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How many loving times does that locomotive need to be brought up before you people read the loving thread? Yes, it's loving awesome. We get it. READ THE GODDAMN THREAD. IT'S ONLY TWO PAGES LONG. Okay, that's done. Anyone taking a cruise to Alaska needs to ride the White Pass. It's a rule. They have one of the only functioning steam rotary plows in the world (I believe the only other one is in Switzerland?), and they actually use it! Not only do they use it...wait for it...they push it with steam locomotives! http://www.wpyr.com/rotarysnowplow.html They run the rotary about every two years, and unfortunately I can't make this run. I will definitely be at the next run.
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Mar 10, 2011 08:18
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The first one also didn't have coil springs directly over the axle. What's the speed/distance rating on that economy spare?
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Mar 15, 2011 20:54
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2ndclasscitizen posted:Judging by the snow on the ground I think that might be in the UK. They have different snow in England?
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Mar 16, 2011 04:05
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Copper River and Northwestern Railway, built by the same people as the White Pass, was known as the 'Can't Run and Never Will'. It actually had a temporary bridge that got washed away with the spring thaw every year and rebuilt. It was even used a couple times for movies as a cheap set, since it didn't cost studios anything other than the cost of travel. I'm looking for video, but having trouble finding it. I've seen it before, so I know it's out there. I might have to spend some time in the Alaska Archives. I've also seen UP referred to as "Ultimate Predator" for how many railroads it's eaten.
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Mar 16, 2011 21:06
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So far, I haven't managed to find the video of the trestle washing away. All I've found so far is this picture: http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cdmg11&CISOPTR=15267&REC=27 As some added trivia, the Copper River and Northwestern went to the Kennecott Copper Mine, which is where Kennecott Utah Corporation gets its name. The mine in turn, got its name from the Kennicott Glacier. Yes, I spelled them differently. Somebody made a mistake a hundred years ago and their typo lives on. Edit: Here's what the bridge looked like during the rest of the year: http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cdmg21&CISOPTR=11468&REC=13 Edit2: Washed out: http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cdmg2&CISOPTR=294&REC=25 http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cdmg11&CISOPTR=8118&REC=12 Advent Horizon fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Mar 17, 2011 |
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Mar 17, 2011 05:31
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BrokenKnucklez posted:
What kind of car are you thinking of? Everything I've ever been in has felt just fine both ways. Some you really can't even tell which way is forward other than the label. As for running in reverse, that's what capers are for!
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Mar 21, 2011 04:36
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Woohoo, I've convinced the wife to rent a narrow gauge caboose for her birthday! Just the two of us, in the wilderness, with a bunch of narrow gauge Alcos and Shovelnose GEs going by. Oh, and we'll be taking the steam train up the pass, too. Too bad it isn't scheduled to run past while we have the caboose  With any luck this will help convince her to go watch them run the rotary in 2013.
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Dec 15, 2011 03:02
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I can't help but wonder if Santa Fe told them to call it all one locomotive instead of four for union reasons. I love how they point out it has a windshield wiper! The next article could have been written by Glen Beck.
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Jan 22, 2012 11:58
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What's less disturbing than tits? Oh, right, tits with a horn.
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Feb 7, 2012 07:26
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B4Ctom1 posted:What is a foamer you ask? Somebody please make a parody on their Christmas layout. "OH GOD I'VE BEEN WAITING ALL YEAR FOR THIS! I'M FINALLY GOING TO GET A POLAR EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE ON CAMERA! OH MAN, IT'S COMING BACK AROUND AGAIN! YEEEAAAAHHHHH!' Bonus points for a crying 3 year old in the background.
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Mar 16, 2012 03:53
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Remind me not to leave a ruble on that track.
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Mar 21, 2012 22:10
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Wait, NOT a museum?  Foamers may be going a bit far with that one. Will they only haul freight for companies with olde tyme logos?
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May 17, 2012 16:28
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Jay Leno doesn't haul freight for hire.
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May 17, 2012 22:11
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Geoj posted:Hauling freight on your private train collection would be the equivalent of taking your private rare car collection to the track No, it would be the equivalent of chauffering around some other rich guys in the Deusies. They get the back seat while you're sitting out front in the rain wearing a tuxedo to make it all historically accurate.
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May 18, 2012 22:24
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Sitting in the station for the White Pass and Yukon Route, we're scheduled on a flagstop train to drop us off at a caboose we've rented for a cabin. I honestly don't know whether I'd be more excited if the locos were Alco units or the rebuilt GE shovelnoses. Yesterday we took a trip over the pass behind #73, a Mikado built in 1947. Man, can that sucker pull. There's something magical about hearing it slowly lose speed as it climbs the 3.9% grade up the pass. I had bunker fuel all over my face from sticking out the side of the car.
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May 26, 2012 21:00
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When we were in Skagway in May we happened to be next to the yards when the Mikado hooked up to the passenger cars for our trip. Every little bump of the throttle sent a short black cloud into the air - and then it rained bunker fuel for a few seconds.
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Aug 12, 2012 02:21
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B4Ctom1 posted:watching this makes me queezy What the gently caress. 1. How the hell did he get under there unless they were dumb enough to be trying to scoot under the train? If they were just lying in wait for a train to go over, wouldn't the engineer have braked? 2. He should have just stayed where he was, though if the train had a plow on the rear that would have been even worse.
