For the Railfans

[W3WN]

Came into SEPA/SWNJ on Sunday night to spend some time with my mom.

Stopped Sunday evening in New Hope PA. Wanted to show the Boss & Little Miss Field Day the old family homestead, and my old high school. Afterwards, we came up on the old New Hope & Ivyland RR, so even though it was getting pretty late (and they'd clearly closed up for the evening), we stopped and poked around a little.

These are the engines I saw. I know nothing about them.
https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12929&stc=1https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12930&stc=1https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12931&stc=1

Now what I didn't see were steam locomotives 40 & 1533. I presume 40 was inside the engine house.. I couldn't get close enough to look. No idea where 1533 was, but at least it wasn't sitting behind the engine house, off it's wheels, rusting away. I read somewhere that it got a coat of black rustoleum a couple of years ago, so maybe after almost 30 years, they're finally going to rebuild it. I hope.

[W3WN]

Continuing,

Monday morning, we got up, and headed out to see Mom, by way of Lambertville NJ & New Hope. With a quick stop in Ringoes, NJ, the home of the Black River & Western.

Pulled up where the sign said "parking", and the first thing I see is an old friend:
https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12933&stc=1
While I was happy to see the Doodlebug, well, it is not in good shape. It clearly hasn't run in years. You can't really see it in the picture, but the passenger compartment (back half) is full of lumber and parts. It's rusting, and it is on a slight tilt. LMFD was afraid to get near it; I reminded her that she'd had her tetanus shot -- yes, it was that bad. Hugh Jenkins (SK) would be appalled, I think.

Behind 4666 is a storage building or repair building of some sort. In front of it was my brother's favorite engine:

[K7SGJ]

These are the engines I saw. I know nothing about them.

It's actually quite simple. It all adds up to 14,600. What else is there to know?

[W3WN]

Ah, nutz, posted that too soon. The heck with it.

Ahem. David's favorite engine, after the 1533:
https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12935&stc=1
I don't know a lot about 60, but I do know that after sitting for about 12 years, it was rebuilt & restored. It was once run every weekend, but I understand that they now use is sparingly.

Next to it was this guy. I know nothing about it:
https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12934&stc=1

Here's a shot of the two of them together
https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12936&stc=1

[W3WN]

Now, there was some other rolling stock around; a real nice looking caboose from the Wabash for one. I'll post some of if anyone asks (I have to edit the photos to reduce the size first)

We were going to take some pictures from the other side of the tracks, by Ringoes station. However, there was a sign posted saying "no admittance" and some unhappy looking people standing around when we pulled in, so we turned around & took off without stopping. Pity, they have some other engines around somewhere (maybe in Flemington?) but no chance to look for them.

[NQ6U]

3315 is an EMD, probably an SD-40.

7078 is a GE something-or-other, I'm not sure which. GE locos are soulless and all look the same to me.

2198 is another EMD, probably a GP-30

[W3WN]

Thanks, your holey-ness.

Our original plan was to come in on Saturday night, and I was going to spend some time poking around the railroads on Sunday... but something else came up. LMFD wants to take a trip on a steam train, so I'll have to arrange something down the road.

NH&I ticket prices were something like $28 a head. Wow, I figured they'd have gone up over the years, but that much?

[K7SGJ]

Thanks, your holey-ness.

Our original plan was to come in on Saturday night, and I was going to spend some time poking around the railroads on Sunday... but something else came up. LMFD wants to take a trip on a steam train, so I'll have to arrange something down the road.

NH&I ticket prices were something like $28 a head. Wow, I figured they'd have gone up over the years, but that much?

I have some close friends who ride the rails quite often. Maybe they can give you a few ideas. Like smoking old stogies they have found, rooms to let, 50 cents, no phone, no pool, no pets.......you know the drill.

[NQ6U]

I have some close friends who ride the rails quite often. Maybe they can give you a few ideas. Like smoking old stogies they have found, rooms to let, 50 cents, no phone, no pool, no pets.......you know the drill.

Do they know every engineer on every train, all of their children and all of their names?

[NA4BH]

Do they know every engineer on every train, all of their children and all of their names?

I think the guy you are talking about lives in an 8X12 four bedroom. I might be wrong

[NQ6U]

I think the guy you are talking about lives in an 8X12 four bedroom. I might be wrong

Four bit room. He can only count to 16.

[NA4BH]

And I sit corrected.

[NQ6U]

And I sit corrected.

Four hours of pushing brooms for you.

[K7SGJ]

Short and not too big around.

[NA4BH]

You must be a man of means

[XE1/N5AL]

How long has it been since one could rent a room for four bits (50 cents)?

[NQ6U]

Short and not too big around.

Every handout in every town, and every door that ain't locked when no one's around.

[NQ6U]

A little lyric correction. How long has it been since one could rent a room for four bits (50 cents)?

I doubt that you could still do it even at the time the song was written.

[XE1/N5AL]

Bangor, Maine is only a 1 hour, 14 minute drive from Belgrade Lakes.

[K7SGJ]

Anyone else ever notice that around this time of night, this place gets like 75 meters?

[N2NH]

3315 is an EMD, probably an SD-40.

7078 is a GE something-or-other, I'm not sure which. GE locos are soulless and all look the same to me.

2198 is another EMD, probably a GP-30

2198 is definitely a GP-30.

[N2CHX]

Love the color scheme on 7087 and 2198! Nice.

[W3WN]

Love the color scheme on 7087 and 2198! Nice.
I hadn't seen that scheme before, and yes, it was very nice. Wish it hadn't been close to dusk, I could have gotten some better shots.

