its gates??
It appears to me that the lever has a catch, disengaged by pressing the knob in, that locks the drum at each of its four positions. It would follow from the chain that the lever assembly might be removed from the drum switch under some conditions, but I have not seen a note in the manuals about this.
NDGWere two horn cords 'standard' in the Thirties?
They were used on NYC's RS3's (and possibly earlier road switchers), which date to around 1950, at least partly for the same reason (road switchers, which do have a "front," can run in either direction) - the horns were the single bell "blat" horn, one facing in each direction. You have to remember which cord to grab...
NDGIts called Bouche Moteur in French.
Wouldn't it be "Bouche a Moteur" or "Bouche Motrise"?
(Regrettably perhaps, orthographic French appears only to have 'big mouth', using the typical French word for animal mouth as in 'ta gueule!', which loses the engine-driven quality of the original expression...)
Insert appropriate reference to Diaphones, Klaxons, and that most wonderful of devices the 331-Hemi-powered end-of-the-world siren, 'l'accoutrement de la farce de frappe' perhaps?:
Best posting in 2017 nominee. Nothing digital about that monster.
NDG-Great story and pictures on the quest for the G8's.
Nothing like the beach at Port Stanley and all the great summer bars and restuarants for fun. The L&PS still runs, still exists, but mostly tourist now.
Question- Which station in Hamilton...CNR or TH&B/CPR? Trying to retrace your steps in my mind but the experience was totally the opposite of each other. Both were fine fine stations, just way different in every way possible.
CASO/NYC still steam in '54, not much longer to go, the end came for steam real sudden. Lots of 2-8-2's, Mohawks on freight, Hudsons on passenger. Some exotic Diesels here and there showing up. Then the whole CASO became a shadow of its former self and it all went to pieces in a hurry as well.
Rationalize all you want but way too much was thrown away and destroyed...all that charm and class, poof!
Re the air raid siren: Eerie and haunting are the first two words that came to mind. Maybe shrieking and banshee ? Interesting how the 'horns' went in and out of tune / harmony with each other. Would be a good way to teach that kind of thing to beginning musicians and physics students. Looking at and listening to it, I can now envision how a rotor (?) going 'round in the ribbed drum-shaped thing would set up a standing wave (more or less, since the sound varies a little bit) in the 'trumpets' attached to the front of it.
A general explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_defense_siren
- the 1st paragraph of which leads to this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Air-raid_Siren
(Apparently there was one in Horsham, PA, about 3 miles from where I grew up.)
Thanks for sharing.
Back to railroads: Where it really needed a home, though, is on the Billups "Skull-and-Crossbones" (DEATH) grade crossing warning signal contraption. I believe it did have an air raid siren, but I doubt if it was anything near the size and power of the one above:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billups_Neon_Crossing_Signal
Video simulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGhFHKtDhns
- PDN.
Well, I for one am very glad that Billups crossing signal did not catch on. It would have a cult following these days.
The base is still there ...
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