FWIW, one of the last things that my dad's ship (USS Quest) did before it was decommisioned was to sweep for mines around Bikini in preparation for Operation Crossroads. He didn't say much about that aprt of his experience at sea, but did have a few stories of using up the butter stock before the ship was truned over to the Philippines.
- Erik
P.S. He some interesting stories to tell about the various engines he worked on at Diesel Engineering school - Alco's, FM's, HOR's and a 24 cylinder GM (Winton).
erikem FWIW, one of the last things that my dad's ship (USS Quest) did before it was decommisioned was to sweep for mines around Bikini in preparation for Operation Crossroads. He didn't say much about that aprt of his experience at sea, but did have a few stories of using up the butter stock before the ship was truned over to the Philippines. - Erik P.S. He some interesting stories to tell about the various engines he worked on at Diesel Engineering school - Alco's, FM's, HOR's and a 24 cylinder GM (Winton).
Erik, I've mentioned this in the past, and not being a genius I'm suprised no-one thought of it first, but I can't help but get the impression that one of the things, if not a major thing, that made the railroad's rapid transition from steam to diesel in the post-war years possible were all those thousands of diesel mechanics re-entering civilian life and looking for jobs who were trained courtesy of Uncle Sam.
To say nothing of electricians as well.
Wayne,
Makes sense, especially with the 567's being used on a number of Navy ships. FWIW, my dad was a Lt jg when the Quest shipped out on V-J day and he had quite a few stories of what happened to the various supply dumps.
After his discharge, he spent a year teaching High School in his hometown and then went on to get a PhD in Biochemistry.
Erik, I wouldn't be surprised to hear any of your father's supply dump stories. From what I heard the amount of equipment of all kinds "trashed" had to be seen to be believed. Everything from Stuart tanks to B-24's. Unbelieveable.
Wayne
Thought this was a thread not the historical locomotive naming. With this in mind I have a question. The Big Boy is a large engine with limited line of sight for the engineer. Nothing like the auto type of view an engineer has from today’s diesels. My question is: will UP discretely install a tv camera to give the engineer a better view?
I wouldn't be surprised if they did, it wouldn't hurt, but I remember what old-time engineers said about limited line of sight in the steam days...
"It really doesn't matter, 'cause you can't stop on a dime anyway!"
ccltrainsThought this was a thread not the historical locomotive naming. With this in mind I have a question. The Big Boy is a large engine with limited line of sight for the engineer. Nothing like the auto type of view an engineer has from today’s diesels. My question is: will UP discretely install a tv camera to give the engineer a better view?
4014 will have as good a view as it did in it's first day of revenue service.
I will say one thing however, Class 1 in the signal replacement programs for PTC have been installing signals on both the right and left sides of the track - in steam days all signals were installed on the right on engineers side of the track (except CNW who used the English left hand style of running) or on signal bridges above the tracks - right hand signals were viewable on the engineers side of the boiler. When the 4014 returns to operation the Fireman will also have to view and call signals.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Agreed that signals on both sides lets both front end personnel to see signals etc. My concern is the track immediately in front of the engine. An obstruction on the track might not be able to be seen. With the multi rules covering everything I think the feds may require something dealing with forward viewing. I know nothing is required for the excursion steam engines for forward viewing YET. Being wall eyed is not the best way to see directly ahead.
54light15 Maybe you're right, Firelock but I know some garment or another from Big 2 was called a bum freezer. Fascinating about U-boat crews wearing British battledress. I thought the crews wore mostly coveralls, I guess I need to see "Das Boot" again to be sure. One thing Arthur Godfey had in common with Captain Eddie, he was quailfied to fly multi-engined commercial aircraft. So was Danny Kaye. John Travolta we know about, I wonder who else?
Maybe you're right, Firelock but I know some garment or another from Big 2 was called a bum freezer.
Fascinating about U-boat crews wearing British battledress. I thought the crews wore mostly coveralls, I guess I need to see "Das Boot" again to be sure.
One thing Arthur Godfey had in common with Captain Eddie, he was quailfied to fly multi-engined commercial aircraft. So was Danny Kaye. John Travolta we know about, I wonder who else?
According to some people I knew in my youth who were navy pilots, a "Bum Freezer" was a fleece-lined jacket worn by fighter pilots. It was a waist length, leather jacket with enough room to let the pilots move as they needed to to fly in combat.
Yep. Line of sight really isn't worth much when there's thousands of tons behind you decending Sherman Hill. All it's really good for is giving the crew a chance to pull down on the whistle lanyard in hopes of warning the obstruction off the tracks. Which of course is useless anyways if the "obstruction" is a rockslide.
But even with all that, several railroads operated their diesels "long hood first" because that's what their engineers had become accustomed to: seeing the machine they were driving so they could detect mechanical issues as soon as possibe.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
ccltrains Agreed that signals on both sides lets both front end personnel to see signals etc. My concern is the track immediately in front of the engine. An obstruction on the track might not be able to be seen. With the multi rules covering everything I think the feds may require something dealing with forward viewing. I know nothing is required for the excursion steam engines for forward viewing YET. Being wall eyed is not the best way to see directly ahead.
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