The "soul" of a diesel locomotive

[The Railwolf]

I, too, prefer diesel to steam, though I sit in just as much awe as the next railfan whenever a steamer passes by. I had the rare opportunity to work on steam (and diesel) locomotives during the 2009 Ely, Nevada RailCamp, and it was really something else to feel the living, breathing aspects of a real working steam engine. There is just a certain air about a steamer that diesels can't produce. To refer to a steamer as a 'tube of iron on wheels' is just a bit too naive or uninformed, to me at least. :P

 

I prefer diesel because of the sound, the clean, powerful lines (especially on EMDs like the SD50 and SD70ACe), and because I just prefer the sound of a well-tuned diesel horn to that of a steam whistle. (I'm in love with the RS3L and new cast K5LLA, and the K3LA isn't bad either)

 

There are few things in life that can give me goosebumps every time, and the sound of an SD50 pair throttling up and pulling a train out onto the mainline is one of those things.

[ontheBNSF]

Maybe its just me but I don't get whats special about a tube of iron on wheels

[Paul of Covington]

   Steam locomotives were alive!   Just about everyone in town knew if they were struggling, loafing, stuck, etc.   Young whippersnappers today don't know the emotional involvement that we old-timers remember of lying in bed listening to a locomotive struggling to start a heavy load, drivers slipping, taking up the slack, trying again.    Then, when he's finally out of the yard and on the main, he gradually picks up speed as the sound fades into the distance, blowing for the crossings.   Then comes that warm feeling: "He made it!"

   It's the SOUND that get's me.

[ontheBNSF]

One thing I will say is that the Diesel locomotive isn't a memory, a note in the annals of history, not the even the machine that was or could be, but it is all of those things and it is the machine that is, the machine that does, and the machine that continues to be. So if the steam locomotive is human then the Diesel locomotive is divine.......

[Thomas 9011]

I always felt like the old Alcos had more personality and soul then the EMDs ever did. As a former Union pacific Conductor I can tell you every locomotive had its own personality. I especially liked having the old SP and D&RGW units on my train as they often spewed thick black or white smoke giving us some entertainment during our trips. It was usually a 50/50 chance they would get to where they were going still running.

I remember those old C30-7's used to frequently blow fire out their stacks. They had a wonderful sound as well.

[ontheBNSF]

Paul Milenkovic

Of course a Diesel has all of those attributes, otherwise people would have given up on railfanning a long time ago.

Part of the allure of steam is nostalgia, which can take many forms.  On a trip on Delta, I told me wife that I we were about to board a "steam locomotive", i.e. one of the last DC-9 Series 50's left.  I got this look and a remark, "Why didn't you book us on a modern airliner instead of a relic?" when it appeared that we weren't on a Series 50 but on a somewhat newer MD-88 -- longer fuselage, the somewhat larger re-fanned JT-8D's, strakes on both the nose in front and nacelles in the rear, that redesigned tail cone, oh, and not that completely threadbare carpeting inside and plastic cabin interior with less grime. 

Part of the charm of steam is the pistons, rods, and valve gear, not to mention whisps of steam from the turbogenerator, the open valve drains.  The other part is the sounds -- the hiss of the blower, the creaking of the firebox sheets, the clank of the fireman's shovel, the gurgling of the boiler, the chuff of the stack.  The steam locomotive seems like a living creature, much more so than a Diesel ever could.

Yes, steam locomotives.  Like at EAA in Oshkosh where they brought a Lockheed Super Constellation Turbo Compound up to the flight line, started each of four big radial engine with a big "chug-chug-chug", with first flames and then big puffs of smoke coming out the exhaust pipes, with a ground crew standing by with those giant fire extinguishers, and then the roar as each engine "caught" and started up.  Yes, steam locomotives -- the last of the great prop-liners and the end of mainline steam were roughly in the same time frame, and at EAA we could have been watching a restored Pennsy T1 for all that mattered, and I also heard that the Turbo Compound engines were "a bridge too far" in extracting performance out of a piston (actually a piston-exhaust turbine compound) aircraft engine and were maintenance nightmares and didn't stay long in service, much like the T1.

