15 Most Spectacular photographs of Conventional Rails

pickchur.com ^ | 2 18 12

[InvisibleChurch]

15 Most Spectacular photographs of Conventional Rails

some thing to look at on saturday night

[TexMom7]

Very Nice! Thanks for posting.

[cripplecreek]

Good thing Willie has left us.

[ILS21R]

Beautiful. Sending link to my friends. Thanks.

[Yehuda]

Steam-whistle to you, my FRiend.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Nice

[cripplecreek]

Winter photos from a favorite photography site.



28 Amazing Outdoor Photographs from This Winter

[Excellence]

I was at the Summit on May 9, 1989, and on the way home I heard the boom of the space shuttle coming through the sound barrier on the way to Edwards. What a day.

[beebuster2000]

great post thanks

[fso301]

I’ve been trying to find the name of a short, silent B&W train film circa 1950 filmed in Europe. The film is as I recall entirely focused on the wheels, tracks, etc emphasizing speed and power.

[DuncanWaring]

Woulda thought there’d be at least one Tehachapi Loop picture.

[Upstate NY Guy]

Is that a 1951 Buick?

[PLMerite]

Klackety-Klack bump!

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Ever wonder why they put the cab forward on some locomotives . . . .

[PA Engineer]

Wow. Thanks for the post.

[meatloaf]

Gets the crew up front out of the smoke. We never used the deflectors like European railroads.

[wideminded]

I’m going to show these to my young son. I have some fond memories of observing trains with my father, but my experience is that kids these days just don’t see what the big deal is.

[Venturer]

That’s a good looking 53 Buick Special.

That year the Special had the old straight eight, I suppose because Buick had them left over, but the Super and the Roadmaster had the new V-8, one of the greatest engines ever built.

I don’t believe those hub caps belong on that car.

[tractorman]

Being a former CMSP&P guy, I like it. (Milwaukee Road)

[Krankor]

I love that first picture, but there’s something about the Green River pic that just really hits you.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Well the reason explained by the railroad museum in Sacramento was, tunnels. Tunnels in the mountains was the main reason.

They have a 16-drivers Mallet, cab forward (if I remember correctly).

[Last of the Mohicans]

We're not far from the Williams Loop where you can see from one end of the train to the other at the same time.

[Oztrich Boy]

We're not far from the Williams Loop where you can see from one end of the train to the other at the same time.

What's so wonderful about that?

[doorgunner69]

Dunno, but my guess is that is a painting, not a photo.

Same with the cowboys crossing the track.

[colinhester]

Bflr

[FrankR]

[Last of the Mohicans]

With the loop, you can be passed by the locomotive and the caboose at the same moment. :)

[Kommodor]

As others have mentioned, the issue was smoke, especially in tunnels/snow sheds of the Southern Pacific railroad. In the case of some 40 mile long sheds/tunnels, the crews nearly asphyxiated from smoke inhalation. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cab_forward Re: smoke defletors - these didn't really catch on over here, but some railroads, especially Union Pacific gave them a try:

[Kommodor]

doh, sorry about the formatting not looking pretty ... don’t post here often enough to get well practiced!

[wyowolf]

nice

[FrdmLvr]

Those were some beautiful images, cc.

[InvisibleChurch]

What's so wonderful about that?

try that with your car!

[FrdmLvr]

Very cool shots!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks InvisibleChurch. This was great:

KEYWORDS: williegreenmemorial

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: some 40 mile long sheds/tunnels

Sheds.. that's right I had forgotten the sheds that keep the snow off the tracks.

[meatloaf]

You’re right. Running a conventional cabbed loco through a tunnel was a problem. I remember reading about the crews wetting their coats and lying down on the deck plates with the coats over them when they went through tunnels.

That’s a great museum. They had an exhibit with the belongings of a young brakeman that showed how cheap life was in the early days.

[KC_Lion]

That is going on my Desktop around Christmas!

[Rebelbase]

One of my favorites:

[rawhide]

Gorgeous pictures!

[rawhide]

[Upstate NY Guy]

Interesting. Thanks. I figured it was an early 50's Buick from the 3 fender portholes and the chrome swoop.

Is the chrome around the gas door original? I don't remember that.

[Venturer]

It was an option.

[MtnMan101]

Don't forget this one.....