Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Vintage trains

Ghostsoldier

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,410
Location
Starke, Florida, USA
I used to sit on my grandparents porch and watch the steam locomotives pass by every couple of hours. The only diesels were the passenger trains . that was in the late fifties . by the early sixties they were all gone, what a loss. A couple of years ago the Union Pacific Challenger #3985 overnight near my home and I took my grandson to see it. The next morning it roared threw our little town and the grandson became a convert. Impressive is an understatement when you are thirty feet away and it goes by at 55mph
000_0136_zps63af8201.jpg

Great pic, Dan....glad your grandson is a convert! :)

Rob
 

Frk.W

New in Town
Messages
35
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
Thank you, I will have to try to come over to Sweden and do that line along with others, I have read about it and it does sound interesting.

Yes, do! Lovely views, too, that's a very beautiful part of the country. There are disused lines around those parts where you can rent rail bicycles, too.
 

buelligan

One of the Regulars
Messages
109
Location
London, OH
Well if you have never been to it I highly recommend the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn Michigan. It's an all around great museum with a vast collection of aviation, automotive and of course railroad displays. Old Henry had quite a nice collection of locomotives.
 
Messages
13,468
Location
Orange County, CA
I really like electrical engines, myself. Steam is wonderful too, but I have a soft spot for early electrical locomotives, I suppose partly because I live in a country where the rail system has been dominated by them for a very long time. The most beautiful international locomotive I know is the GG1.

One of my favorite trains is the Swiss Crocodile. I've always wanted either an HO or G scale model of one.

swi_sbb_ce6-8IInr14270_croco_erstfeld_2002_L.jpg
 

Frk.W

New in Town
Messages
35
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
One of my favorite trains is the Swiss Crocodile. I've always wanted either an HO or G scale model of one.

swi_sbb_ce6-8IInr14270_croco_erstfeld_2002_L.jpg


That's gorgeous. One of those strong ones built for steep slopes, I suppose? I really like the brutal functionalism of early electrical engines, no fuss whatsoever.

The early Swedish D class electrical engines had wooden bodies, just like the narrow gauge railcar I think I posted a photo of, apparently done a lot at ASEA (that built both types) in the 20's and 30's. It's an odd look for a locomotive, I like it. The wooden body D class engines were in use until 1977, the later steel body ones until 1988, and many of them are still reliable engines in frequent use by the museum railways. Built between 1925 and 1943, from 1933 on with steel bodies, not very fancy-looking, but one of the great classic engines here and the precursor of the Rc class locomotives.

du109.jpg
 
Messages
17,219
Location
New York City
That's gorgeous. One of those strong ones built for steep slopes, I suppose? I really like the brutal functionalism of early electrical engines, no fuss whatsoever.

Yes to all you said and to what I bolded above of yours. That is also what I love about most steam engines - I can look at them and see how they work. You know from studying the steam engine that fuel is being burned, water heated, steam created, pistons driven, but it is emotionally rewarding to see it in action. While I appreciate the aesthetic of the streamlined steam engines, I feel something was lost when we could no longer see the pistons and all working - they represented "brutal functionalism" (wonderful turn of phrase - kudos to you). There is something almost "alive" in a steam engine huffing and puffing with steam bursting out here and there - you can feel the beast working.

While I feel this less so in electric engines (after all, the primal power is made at a power plant somewhere versus the firebox and boiler of the steam engine), you can still appreciate it in engines such as the one in your photo.

The digital world has its strengths and I have no problem with modern trains taking advantage of any efficiencies that they can - they need to to compete to survive - but the tactile joy / the visual appeal of those steam and early electrics can't be replicated today.
 
Last edited:

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,202
I wish I could have gotten a ride on this! The Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway steam engine. They would only go part way up because of lack of coal and water facilities, but still a once in a life time trip. I believe it is now retired because of mechanical problems. [video=youtube;5AYGhmaC-YQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AYGhmaC-YQ[/video]
 

Blackthorn

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,568
Location
Oroville
Petone Railway Workshops circa 1905. H class steam locomotive, 0-4-2T type, for use on the Fell system on the Rimutaka Incline.

SHORPY-FL16666350.jpg
 
Messages
17,219
Location
New York City
from Shorpy today, the Chicago & North Western Railroad shops, 1942:
SHORPY-8d23737a.jpg

While I get that this is a vintage train thread (and I love it and have contributed to it), in addition to the scale of the engine, what struck me in this photo was the architectural elegance of the workshop. That wall of mullioned, casement windows - with (almost) all the opened windows contributing to the symmetry - reminded me of the large-scale elegance and architectural beauty of factories from the Golden Era. When I take Amtrak along the Northeast corridor, I can loose hours looking at all the Golden Era factories - many abandoned, some still functioning, some repurposed - that sit along the line. Like with so many other things today, the aesthetic of the modern factory lacks that grandeur and thoughtful elegance that I see in these old factories.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,298
Messages
3,078,217
Members
54,244
Latest member
seeldoger47
Top