Any train fans around?
- Thread starter Ar-Pharazon
- Start date
Oh boy, yeah I can only imagine the amount of upkeep these things need. There is just something about older technology like this though. It really makes you think about what went into them to make these things move and gives you a whole new appreciation for them. It's not unlike the whole process to getting a Model-T going
Card-carrying member of the National Model Railroad Association and the California State Railroad Museum Foundation, and I have an active Amtrak Guest Rewards account (and it is a rare vacation for me indeed, that doesn't include at least one intercity rail segment). Oh, and at the 2024 NMRA Convention (so far, the only one I've attended, despite being an NMRA member for my entire adult life), I took the Perris bus tour, and paid the extra (I think it was $10) for 15 minutes running a diesel switcher back and forth under the supervision of an expert instructor (at the end of my last run, I aimed for a particular trackside weed, and managed to come to a smooth stop on-spot). That enough cred? 
Hmm. The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry has an older Zephyr. An original Pioneer Zephyr trainset. Maybe the only surviving one.
not surprising given they date back to the 1930s aka the art deco era.
think a lot of people would be surprised at just how long diesel locomotives have been in service even if it wasn't until the 1950s when they really started to surpass steam.
Though there were also detours along the way like the steam and gas turbined powered units but almost of them wound up in the scrappers yard.
Hell even electric powered locos have been around since the end of the 19th century.
So I guess you like trains.
Yes, and at the aforementioned NMRA Convention, rather than parking in downtown Long Beach, or staying at the hotel, I parked at the Wardlow Blue Line Station, and took the trolley to the convention. Except for one morning when I was running very late, and in danger of missing a tour bus departure, and parked downtown (paying through the nose for the privilege, at least compared to the round-trip trolley fare of $3.50).
As it happens, at least one of my fellow docents at the International Printing Museum is also an NMRA member, as is a fellow parishioner at one of the churches I attend semi-regularly.
Years ago, I was on the Coast Starlight, on my way to the Bay Area, and (I think we were at the San Luis Obispo Station) found myself on the inside of a closed coach door, with my car attendant on the outside, unable to reach the outside latch, and gesturing to me to open the door from the inside. She didn't need to ask twice, and she didn't need to explain how the latches worked.
I was also on the platform at the Mystic, CT station once, waiting for my train, at what was (for most trains) a completely safe distance from the edge. An Acela went by without stopping, and the turbulence was enough to make me a little bit unstable on my feet. On a later trip, I rode an Acela. When it was going full-speed, I found that I couldn't read the signs on the station platforms we passed.
And there was one occasion, many years ago, in San Francisco, when I was pressed into service to help operate a Cable Car. I'd been sitting at the Van Ness terminal of the California line, and a car rolled in with only one crew member aboard. I asked the fellow pulling the grip what happened to the conductor.
"Oh, he ran off."
A moment later, he asked me to give him a hand with the rear brakes. When somebody in a MUNI uniform makes a request like that, especially if you have a working (if purely theoretical) knowledge of how a Cable Car works, the only question you should be asking is "Wheel or track?"
We went one block, with me half-expecting Allen Funt and a camera crew to jump out from behind a bush, and announce that I was on Candid Camera, Then another guy an a MUNI uniform walked out of a convenience store, and took over the grip: the fellow who'd asked me to take the rear brakes was the conductor.
As it happens, at least one of my fellow docents at the International Printing Museum is also an NMRA member, as is a fellow parishioner at one of the churches I attend semi-regularly.
Years ago, I was on the Coast Starlight, on my way to the Bay Area, and (I think we were at the San Luis Obispo Station) found myself on the inside of a closed coach door, with my car attendant on the outside, unable to reach the outside latch, and gesturing to me to open the door from the inside. She didn't need to ask twice, and she didn't need to explain how the latches worked.
I was also on the platform at the Mystic, CT station once, waiting for my train, at what was (for most trains) a completely safe distance from the edge. An Acela went by without stopping, and the turbulence was enough to make me a little bit unstable on my feet. On a later trip, I rode an Acela. When it was going full-speed, I found that I couldn't read the signs on the station platforms we passed.
