Johnny,
You may be right about Cornelius Vanderbilt. I've read some things about him but I don't recall reading about his religious beliefs or whether or not he had any.
Certainly his family was not left "poor and needy" in the material sense of the words.
John
John WR Perhaps I should quit while I'm only knee deep. Thanks for your historical notes tragic though they are. Shortly after the Camden and Amboy began running from South Amboy, New Jersey to Bordentown Cornelius Vanderbilt was riding the train on a trip to Philadelphia. There was a train wreck; it left Vanderbilt with a punctured lung, a painful injury, although he survived but he was put off railroads for a while. He did survive. Ultimately he decided to buy the New York and Harlem which operated a horse car line--Harlem was then the suburbs. He wanted to extend the horse car down to lower Manhattan. After doing this he came back to the steam cars which the NY&H ran beyond Harlem up into New York State. From there one thing led to another. Cornelius Vanderbilt, despite his achievements, never qualified for the coveted Darwin award. He died of natural causes in the late 1870's I think. As he lay dying his children and grandchildren gathered around them and sung hymns including "I Am so Poor and Needy." He was the richest man in the country.
Perhaps I should quit while I'm only knee deep.
Thanks for your historical notes tragic though they are.
Shortly after the Camden and Amboy began running from South Amboy, New Jersey to Bordentown Cornelius Vanderbilt was riding the train on a trip to Philadelphia. There was a train wreck; it left Vanderbilt with a punctured lung, a painful injury, although he survived but he was put off railroads for a while. He did survive. Ultimately he decided to buy the New York and Harlem which operated a horse car line--Harlem was then the suburbs. He wanted to extend the horse car down to lower Manhattan. After doing this he came back to the steam cars which the NY&H ran beyond Harlem up into New York State. From there one thing led to another.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, despite his achievements, never qualified for the coveted Darwin award. He died of natural causes in the late 1870's I think. As he lay dying his children and grandchildren gathered around them and sung hymns including "I Am so Poor and Needy." He was the richest man in the country.
Johnny
John WR Johnny, I'm afraid that I did go beyond my usual reasonable limit in my response to you. Sometimes I get kind of upset by people who insist on the truth. I hope you can forgive me. John
I'm afraid that I did go beyond my usual reasonable limit in my response to you. Sometimes I get kind of upset by people who insist on the truth. I hope you can forgive me.
As one John to another things are getting a bit deep around here. How deep you ask? The Frog says "Knee-deep"
The American who supervised the building of the first American steam locomotive built and operated in America was Horatio Allen, and the locomotive was named the Best Friend (of Charleston). It was built at the West Point Foundry in West Point, NY. It was shipped to Charleston, SC and operated for the first time on Christmas Day 1830. It was destroyed by a boiler explosion on June 17, 1831, reportedly after the Fireman grew tired of the safety valve popping off with a shrill whistle, whereupon he prevented it from opening again, earning himself the first railroad Darwin Award in the US.
William Huskisson MP for Liverpool in England garnered the first Darwin Award in the world for standing in the gauge of a double track mainline while talking to the Prime Minister of England who was seated in a train standing on the other track when a train approached on the track he was standing on. He was knocked down and one of his legs was severed and he bled to death before he could reach medical assistance, on September 15th, 1830.
John WR Johnny, Abso-#######-lutely. John
Abso-#######-lutely.
This book belonged to my father, who operated a locomotive crane in the ACL's Tampa shops.
On the diesel side, consider the Maybach engines used in the Baldwin lightweights and the KM locomotives on Rio Grande and SP. Also, the Voith transmissions used in the KM and Alco diesel/hydraulic (torque converter, actually) locomotives.
And who could forget the Gresley Conjugated Valve Gear used by three cylinder engines.
Don't forget Baker, and what about Carprotti?
Deggesty John WR Johnny, Burn the book. John Why? are you serious?
John WR Johnny, Burn the book. John
Burn the book.
You might want to do it before Something wicked this way comes...
- Erik
I had thought that anyone who knew the history of steam locomotives knew of Stephenson valve gear (which was invented by William Howe, the head pattern-maker of the Robert Stephenson Locomotive Works; Mr. Howe did not realize the great value of his design, and sold it to Mr. Stephenson for twenty guineas (if you do not know what a monetary guinea is--whereas a pound sterling was twenty shillings, a guinea was twenty-one shillings--, your education has been neglected), who obtained the patent for the gear about 1842).
