Interesting RR photos
George Stephenson is generally credited with the invention of the first usable steam locomotive. His locomotive “Blucher” (shown in sketch) was completed and tested on the Collingwood Railway on July 25, 1814. The track was an uphill trek of four hundred and fifty feet. Stephenson’s engine hauled eight loaded coal wagons weighing thirty tons, at a speed of about four miles an hour up the hill.
But, it was Richard Trevithick who actually built what is recognized as the first steam locomotive. Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from the mining heartland of Cornwall who was born in 1771. The world’s first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick’s unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. This pic is of a working replica of Trevithick’s locomotive. (I think we would classify this loco as a geared steamer!)
I found this pic of a little narrow gauge 0-4-0T. It appears it’s pulling a log train with a rather large log showing on the first car.
Oregon & California RR “A”, also know as “Old Betsy”, is shown in a 1905 photo. The O&C first operated a 20 mile stretch south of Portland in 1869 that qualified the railroad for land grants in California – hence the name. The O&C gradually extended well beyond the original 20 miles. It eventually became part of the Southern Pacific in 1927.
I found this patent diagram of a locomotive submitted by Hurd & Simpson from around 1874, and had to throw it in. The basic idea behind this design was to take the smoke from the boiler and recycle it through the fire again. The inventors, Hurd & Simpson, thought that by continuously recycling the exhaust gases, it would make them innocuous enough to be released into a confined space like a mine. (The source I used for the pic was less optimist.) It also appears they planned to condense the exhaust steam. The fire is stoked automatically by the rotary feed barrel under the coal hopper. There is some sort of power-operated shovel feeding the fuel into the fire but it is not visible in the image. Therefore, the fire could only be fed when the engine was moving, and while moving, it would be fed whether necessary or not. My source then says that the patent description of operation starts to become incoherent when discussing how the steam combined with the highly heated and expanded gases are recycled back again into the boiler when the engine is not working. This seems to indicate that the compressed exhaust gases were to be injected into the boiler rather than the firebox, making it an Aero-steam power plant. (I had to look up Aero-steam engine to understand the reference. Let’s just say that it’s not practical, but probably more realistic than this engine.) The Hurd & Simpson locomotive was a cab-forward design – The driver would look to the right of the picture. He had no access to the fire. All this recompression of exhaust gases must have been very efficient, because there is no exhaust stack visible. Possibly the silliest feature is the huge coal-hopper perched above the locomotive. That would have significantly raised the center of gravity, probably making the locomotive unstable. But worse still, it is hardly suitable for a locomotive that is intended to work underground with limited headroom. Hurd & Simpson went into liquidation in 1876. When looking at a design like this, it’s hard to imagine how they lasted two years after the patent submission. Unless maybe success came on the comedy tour! After reading the description, I only had one immediate thought – “Absurd Hurd (& Simpson)!”
On a quick observation of this pic compared to the previous pic, one starts to see the fine line between absurdity and ingenuity. The locomotive shown here is a NZR (New Zealand Railway) R Class, 0-6-0T that has received a second life as a stationary steam boiler. It sits outside the NZR Petone shops. My source says it has been fitted with (6) Westinghouse air compressors (you easily see four on this side). The compressors’ output compressed air pipes funnel into a larger pipe that goes through the ground into the shops providing compressed air for the shop equipment. (BTW – My source says it’s (6) compressors, but I only count (5) with (5) pipes.)
I’ve run into this pic several times. There are model pickle tank cars of this prototype that are often seen at shows and flea markets. In my earlier years, I tended to scoff at these models. But since seeing this pic, I must denounce my previous attitude. These tanks hold cucumbers in brine – soon to be pickles. I like the action of the guys dumping the wheelbarrows almost simultaneously. It appears the photo was taken from a second “pickle” car with a plank between the cars.
We’ve looked at and discussed camels and Ross Winans. This is B&O #80, an 0-8-0 Winans camel, built in 1851. I like that the pic shows the crew posing for the photo.
I typically don’t show much foreign equipment (except Canadian), but since most of these pics are from overseas, I’ve had this one stashed for a while – time to show it off. This is TGR ASG #16 at Burnie. Got it? Okay – TGR is the Tasmanian Government Railways, and Burnie is of course a city in Tasmania. The ASG’s were Garratt articulated steam locos made as 4-8-2 + 2-8-4, or two Mountains back-to-back, commonly referred to as a “Double Mountain”. Best I can tell, TGR had 14 of these that as typical of larger steamers survived just short of the ‘60s when they were all scrapped. Garratts were typically built as tank locos; they carried their own water and fuel without a separate tender. These large Double Mountains have the water tender in front of the boiler, and the coal tender behind the cab, and they appear permanently attached to the unit like most Garratts. At the very front and rear of the unit, there appears to be additional streamlined tanks – I’m guessing additional water tanks. When I looked up the Garratt Double Mountains, I didn’t see these additional tanks on the typical units. I’m wondering if these are unique to the Tasmanian locos.
I tried to find info on this loco – Couldn’t sort out all the references. The tender has New York Central Lines. The large observation cab over the boiler says Catskill. I couldn’t find a loco named “Catskill”. The NYC controlled a line called the Catskill Mountain Railroad, but other than it’s been reopened as a tourist railroad, I couldn’t find much on its roster. Nothing like this is on the NYC roster. I’m guessing this is a 2-2-4T, which my sources say that there were no 2-2-4Ts in the US. Porter made some locos with similar Whyte notation, but none looking like this. I’m guessing that it’s a custom built observation loco for the NYC that was either called “Catskill”, or worked the Catskill line.
Here’s another pic of an odd piece of equipment that I have no info on. It looks like the boiler & chassis from a little 0-4-0. The cab is gone, but all the piping and gearing is in place as if it’s operable. But, there’s no fuel bin and spare water tank, and no place to stand to feed the firebox. My guess is that there is repair work taking place on the cab.
NWR is the British line North Western Railway. The NWR ended up the North West branch of the L&NWR, London & North Western Railway. I was curious about the classification of this locomotive. Is it two 0-6-0s back to back sharing a 6 wheel tender in between? Or is it one locomotive? I couldn’t find it listed on the L&NWR roster. I assume it’s two locos coupled to the same tender so that they didn’t need to be turned around for the return trip. But, did they run one loco one way and the other on the return? Or were both locos fired with coordination between the engineers and firemen?
Does anybody have the waybill for that load? I don’t have any info on this mishap.
A really nice view of ferry service.
The locomotive is the B&O “Lafayette” built in 1837. The cab was open, and what you see behind the firebox is a simple platform with a guardrail on the sides. It had a small tender for wood fuel. This pic was taken in 1948 as it was being unloaded for display during the Chicago Railroad Fair. Note how the removed the stack and it’s sitting on the flatcar just in front of where the loco is being lifted.
You don’t find many pictures of the brakemen working the brakes from the top of the car.
On this pic, we get a description of the action: “March 1943. Summit, California. Brakeman opening the retainer valve on a car on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Barstow and San Bernardino. From here to San Bernardino is one long downgrade of more than 2,700 feet.” Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information.
We’ll finish up with this photo – a nice view forward from the behind the train. Note the mechanical turnout/signal control rods above the ballast to the left of the train. The tower to the left of the train appears to control the intersection of the three lines. The three diamonds must be within a few yards of one another.
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