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Sep 30, 2012 02:45
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Alaska Railroad completely solved the problem with F40s. They ONLY have a HEP generator, the prime mover is gone. They make a perfectly fine control car that way.
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Oct 12, 2012 03:14
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DL535 or GE shovelnose?
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Oct 14, 2012 04:43
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Nam Taf posted:I struggle to believe that's real. Those things weigh around 150-180 tonnes. You can't just push that like that. I remember reading a wikipedia article a year or so ago about some older Russian diesel electrics that could be push started. I can't remember which ines for the life of me, though.
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Oct 18, 2012 18:30
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Their drive wheels wheelbase is also much longer, meaning they will be working really hard to destroy each and every curve. Do they have and 'blind' drive wheels?
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Dec 12, 2012 06:22
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It's not like it's a normal railway. It's actually pretty darn similar to the US setup, just on rails instead of tracks.
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Dec 19, 2012 08:28
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Seat Safety Switch posted:I wonder if train joyriding is really common and nobody reports on it because it generally doesn't end up in photos this good. I don't know about joyriding, but my best friend and I found an idling MOW train after hours once. We knew how to work the switch for that siding but were't stupid enough to make the thing go. We did blow the horns a few times and crawl all over the locos. Another time we almost lost control of a flat car we found on the same siding. We could get it moving a whole lot easier than stopping. Advent Horizon fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Jan 16, 2013 |
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Jan 16, 2013 07:56
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I'm not saying that people should do it, just that it happens. We were teenagers. The caboose on that train has been a coffee shop for over 10 years. Iron Horse Espresso. Edit: http://www.alaskarails.org/pix/caboose/AMHA-1776.html http://www.alaskarails.org/pix/caboose/RT-1776.html Advent Horizon fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Jan 16, 2013 |
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Jan 16, 2013 16:51
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madeintaipei posted:That is the most hosed up snow plow. poo poo, that eclipses the jet-tanks/trucks they've got for airport duty. Jet-powered snow removal isn't unheard of in the western world.
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Feb 26, 2013 21:53
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wolrah posted:Grey water (sinks, showers, etc.) dumps directly on the ground, black water (toilets) goes to a tank. Some cars also have primary and secondary tanks. I was cleaning the weekly passenger train in the Fairbanks shop at midnight once (years ago, when I was in college) when the septic guy came to pump it out. He would go and open the primary tank so that it would drain into the secondary, then hook up to that lower tank and pump everything. Somebody in Anchorage had left the lower valve open and the whole thing drained into the car shop. bytebark posted:I can think of one exception to the rule of thumb that friction bearings are gone from railroads - hot bottle tank cars (specialized tanks used to shuttle liquid steel between steelmaking facilities). Supposedly the heat from the molten steel can cause roller bearings to expand (and make the car immovable) in this type of application, hence the use of standard (friction) bearings. Video of this type of car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbzKU3cxWkk You can see roller bearing trucks under a couple of those hot bottle cars.
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Dec 25, 2014 22:45
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You have to be filthy, stinking, rich. Two out of three won't cut it!
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Jan 16, 2015 03:14
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NoWake posted:The C&O operated car floats across Lake Michigan, and it's the only way railcars get to Alaska, too. There is no overland link to Canada or the lower 48. I should have some photos from an Alaska Railroad terminal in a month or so, heading up there to guide an installation of some track material we made. ARR has a twice-weekly barge in the summer; both came in while I was in Whittier last month. I just went looking through my photos and I swear I took pictures of the rail barge but can稚 find them. Skagway lifts everything off the barge with cranes now.
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Jul 4, 2021 02:55
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Nebakenezzer posted:Hello Rail Friends, here is an article from Canada's globe and mail. I was wondering why A2A suddenly stopped getting press in Alaska - they池e very well connected here, the vice chair is our former Lt Governor. Our congressional delegation was also promoting the whole thing since Trump gave it a cross-border permit.
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Dec 23, 2021 07:33
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Nebakenezzer posted:I'm surprised (but maybe I shouldn't be) that these chucklefucks had a presence on the ground. I can only speculate the reason these dudes picked railways to connect a bunch of tiny villages is because they assumed that was the most ecologically friendly option? Most of those villages already have airstrips. We have a few flown-in mines already; they usually build an ice road to the nearest river and barge the big stuff in and out come summer. Alaska has also sent people to trade shows specifically to discuss LockMart痴 vaporware airship. I want to know how they expect that thing to fly in the not-uncommon 100mph winds a lot of that territory is known for. Also our governor and congressional delegation do not give two shits about the environment in any capacity.
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Jan 1, 2022 22:02
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Actual blimps. I paid the invoices for the people going to the trade show. It looked like a grift to me, but politicians gonna politic. https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/content/news/Anchorage-company-brings-helium-filled-airship-to-Alaska-391817821.html
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Jan 2, 2022 01:35
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I bet they derailed on detritus rather than on purpose.
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Jan 19, 2022 02:55
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Yes, this is the right thread for this picture: That痴 an Alaska Marine Lines tug towing the Alaska Railroad barge. IIRC it has 7 tracks for rail cars. I was on the Alaska ferry LeConte and we passed it in Icy Straight; the weather toward the Gulf of Alaska was bad so I believe they were holding until it improved.
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Sep 12, 2022 18:13
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Looks like the USG Plaster City railroad will be out of commission for a while. This is the last operating industrial narrow gauge in the USA.  
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Sep 20, 2022 22:29
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