In 1844, Egide Walshaert, the foreman at the Belgium State Railway shops at Brussels, patented his valve gear. However, his design was used mainly in Belgium, despite its advantage over the Stephenson gear (it is entirely outside the wheels, and is thus easier to work with), and it was not until about 1897 when it began to be used extensively in the construction of locomotives in America.
In 1912, William Sherman Brown, a locomotive engineer of the Southern Railway, patented the Southern valve gear, and it was used extensively on Southern locomotives.
The above information (except the value of a guinea) comes from the 1922 edition of The Locomotive Up To Date.
John WR Beaulieu, Everyone knows that the steam locomotive was invented in the U S of A by....well, his name escapes me at the moment. But he sure wasn't no fancy schmancy British guy. That Wiki article is a forgery. Are you sure you didn't just make it up? Next thing you'll be telling me Americans didn't invent canals either. John
Beaulieu,
Everyone knows that the steam locomotive was invented in the U S of A by....well, his name escapes me at the moment. But he sure wasn't no fancy schmancy British guy. That Wiki article is a forgery. Are you sure you didn't just make it up?
Next thing you'll be telling me Americans didn't invent canals either.
Everyone knows the Martians invented canals..
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
John WR Carney, What's this "Stephenson" stuff. Adlai Stephenson was a guy who ran for US President. No one named Stephenson ever had anything to to with trains. Don't you know anything about railroads?
Carney,
What's this "Stephenson" stuff. Adlai Stephenson was a guy who ran for US President. No one named Stephenson ever had anything to to with trains. Don't you know anything about railroads?
Hit this link and read the descriptions:
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/appliances/valvegear.php
.....I'm sure I was being kidded as you know what Walschaerts refers to...
John WR Carney, Adlai Stephenson was a guy who ran for US President.
Adlai Stephenson was a guy who ran for US President.
Adlai Stevenson also served a term as governor of Illinois and was the US Ambassador to the United Nations at the time of the Cuban missile crisis.
One should be careful about opening one's mouth wide enough that a foot can be inserted.
George Stephenson
and his son
Robert Stephenson
John WR efftenxrfe "Gear" that you bring to enable you to do something....sleeping bag, canteen, rifle to get your deer, camera, tripod, memory card to take photos,..... rods, levers cranks, to permit steam input and output from locomotive engine's cylinders..... "Gear" that consists of machined ridges and gaps that interlock and serve to transmit energy by moving when a rotating gear engages another. Traction-motor or rack-and-pinion? Homonyms is, I think, the word we need here. Two words that sound the same and in this case have the same spelling but have different meanings. There are gears in an automobile transmission. There is also Walschaerts valve gear. They are quite different.
efftenxrfe "Gear" that you bring to enable you to do something....sleeping bag, canteen, rifle to get your deer, camera, tripod, memory card to take photos,..... rods, levers cranks, to permit steam input and output from locomotive engine's cylinders..... "Gear" that consists of machined ridges and gaps that interlock and serve to transmit energy by moving when a rotating gear engages another. Traction-motor or rack-and-pinion?
"Gear" that you bring to enable you to do something....sleeping bag, canteen, rifle to get your deer, camera, tripod, memory card to take photos,..... rods, levers cranks, to permit steam input and output from locomotive engine's cylinders.....
"Gear" that consists of machined ridges and gaps that interlock and serve to transmit energy by moving when a rotating gear engages another. Traction-motor or rack-and-pinion?
Homonyms is, I think, the word we need here. Two words that sound the same and in this case have the same spelling but have different meanings.
There are gears in an automobile transmission. There is also Walschaerts valve gear. They are quite different.
Of course a Shay locomotive uses both types of gear(s): Steam valve gear (Stephenson, IINM) as well as transmission gears (albeit quite different than an automobile)...
rcdrye Transition is also part of Electric streetcar, MU and locomotive operation.
Transition is also part of Electric streetcar, MU and locomotive operation.
"Transition" on DC streetcars, MU's and locomotives was the speed control, running in series-parallel on a four motor unit would give half the speed of full parallel, with field shunting used to give higher speeds. The resistors used for starting were not intended for use longer than 30 seconds to a few minutes at a time. Transition pretty much disappeared when chopper controls became practical.
