Railroad Forum

[Motorcar]

MRS-1

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

San Angelo, Texas, USA

The Historic San Angelo Railroad Museum has a 44 Ton GE Switcher on it's siding by the old Depot.

She's painted in ATSF Colors, I believe to represent the local history, but her DATA PLATES tell the real story.

 

[WILDBOY6X6]

yes they do

HI I am a rail guy here in ca,and we have 2 army loco's and 1 navy one.
I would love to have a rail thing here too, and some cars too.

 

[zout]

opcorn:might be something to this RR thing. Wonder if Deb will let me buy an ole RR car and sit it next to my garage .

 

[wreckerman893]

Wonder if Deb will let me buy an ole RR car and sit it next to my garage .

Check into the logistics of moving it first......could be a deal breaker.

 

[michigandon]

Hospital car @ NCTM: NC Transportation Museum - Hospital Car

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Hospital car @ NCTM: NC Transportation Museum - Hospital Car

Are there any interior pics available???

opcorn:

 

[juanprado]

Coldwarrior,

Not sure if it is the same design as the one in NC but I have more interior pics of the one in San Antonio at the Medical Museum.

 

[juanprado]

more pics of interior

 

[michigandon]

Couldn't find any good interior shots of the one @ NCTM.

I can say that it's nowhere's near as fancy inside as the one that juanprado posted.

 

[Motorcar]

That little GE is neat, I ran a 44 ton center cab years ago. I was the only one that knew how to operate the #6 brake stand on the thing, fun little loco...made me want one for my own..

 

[Pagan]

The military logistics center in Ogden, Utah had a Strategic Air Command coach sitting next to the main line. Must of been a car for security personnel on rocket transport trains or some other funtion like that. Silver with the SAC fist and lightning bolt. Sure make a nice workshop. Some of the RR equipment and locomotives that Hill AFB had were interesting, but a lot of that stuff must have been retired within the last decade or so. Hill AFB has a splendid aircraft museum now, right by I-15.
The RR museum at Portola, Ca. (50 miles northwest of Reno) somehow got a couple of M-60 tanks in the 90's when I worked there. BTW, if anyone is interested, that museum has a loop track, and they RENT various locomotives and let people operate them. Expensive-185 bucks an hour back then, but talk about an awe-inspiring once in a lifetime opportunity for a child! Select anything from a Fairbanks-Morse switch engine to a beautiful Western Pacific EMD passenger locomotive. No, they don't operate the U.P. 6900 (DD-40X) on the loop track. The rail would roll over and die from fright if it saw that thing coming, due to the weight and four axle trucks. Those folks do a good job maintaining that museum. The same kind of dedication and sacrifice the people at our military equipment museums provide. I hope the Portola museum was able to get the M-60s running. Anyone been there recently that knows? Pagan

 

[michigandon]

Knowing how to work a non self-lapping brake stand is no doubt becoming a bit of a lost art.

 

[Pagan]

Upgrades

Ain't that the truth. We still had a few old switch engines at Hinkle (Hermiston, Oregon) that had the old 6-type air equipment, but when the U.P. started rebuilding the switch engines, newer automatic brake valves replaced them. I would have to give it some serious thought just to remember how to perform a proper air test on those or the 24RL. Cut out the pressure maintaining feature, and then do the air test if I remember correctly. I handled the UP 954-B unit-960 passenger train from Elko, Nevada to Portola, Ca. in 1999, and the air equipment as well as the control stand had been updated to modern equipment, with 26C automatic brake valves. The RR had pulled the two diesel engines out, and replaced them with a single 2000 hp engine like the ones in the GP-38s. I liked them better when they were in their origional configuration.
The RRs were so short of men in this area during WW2 the U.P. sent my grandfather out ALONE on steam helper locomotives several times. I am not quite sure how that is done on a steam locomotive, but he pulled it off. I was also told of a man from this area that quit the RR when the war started, and enlisted. After basic training he was deployeed overseas. Somehow, it leaked out that he was a railroader. His service immediately grabbed him and sent him home to his job. I would imagine there were a number of such cases.
The Railroad Operating Battalions have an interesting history, and I would bet you are knowledgeable in that subject. Imagine having to repair a railyard that had been hit by a bombing raid! I would bet the German engineers had no problems respecting "Restricted Speed!" French Maquis messing with the tracks, bridges, and everything else. Pagan

 

[michigandon]

The RRs were so short of men in this area during WW2 the U.P. sent my grandfather out ALONE on steam helper locomotives several times. I am not quite sure how that is done on a steam locomotive, but he pulled it off. I was also told of a man from this area that quit the RR when the war started, and enlisted. After basic training he was deployeed overseas. Somehow, it leaked out that he was a railroader. His service immediately grabbed him and sent him home to his job.

Supposedly, railroad workers were exempt from the draft, but many of them enlisted anyway.

*Disclaimer: This is another one of those "I read somewhere" kinda things, so feel free to take it for what its worth.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

I knew a fella that started with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1943. They were so desperate for hostlers in the yards, they were taking almost anyone. He was 14!!! He showed me pictures of all the grand old PRR engines he got to shuttle around the yard, by himself!

 

[michigandon]

I read a story about a gentleman who signed on @ the Rock Island as a wiper when he was 13!

 

[michigandon]

And let's not forget about the ladies who stepped up to the plate and did their part to keep the trains rollin'

C&NW women workers | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Some music to accompany this thread.....

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lDlfDtJYF8[/media]​

This is more the scale that MIGHT fit my Railroading Budget.....

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VAuPPufNro[/media]​

If I ever score one of those Machine Shop Trucks or Trailers, I believe I just might build me a LOCOmotive .

​

 

[caliber1]

I read a story about a gentleman who signed on @ the Rock Island as a wiper when he was 13!

And let's not forget about the ladies who stepped up to the plate and did their part to keep the trains rollin'

C&NW women workers | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

For those of us not in the know, what was a wiper? Awesome pics too BTW.