So maybe nostalgia for the DC-9-50 is roughly a yearning for first-generation Diesel's?

The WSOR goes right by where I work, and when I hear the crossing gate bells and the train horn when outside, I will turn and stop to watch an SD-40 with a string of freight cars.

I never really saw appeal in steam locomotive to be honest. They all look the same same not to say that they are but most of them look like water tubes on wheels and usually but not always come in one color which is black. Another reason why the appeal never go to me might be because I never grew up with them like a lot of people on this forum. 

edit: I do yearn for the first gen diesels like the e units and GP series

[blue streak 1]

Paul Milenkovic

Yes, steam locomotives.  Like at EAA in Oshkosh where they brought a Lockheed Super Constellation Turbo Compound up to the flight line, started each of four big radial engine with a big "chug-chug-chug", with first flames and then big puffs of smoke coming out the exhaust pipes, with a ground crew standing by with those giant fire extinguishers, and then the roar as each engine "caught" and started up.  Yes, steam locomotives -- the last of the great prop-liners and the end of mainline steam were roughly in the same time frame, and at EAA we could have been watching a restored Pennsy T1 for all that mattered, and I also heard that the Turbo Compound engines were "a bridge too far" in extracting performance out of a piston (actually a piston-exhaust turbine compound) aircraft engine and were maintenance nightmares and didn't stay long in service, much like the T1.

 Paul quite right about the turbo compound. much of the problem was lack of cooling thru the engine shroud.  The shroud on the DC-7s were worse than Connies ( L-1049 & L-1649-G & H )   and that really had the DC- 7 engines failing. That is why DC-6 aircraft lasted longer than DC-7s.  It was all about cooling the turbos and appears that engineer designers have never learned their lessons from predecessors even on autos and locos as well/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul Milenkovic]

Of course a Diesel has all of those attributes, otherwise people would have given up on railfanning a long time ago.

Part of the allure of steam is nostalgia, which can take many forms.  On a trip on Delta, I told me wife that I we were about to board a "steam locomotive", i.e. one of the last DC-9 Series 50's left.  I got this look and a remark, "Why didn't you book us on a modern airliner instead of a relic?" when it appeared that we weren't on a Series 50 but on a somewhat newer MD-88 -- longer fuselage, the somewhat larger re-fanned JT-8D's, strakes on both the nose in front and nacelles in the rear, that redesigned tail cone, oh, and not that completely threadbare carpeting inside and plastic cabin interior with less grime. 

Part of the charm of steam is the pistons, rods, and valve gear, not to mention whisps of steam from the turbogenerator, the open valve drains.  The other part is the sounds -- the hiss of the blower, the creaking of the firebox sheets, the clank of the fireman's shovel, the gurgling of the boiler, the chuff of the stack.  The steam locomotive seems like a living creature, much more so than a Diesel ever could.

Yes, steam locomotives.  Like at EAA in Oshkosh where they brought a Lockheed Super Constellation Turbo Compound up to the flight line, started each of four big radial engine with a big "chug-chug-chug", with first flames and then big puffs of smoke coming out the exhaust pipes, with a ground crew standing by with those giant fire extinguishers, and then the roar as each engine "caught" and started up.  Yes, steam locomotives -- the last of the great prop-liners and the end of mainline steam were roughly in the same time frame, and at EAA we could have been watching a restored Pennsy T1 for all that mattered, and I also heard that the Turbo Compound engines were "a bridge too far" in extracting performance out of a piston (actually a piston-exhaust turbine compound) aircraft engine and were maintenance nightmares and didn't stay long in service, much like the T1.

So maybe nostalgia for the DC-9-50 is roughly a yearning for first-generation Diesel's?

The WSOR goes right by where I work, and when I hear the crossing gate bells and the train horn when outside, I will turn and stop to watch an SD-40 with a string of freight cars.

[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.