a picture a day....

A bad night near the crossing. Hope he was wearing a helmet! GP7 passing behind..

"RDCs to Johnstown."

C. '64-'65 the B&O did an excursion from Pittsburgh to Johnstown using a pair of their RDCs. Pittsburgh to Rockwood on the Mainline and then on the Johnstown branch through Somerset.

A familiar face:

Arrival in Johnstown:

Where we rode an electric trolley-bus across town:

And then rode the Incline to the top of the mountain:

A very neat thing about RDCs is the view out the front door:

Pic obviously taken on the Mainline. Brakeman's or Flagman's  silhouette on the right.

On the single-track Johnstown branch here. Again, probably the Brakeman's silhouette on the right. There is a door between the photographer and the Engineer and a door in front of the Engineer to enable passage through multiple cars.

RDCs were really a bit of pinnacle-technology that never was given justice in our hard World where the private automobile reigns supreme. Smooth, quiet, fast, air-conditioned and you just MU'ed as many as demand required without worrying about motive power. Powered by two 6-100 Detroit Diesels slung underneath with a quick-disconnect system they were easy to maintain.

On Edit: Thinking about it, the Engineer has to be seated in order to properly reach the throttle, brake lever and whistle cord as well as keep his foot on the deadman's-pedal so in the pics he is to the right of the center door/window. This was in the days of five man crews so that is most likely the Brakeman and Flagman seen in silhouette.

One finished product, and the start of some more cars.  Once again, these are “what if” cars from a real railroad.  

The QA&P did occasionally haul water in their own tank car from Roaring Springs, TX  but I cannot find a photo I once saw of that car.

In reality the gypsum hauling hopper would have been caked with much more gunk, but I did not want it that realistic.

This is fun!

For today: " Working the yard."

For today: " Heavy lifting."

Forgot to put this one in F E F yesterday so here it is:

At the Chicago Museum of Science&Industry a '56 Plymouth, the Pioneer Zephyr and the U 505, the only German U-Boat captured during the War. I remember viewing a movie taken by Navy people of the capture. The Captain had opened the scuttle valves but our guys shut them in time to save the boat. The Zephyr was open and I remember walking through it and looking at the Winton 201A inline-8 Diesel engine.

Permission to post this pic (taken by Sean Lamb) has been granted by Wikipedia under Creative Commons license.

The Winton 8 cylinder 201A engine was rated at 600 HP and it powered the train to an incredible 112.5 mph on one section during the maiden voyage from Denver to Chicago. The whole train weighed 104 tons.

Cab view of switch and water tower area

"Over&Under"

An excursion train drawn by Shawmut SW9s proceeding over the B&O bridge over the Allegheny River at Mosgrove, Pa:

The same train now on the Shawmut  passing under the B&O Mosgrove bridge:

The open car was kit-bashed by B&O shop guys who added a wood and steel superstructure to a B&O flatcar:

I need moar train-room wall space because some of these pics I just found really need a home there.

For today: "Monday morning in Patsburg."

cab view VO1000 switching at the REMCO pump factory 

The first of two 8000 gallon tank cars for dedicated water hauling service out of Roaring Springs, TX. 
Even though this is another one of my make-believe cars, it is based on a real QA&P tank car used for the above stated purpose. 

OK - so that realtor might have exaggerated just a little bit when she said..."Its in a really quiet neighborhood"

  Don

geysergazer posted:

"Over&Under"

An excursion train drawn by Shawmut SW9s proceeding over the B&O bridge over the Allegheny River at Mosgrove, Pa:

        

The same train now on the Shawmut  passing under the B&O Mosgrove bridge:

        

The open car was kit-bashed by B&O shop guys who added a wood and steel superstructure to a B&O flatcar:

        

I need moar train-room wall space because some of these pics I just found really need a home there.

Lew, That is neat over on the B&O and under on Shawmut.  I know where this is too.