Perhaps the ultimate in electric locomotive transition were the Milwaukee Bipolars which could operate with all 12 motors in series, 2 sets of 6 motors in series, 3 sets of 4 motors in series or 4 sets of three motors in series, along with field shunting.
GM and Westinghouse DC motors had a variety of gear ratios. For those sets, the total number of teeth added up to 77. Here are some pretty standard ratios:
65:12 Top speed about 50 MPH. Switching, heavy freight.
62:15 Popular freight ratio. Top speed about 65MPH
60:17 Fast freight or mountain passenger (Think SP FP7s on the "City") Top speed 70-75 MPH
58:19 Dual-service freight/passenger. Top speed 80-85MPH.
56:21 Passenger mid-high speed (Santa Fe F3s/F7s) top speed 102MPH
55:22 High speed pasenger. Mostly found on E-units
The GE motors from the same era have corresponding speed ratios, but not the easy 77-tooth count. The only one I can remember off the top of my head is 74:18 for freight engines (about 65 MPH)
For a time in the 1960s and 70s SP stenciled the ratio on truck frames.
About gears: DC motor-ed locomotives could have gears allowing 100 mph or 55 mph maximum speed; same motors=same starting tractive effort with similar weight on drivers.
There's a "critter" here in Central Ca. that has a 1930's floorshift from an automobile transmission.
The KM hydraulics on SP that I worked used gears to reverse but acceleration used movement of fluid from torque converter to "another stage different range" torque converter; three of them.
Previous revalations about transition open a lot of subjects.
SP's SDP-45's were rewired to lock in parallel circuits on starting, 'cause the amount of time for transition to occur somewhere around 23 to 26 mph was too much of the running time between stations....when they succeeded the FM Trainmasters.
SP's Alco's were modified to make engine loading and turbo-smoke more agreeable.
Other subjects from other subjects....go
,
"Valve gear", OK that makes sense. Thanks!
BigJim It is called "Transition" and it is done because the DC electric motors produce a counter voltage the faster they go. They get to point where the counter voltage won't let the motor go any faster.
It is called "Transition" and it is done because the DC electric motors produce a counter voltage the faster they go. They get to point where the counter voltage won't let the motor go any faster.
A couple of points:
AC motors also have a "counter voltage" (AKA back EMF) that increases with speed, a permanent magnet synchronous motor coupled with a voltmeter will make a respectable tachometer. This is why the AC drives for traction motors are variable voltage as well as variable frequency.
The counter voltage on the DC motor represents the conversion of electrical to mechanical energy (or vice versa when the motor is acting as a generator), where the amount of power converted is "counter voltage" times the current. For a constant power drive, such as the Lemp system, the current is inversely proportional to the voltage.
dBigJim Firelock76 I've heard full forward of the Johnson bar in a steam locomotive refered to a "full forward gear", and full back referred to as "full rearward gear." Why I don't know, there's no gears involved, unless this is modern terminology reflecting everyones familiarity with the automobile. Probably because it operates what is called Valve Gear. And the varying degrees of the Johnson Bar affected the valve timing of the pistons - in a internal combustion engine it would be referred to as 'variable valve timing'.
BigJim Firelock76 I've heard full forward of the Johnson bar in a steam locomotive refered to a "full forward gear", and full back referred to as "full rearward gear." Why I don't know, there's no gears involved, unless this is modern terminology reflecting everyones familiarity with the automobile. Probably because it operates what is called Valve Gear.
Firelock76 I've heard full forward of the Johnson bar in a steam locomotive refered to a "full forward gear", and full back referred to as "full rearward gear." Why I don't know, there's no gears involved, unless this is modern terminology reflecting everyones familiarity with the automobile.
I've heard full forward of the Johnson bar in a steam locomotive refered to a "full forward gear", and full back referred to as "full rearward gear." Why I don't know, there's no gears involved, unless this is modern terminology reflecting everyones familiarity with the automobile.
Probably because it operates what is called Valve Gear.
And the varying degrees of the Johnson Bar affected the valve timing of the pistons - in a internal combustion engine it would be referred to as 'variable valve timing'.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
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