STEAMday Sunday 7/21/2024 edition

Hello, StDaySun fans, and thanks, Arnold, for getting us rolling!  If I had that CNJ 0-6-0, it would be one of my favorites, too.

My theme today is steam powered coal drags.  Sit back and watch them roll on the high iron!

John

The Lionel LV Coal Co. #126 has been just an all around fun engine to run. It’s solid, well built and nicely detailed. Today it’s pulling an open air passenger car for all to enjoy.

Gene

The steam locomotive on my 10’-by-5’ layout this week is a model of Boston & Maine Class B-15 2-6-0 “Mogul” #1455 (Lionel Trains 6-38019). It was listed in the 2005 Volume 1 catalog at an MSRP of $599.99 with TMCC and a Pittman motor.

B&M 2-6-0 steam locomotives pulled freight and passenger trains on main and branch lines in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and in commuter service around Boston. So, my photos and videos show #1455 at the head-end of two trains, one with wood-sided passenger cars and the other with wood-sided refrigerator cars. The coaches are B&M #1268 and #1243 (Lionel L2227100). The freight cars are B&M ice storage car #13266 and Brookside Milk MTC 1835, both by Atlas O. The only information I’ve found on the ice cars is a photo of B&M #13212 parked on the tracks near North Station in Boston.

Locomotive #1455 was built by ALCO in Manchester, New Hampshire in November 1907. After being superheated, the total weight of engine and tender (including coal and water) was 220,890 pounds, with a weight of 128,000 pounds on its 63-inch-diameter driving wheels. It produced about 25,000 pounds of tractive effort at 200 pounds-per-square-inch boiler pressure. The railroad sold #1455 in July 1956. It is now preserved at the Danbury Railway Museum in Connecticut.

MELGAR

NYC 0-4-0 rounding the bend.

Bob

Central Vermont Mogul with short freight on upper level of layout.

Here is a fast run-by on the one working track in our "under rebuild" layout of the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Blue Comet. The coaches are from the Lionel, MPC era set. The locomotive is a recently acquired MTH, Rail King model equipped with Proto-Sound 2.

MTH Railking CRNJ BlueComet (youtube.com)

Another fine start Arnold on this fine STEAMsay Sunday

Thanks Arnold for keeping the boiler hot and getting us rolling today!!  

Yesterday the Fast Mail was delayed because its' FM Trainmaster broke down about 32 miles outside Patsburg.  Chief Dispatcher, Dutch Carrington  called roundhouse foreman, Flange Wheeler, for an engine to be quickly dispatched to rescue the Fast Mail and pull it the final 32 miles into Patsburg.  

Ol' Flange with wrench in one hand and the phone in the other tells Dutch " The only engine I got ready to roll is number 244, an 0-8-0.  It may not be the fastest engine but it will have to do!"  Dutch whose eyeballs are now as wide as wide the Holland Tunnel exclaims " Jeeezee Peezee Flange!  Why don't you just send me a hand car!!"  With a grin Flange replies " I can do that too if you'd rather have one of those.  Got a pretty yeller one right over yonder!"   Not at all buying into Flange's humor Dutch hastily replies " Okay okay okay the 244 will have to do!   You got anyone to run that critter down the tracks?"   With a wink of the eye Flange says "You betcha I do!  Ol' FT Thornton just marked up on the board.  He supposed to work one of the yard jobs but heck things are slow in the yard today.  There's only one yard drill working so that's all that's needed at the moment.  Call Wally the Yard Master and see if it's okay for FT to run the 244 to rescue the Fast Mail.  I'll betcha he'll be fine with it."  Dutch with a somewhat satisfied expression on his face replies " Right O that's what I'll do.  By the way, Thornton's initials, what's the FT stand for?" Flange whose face is now fully animated replies  "Full Throttle.  Yep!  Full Throttle Thornton!  He'll milk every bit of speed possible out of that 0-8-0 and then some!  After being assigned to the yard and local switch jobs for a long time, he'll jump at the chance to operated on the mainline again!  You can betcha bottom parts on that!

Well folks, Full Throttle Thornton rescued the Fast Mail and got her into Patsburg.  Here's some photos of his "handy work"?!  The video at the bottom of the post was taken just minutes before he rounded the bend which was comprised of a switch.  O'l FT was the first engineer to ever rear end a train that stood on an adjacent track!  Luckily no one was injured but .... Ol' FT has got a lot of, as Ricky Ricardo would say, 'splainin to do' ... A LOT!!

The crew examines the wreckage.

The tender of the adjacent tracks' train.

It’s Steamer Sunday! Here are two replicas of the infamous steamers; Jupiter and #119.