And there was one occasion, many years ago, in San Francisco, when I was pressed into service to help operate a Cable Car. I'd been sitting at the Van Ness terminal of the California line, and a car rolled in with only one crew member aboard. I asked the fellow pulling the grip what happened to the conductor.
"Oh, he ran off."
A moment later, he asked me to give him a hand with the rear brakes. When somebody in a MUNI uniform makes a request like that, especially if you have a working (if purely theoretical) knowledge of how a Cable Car works, the only question you should be asking is "Wheel or track?"
We went one block, with me half-expecting Allen Funt and a camera crew to jump out from behind a bush, and announce that I was on Candid Camera, Then another guy an a MUNI uniform walked out of a convenience store, and took over the grip: the fellow who'd asked me to take the rear brakes was the conductor.
And how could I possibly forget: also a card-carrying member of the National Association of Rail Passengers (AKA the Rail Passengers' Association).
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She's beautiful..... Those lines are amazing they definitely don't build em' like that anymore
Back in 1972, Model Railroader published a beautiful fold-out centerfold of a Southern Pacific GS-4 steam locomotive. I have a framed copy hanging in my bedroom. And I've visited the one surviving GS-4 that's in working order (the one that pulled the 1976 Freedom Train) at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center, in Portland.
had an HO scale on of those for the model railway when growing but we never got the do much with it. The shed the railway was used for quickly filled with other stuff.
It's pity that only one of the class survived. if I say a close of loco on a video I'll hit wiki to see how many entered presevation and it's not always good news.
I've read of some that were scrapped because some-one in managament wanted nothing preserved.
Almost any detection system, whether current-sensing, optical, or magnetic, can trip a simple reversing mechanism. And if you're on traditional DC control (and for what you're describing, DCC would be ridiculous overkill), a reversing relay is easily constructed from anything with at least double-pole double-throw nonshorting contacts, much the same way you'd wire a toggle switch for reversing.
Of course, a single trolley car perpetually going back and forth on eight feet of track is likely to get very boring, very fast.
Of course, a single trolley car perpetually going back and forth on eight feet of track is likely to get very boring, very fast.
When I'm going to San Francisco. I park at the Dublin / Pleasanton Station, the farthest east on the blue line to Powell Street in San Francisco, and use the SFMTA (Muni) and prioritize using light rail, trolley cars, and art deco tracked street cars, over non-tracked street buses, when I get in the city. The ride on rails is so much smoother that a bus suspension system on the street.
Outbound BART ride from San Francisco to Dublin Pleasanton.
To go from the BART Powell Street station to Mission Bay (Chase Center, UCSF Medical Center) or China Basin (Oracle Park, Caltrain), you transfer to the MUNI T line subway
Outbound BART ride from San Francisco to Dublin Pleasanton.
To go from the BART Powell Street station to Mission Bay (Chase Center, UCSF Medical Center) or China Basin (Oracle Park, Caltrain), you transfer to the MUNI T line subway
<Worf>Park?</Worf>
I live 65 miles from the BART station, with no mass transit from my house to the station. I drive my car to the station and park, in a parking lot. BART permit parking is $3 for the day, Reserved Parking is $10.90 overnight. That is a lot less expensive than driving the additional 50 miles to San Francisco, crossing a toll bridge, then finding a place to park in the city, at $6 or more per half hour.
Uh, "Side rods."
It's actually not uncommon for electric locomotives to use side rods when sharing a single traction motor across multiple axles. One type of geared steam locomotive, the Heisler, also had side rods on the trucks. And note that the crankpins on one side of the locomotive are always 90 degrees out of phase with those on the other side.
It's actually not uncommon for electric locomotives to use side rods when sharing a single traction motor across multiple axles. One type of geared steam locomotive, the Heisler, also had side rods on the trucks. And note that the crankpins on one side of the locomotive are always 90 degrees out of phase with those on the other side.