Who likes steam locomitives??

A nice collection in the Link below .. Check out the Enthusiasts Info Link

Downpatrick & County Down Railway

My brother-in-law has liked trains all of his life and can be found watching one every day here.
Railroad Webcams, Railcams & Live Train Videos

A nice little (??) Aussie (NSW) loco, a couple of weeks ago.

Built in the 1920s.

I have ridden the footplate of this more than once. Magic!!


Wenda.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

JimJoe said:

A collection of web sites about steam locomotives, trolly cars, etc. at The Railfan Network
They claim over 1,000,000 images for railfans by railfans.

Thanks for the link! Got it bookmarked now.

You're welcome. A number of groups that rebuild, and run excursions with, steam locomotives have sites there to.

My god, I finally found my people! Internet/Tech Savvy people who LIKE trains. *Dies*

I grew up watching Burlington Northern Sante Fe Trains cross. Not quite "Locomotives" but I live in Wenatchee Valley, which has one of the last Great Northern Railway Steam Engines parked in it. As a small child I dreamed about buying it, and operating a scenic route of the Wenatchee Valley with it.

Since that will most likely never happened, I started into Model Trains, and it was my passion for many years. I collected many old steam engines and I plan on recreating the old railways from maps and what not. I posted it before, I'm not sure Lady Fitzgerald saw it, but here it is again;



I absolutely love trains, and will forever love them.


I'm glad to have found some lovely people to discuss with. My all time favorite is "Big Boy" if anyone knows who that is :)



Model Version of it; A whoppin' 4-8-8-4 Setup, its hauled the longest load for Locomotives, I believe it was a total of 5 miles of nothing but cars and a Caboose. My mom remembers my grandfather & his father speaking about waiting for one of these babies to roll by. Took several hours of sitting.


- Dread

Edit:

Should I create a new topic for the Model Railroad version of this topic? If so, I'm going to do it.

Wenda said:

A nice little (??) Aussie (NSW) loco, a couple of weeks ago.

Built in the 1920s.

I have ridden the footplate of this more than once. Magic!!


Wenda.

Have you been here Wenda great stuff and just amazing how they got these things up and down the mountains.
Zig Zag Railway - Blue Mountains Premier Tourist Attraction

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Thanks for those photos, especially Big Boy.

As for five mile long trains, they existed but, due to the limit to how much weight the couplers could pull, they had to add locomotives in the middle of trains long enough to exceed the pulling capacity of the couplers. The longest trains I've ever seen (and haven't seen in years) had only five diesels up front and five in the middle (often, one or more of the middle ones didn't have cabs). Also, the longer the train, the less air pressure for the brakes gets to the rear cars. Lose enough pressure, and the brakes will start to lock.

Pulling up a steep grade also stressed the couplers more as well as the locomotives so pusher locomotives were used to get them up the hill instead putting them in the middle because they then didn't have to break the train, making it easier to add and remove the extra locomotives. I still see them being used to pull trains up the San Gorgonio pass near Palm Springs (roughly parallel to I-10). Sometimes they return the pushers to the bottom of the grade by hitching them on to the end of a eastbound train although I have seen a string of locomotives only heading down all by themselves. You can tell by the heat waves coming off the locomotives hitched to the end of a train if they are actually working or just going along for the ride.

Lady Fitz you like them big??



Jump in the recliner chair cos you will need it