The "soul" of a diesel locomotive

[ontheBNSF]

EMD#1

 

ontheBNSF:

 

Many a railfan claim that diesel locomotive lifeless and sterile machines but I disagree whole heartily with that statement. Sure diesels don't have those convoluted moving part but they do have beautiful air horns, the wide variety of "noses", the cab which gives it the appearance of a face, the sound of radiator noise, the diesel engine starting up like a beast waking up, diesel exhaust, or the most memorable part the roar of a diesel engine from miles away. Just my take on it.

 

 

When I was 19 I worked at Six Flags over Georgia as a fireman and locomotive engineer on their two narrow gauge 4-4-0 steam engines they had at the time.  One was the General and the other was the Texas modeled after the Civil War Great Locomotive Chase engines.  Now I'm 42 and I run big diesels for a class one railroad as a living.  Now don't get me wrong because I love diesels.  I've ran everything from a SW1 to an SD90MAC.  Each one or set has had their own unique characteristics.  Some are great performers and others not so much.  There have also been times I've treated them as beings as if I could somehow coerce them into getting a heavy train started.  LOL!  Other times I have cursed them for being a sorry excuse for a locomotive.  

With all that being said though not one diesel I have ever ran even came close to those two little 4-4-0 steamers when it came to having a soul.  I have always thought nothing man has ever made has come as close to a living breathing being than a steam locomotive.  As humans we are considered unique and fragile.  Not one of us are alike and unlike modern diesels neither are steam engines.  Both of the two steamers I ran were made by the same company during the same time period however each one was as different from the other as night is to day.  One was slow but a hard puller and the other was fast but couldn't pull as much.  Both had air compressors that sounded like a beating heart.  They would let you know if you were treating them too ruff and they also let you know when everything was right.  They required a lot of maintenance and upkeep but we didn't mind because we loved them just like they were family.  

I wish you could have that kind of experience yourself because I believe if you could your opinion would probably be different.

Tim

 

I have seen quite a few steamers, diesels, trolleys, electrics, and all sorts of trains and I liked all of them including steam train but what I liked was the train trip not really the steamer. Just my experience thought. I truly appreciate any form of vintage equipment. just my take though 

[Paul of Covington]

ontheBNSF:

"I have seen quite a few steamers, diesels, trolleys, electrics, and all sorts of trains and I liked all of them including steam train but what I liked was the train trip not really the steamer. Just my experience thought. I truly appreciate any form of vintage equipment. just my take though"

    I don't  think we will convert you, but remember that the rides at the museums are usually a freight engine pulling a few cars at 20 MPH or so, so the engine is just loafing.   You don't get to hear it really working.

   By the way the last posts by EMD and edbenton made me think of something:  Why is there this love affair between men and machines?

[ontheBNSF]

Paul of Covington

ontheBNSF:

"I have seen quite a few steamers, diesels, trolleys, electrics, and all sorts of trains and I liked all of them including steam train but what I liked was the train trip not really the steamer. Just my experience thought. I truly appreciate any form of vintage equipment. just my take though"

    I don't  think we will convert you, but remember that the rides at the museums are usually a freight engine pulling a few cars at 20 MPH or so, so the engine is just loafing.   You don't get to hear it really working.

   By the way the last posts by EMD and edbenton made me think of something:  Why is there this love affair between men and machines?

I think the love affair of machines comes from the amount of time and effort put into a machine and the fact is that when you do those things you put a piece of yourself aka a part of your soul into the machine.

[ontheBNSF]

Paul of Covington

ontheBNSF:

"I have seen quite a few steamers, diesels, trolleys, electrics, and all sorts of trains and I liked all of them including steam train but what I liked was the train trip not really the steamer. Just my experience thought. I truly appreciate any form of vintage equipment. just my take though"

    I don't  think we will convert you, but remember that the rides at the museums are usually a freight engine pulling a few cars at 20 MPH or so, so the engine is just loafing.   You don't get to hear it really working.

   By the way the last posts by EMD and edbenton made me think of something:  Why is there this love affair between men and machines?

I went on the Cumbres and Toltec, and the roaring camp railroad and you could get a pretty good sense of them working.

[ontheBNSF]

I think the purpose of this thread was misunderstood. I was merely trying to show that the Diesel locomotive has as much soul as a steamer and is also as beautiful, yes to a degree every machine has a soul but certain machines like locomotives have more soul than others.

[Old MRK]

                    July 12, 2012

    Yeh Paul, you're right... those who say, steam locomotives didn't have souls, have never been in a roundhouse or an engine shed in the small hours of morning, where the engines have been put up after a full day's work...and in the dark coolness, to hear their sibilant sighs, their compressors' chugging heartbeats, their relaxing boilers' low murmurs...big gentle beasts snoozing. 

    Sixty years hence, same round house, same engine shed, and same small hour... but now, a couple of sullen nondescript EMD SW-1s are squatting there...and straight-away, you realize, it's not the same....just not the same...and you accept resignedly it never will be...ever again.   Old MRK

[Firelock76]

Do steam engines, diesel engines, or other man-made objects have "souls"?  Well cold hard logic would tell you no, absolutely not.  But then...

Back in the 80's I worked in a gunshop when the boss bought a group of confiscated guns from a local police department.  In the group was a Smith and Wesson Model 59 9mm automatic that had been used in a suicide.  Let me tell you I got bad vibes from that thing and so did everyone else in the shop, we didn't even like going near the case it was in.  The thing just reeked "evil".  We were relieved when the boss sold it to another dealer and it left the shop for good.  I've never felt that from any other firearm I've seen since.  Soulless, inanimate object?  Shakespeare said it best:  "There are more things in Heaven and Earth. Horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophies."

 

[erieking]

I certainly agree with that. Diesels are not sterile or lifeless: the wide range of colors, options and models certainly attests to that. It seems, however, that they've been moving in that direction as of late. Up until the late 1980's, railroads crammed their motors with a bewildering array of options such as light packages, dual controls, high hoods, and multiple horns. Nowadays, the only difference between two railroads SD70ACe's or ES44AC's is the paint and where the headlights are placed. Of course, NS, UP, KCS, and the IAIS have certainly made their SD70ACe's and ES44AC's look handsome with their "heritage" paintjobs.