The colors are reminiscent of 1533 back in her "circus colors" glory days. I'll have to see if I can find some of those old shots, most of the ones I have from that time are still on 35 mm slides, so they'll be tough to convert to digital.

[HUGH]

Here's a question which has been debated from time to time. It's if looking along the extended "nose" of an engine when driving it all day is more, or less, fatiguing or reducing of the driver's alertness, than one with little or no "nose" when the rails are in front of you all day. The latter certainly assists in safety when shunting, especially if there are staff working on tracks and so on.
Here are two examples of British engines, the class 37 (top photo) has much of it's electrical equipment in the nose whereas the more recent class 47 (lowerphoto) allows the driver to see the rails directly. Neither of these is a new design. There must be several examples of US engines to compare.

12942

12943

[N2NH]

There must be several examples of US engines to compare.

You are right, there are. Here, having a nose is considered a safety feature, something to give before reaching the engineers/drivers compartment in a front end collision.

We have the following for comparison purposes. These are also mostly older engines, retired from duty.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2wox30o.jpg

^^ New York Central Baldwin Sharknose^^ vv AMTRAK AEM-7 vv

http://i59.tinypic.com/2q824jk.jpg

This is the replacement for the AEM-7...

http://i59.tinypic.com/14lr7ed.jpg

[HUGH]

[QUOTE=N2NH;603883]You are right, there are. Here, having a nose is considered a safety feature, something to give before reaching the engineers/drivers compartment in a front end collision.

We have the following for comparison purposes. These are also mostly older engines, retired from duty.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2wox30o.jpg

^^ New York Central Baldwin Sharknose^^ vv AMTRAK AEM-7 vv

http://i59.tinypic.com/2q824jk.jpg

Yes, here's a victim of running into a ballast wagon and:

12973

running into a flatbed wagon.

12974

From your pictures it looks as though the ubiquitous Siemens locomotives and rolling stock are invading the US as well as Europe. Rival companies regard this with great suspicion as Siemens have a reputation for bribery and graft in many of their industries, especially electronics. This isn't the thread to go into this though.

[NQ6U]

Siemens is the manufacturer of most of the rolling stock on the San Diego Trolley.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/MTS_Trolley_Fleet_Animation.gif

[N2NH]

Yes, here's a victim of running into a ballast wagon and:

https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12973&stc=1

running into a flatbed wagon.

https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12974&stc=1

From your pictures it looks as though the ubiquitous Siemens locomotives and rolling stock are invading the US as well as Europe. Rival companies regard this with great suspicion as Siemens have a reputation for bribery and graft in many of their industries, especially electronics. This isn't the thread to go into this though.

That sounds interesting. Hopefully the new locos were bought on the merits. I thought that was strange myself. The new NYC Subways are Kawasakis and are so delicate that some winters they have to be put in subway tunnels for storage to the point where service is affected. As they replace more of the older rolling stock, it will be interesting to watch what happens when nearly all the trains are made by them.

The crumple zone on those locos seem to not be as much of a factor in those accidents.

[n2ize]

Here's a question which has been debated from time to time. It's if looking along the extended "nose" of an engine when driving it all day is more, or less, fatiguing or reducing of the driver's alertness, than one with little or no "nose" when the rails are in front of you all day. The latter certainly assists in safety when shunting, especially if there are staff working on tracks and so on.


In the NYC subway system it also makes it easy for the driver to key by a red signal if permitted. Would be a lot trickier if instead of cars they used engines with a large front nose.

[n2ize]

That sounds interesting. Hopefully the new locos were bought on the merits. I thought that was strange myself. The new NYC Subways are Kawasakis and are so delicate that some winters they have to be put in subway tunnels for storage to the point where service is affected.

Not all of them are Kawasaki's. For example the first phase of the R160's that run on the B division (formerly the IND & BMT) were Alstom's. The Second phase B R160's are built by Kawasaki & Alstrom and the propulsion system by Siemens. The 1st order of R142's were awarded to Bombardier and the next order to Kawasaki. Also the new R143's built for the A division (form IRT) are built by Kawasaki. This has been the case since the early days of the NYC transit system a given revenue car might be manufactured by different companies from one order to the next. Also many older cars are often overhauled by companies other than their original manufacturers as was done during the GOH program. For example the R32/A manufactured by Budd (1964) became GE overhauls after the GOH. Future cars (R179,R211, etc) are also to be manufactured in upcoming contracts with Bombardier and TBA. Generally contracts are awarded based on the low bid at contract time.

All trains (Kawasaki's included) are assigned to yards where they are stored when not in use. Over the years the transit system got smart and determined that in times of bad weather (like overnight snowstorms, etc) it is easier and quicker to get them rolling the next day if they park as many of them in the tunnels. All they have to do is stack them in a layup and then pull them out in reverse order the next day. This way you get the morning rush moving quicker and additional trains can be brought in service from the yards as needed throughout the day.

You might still be able to catch an R32 on the C but they are gradually being phased out and replaced by the R179's (being built by Bombardier as we speak). They ran for over 50 years, almost 2 decades longer than the expected life of a NYC subway car. Gone are the days when the arnines (R1's through R9) ran, although if you are in NYC round the holidays on a Sunday you might get to ride an arnine set that is still pressed into regular service as a holiday special. Also gone are the days when the R10's were "The kings of the A line". I'll never forget how they had a tendency to buck (quite loudly) every now and then and rock rapidly from side to side as they blazed express from 125th - 59th st. They were loud and fast. I used to love the green flourescent roll signs on the sides. Last R10 I got to ride was in 1986 on the C going downtown from 125th. Last R1 back in the late 1970's.