Thinking about a train

I’m in.
 
There was a guy that lived just north of Birmingham, AL right along I-65 that had his own train. The track went around a part of his property. It wasn't just one of those 'county fair trains' that is powered by a lawnmower motor under some facade - it was a legit steam engine IIRC. We were going through there last weekend and I noticed that the train shed was empty. Not sure if the guy passed away or what.. Sad.. I remember always looking for the train when we would go to Bham for any reason growing up.
 
CJones said:
There was a guy that lived just north of Birmingham, AL right along I-65 that had his own train. The track went around a part of his property. It wasn't just one of those 'county fair trains' that is powered by a lawnmower motor under some facade - it was a legit steam engine IIRC. We were going through there last weekend and I noticed that the train shed was empty. Not sure if the guy passed away or what.. Sad.. I remember always looking for the train when we would go to Bham for any reason growing up.
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that would be fun. I think a more practical way to get your old locomotive fix is to buy an old steam tractor. From inside it’s practically the same but no track required and it can drive onto a trailer on its own. There is a big farm show around here in the summer with lots of steam equipment and engines running on display.
 
Why aren't the automakers building diesel-electric power plants? Even a small 100hp diesel charging a battery pack could run a large car very efficiently. At highway speeds, a vehicle uses less hp, remember the old V8s that shut down half the cylinders. In the city, the engine could still keep up with the battery usage. The challenge would be rural hilly roads with a load.
 
cgrab said:
Why aren't the automakers building diesel-electric power plants? Even a small 100hp diesel charging a battery pack could run a large car very efficiently. At highway speeds, a vehicle uses less hp, remember the old V8s that shut down half the cylinders. In the city, the engine could still keep up with the battery usage. The challenge would be rural hilly roads with a load.
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That's basically what the Chevy Volt was, except the engine was gas fired, and under certain circumstances the engine could be connected to the wheels via mechanical linkage. But most of the time it operated just like a locomotive. The BMW I3 with extender is the same idea, basically an electric car with a gas fired MG set in the trunk to extend range.
 
SD90 would be cooler, but they're a hotter commodity right now.

In terms of actual steam, there are guys that run garden scale railroad's with live steamers these days. I wish I lived closer to a historic/tourist railroad to volunteer at, I'd really like to get involved. Heck, I'm online every week looking at old train items for sale. One of these days I'm going to pick up an older speeder and do some excursions on them. There are days where I want to hang up flying in the 121 world for going to work for a railroad, but then after doing research, its the same BS, just replace planes with trains.
 
denverpilot said:
Yeah I was going with something headed for auction that wouldn’t pass emissions.

Seemed like a better fit for Ted. LOL.
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It passes emissions, just not current emissions. Nothing wrong with running it as is, but you can't build new ones like it. All the Tier 4 units are junk from what I hear.
 
denverpilot said:
Yeah I was going with something headed for auction that wouldn’t pass emissions.

Seemed like a better fit for Ted. LOL.
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Rolling coal!

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denverpilot said:
How about outside? :)
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Actually, in 1971 the schools were integrated and I was starting the 7th grade. Except it wasn't called integration, it was called bussing. We would have to ride a bus all through town to get to school. So we rode our bikes instead. After school we would head to the tracks. There was usually a train that was going by and it traveled at about 10 MPH. So we would throw our bikes onto a flat car then climb up after them.

The guys in the caboose would yell at us to get off the train, but we would yell back that the train was too fast and we were scared to jump. The guys yelled that they would throw us off if we didn't jump. The train never slowed down, the guys never threw us off and when we got to the road that we lived on, we threw our bikes off and then jumped.

I guess we were lucky that the train did not accelerate up to 70 and take us to Mexico....
 
cgrab said:
Why aren't the automakers building diesel-electric power plants? Even a small 100hp diesel charging a battery pack could run a large car very efficiently. At highway speeds, a vehicle uses less hp, remember the old V8s that shut down half the cylinders. In the city, the engine could still keep up with the battery usage. The challenge would be rural hilly roads with a load.
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For the same reason they aren't producing those tiny little direct injection turbodiesels like they have in Europe, which have plenty of get up and go and get insane mileage. Emissions yo.
 
Ted would probably replace the engine with the largest two stroke Detroit Diesel he could get his hands on.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Ted would probably replace the engine with the largest two stroke Detroit Diesel he could get his hands on.
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Actually I really like steam power with real coal. I’d leave it alone.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I did not know that. I thought it was a four stroke.
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EMD tried to go four stroke with the SD90MAC-H (with the 1010 prime mover). Originally delivered with a 710 (2 stroke) prime mover at 4300HP, they were intended to be 6000 HP with a 1010 prime mover. Some did indeed get converted, but most were later converted back to a 710 2 stroke. Only when EMD was forced to build Tier 4 locomotives, did they go back to a 4 stroke design for emissions reasons. On the other hand, GE has been 4 stroke since the U-Boat days.

Nothing sounds quite like an old 645 (20 cylinder) prime mover in something like an SD45, running at notch 8.
 
But honestly, if you want a train related thing you can buy and tinker with at home, yet still run, this is the way to go.

 
I tried a BNSF locomotive simulator a couple of years ago. I was amazed how unsophisticated the cockpit is. Since all you have to do is speed up and slow down, I thought there would be some automated guidance of when to slow down, but there's not.

After I pretty much crashed the train, in the simulator, I asked the BNSF guy why isn't there any protection against overspeed, going into a corner for example, and the answer was that the engineer is expected to know when and where to slow down, on his usual route.
 
Wow you guys are really knowledgeable on locomotives, I was a conductor and terminal manager for UP and never delved into the details.
 
Kspring1077 said:
Wow you guys are really knowledgeable on locomotives, I was a conductor and terminal manager for UP and never delved into the details.
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In my case I’m stuck at home with nothing better to do than watch railfan videos.

That and grandpa was a 30 year UP guy too. Started as a telegrapher. We have his service pins mounted in a shadow box next to a gorgeous line art drawing of 8444 during the years she was temporarily renumbered 844. :)
 
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denverpilot said:
In my case I’m stuck at home with nothing better to do than watch railfan videos.

That and grandpa was a 30 year UP guy too. Started as a telegrapher. We have his service pins mounted in a shadow box next to a gorgeous line art drawing of 8444 during the years she was temporarily renumbered 844. :)
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I just might have a picture of 844 on my FB
 
I took that photo in Green River, Wyoming. They were running a commemorative ride throughout the whole system for their 150th anniversary
 
Kspring1077 said:
Wow you guys are really knowledgeable on locomotives, I was a conductor and terminal manager for UP and never delved into the details.
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I’m working on a model train layout and have always been into transportation stuff from when I was a kid. Airplanes, trains, ships, etc. I spend a fair bit of time just reading things online about a wide variety of topics, trains are a big one
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
I’m working on a model train layout and have always been into transportation stuff from when I was a kid. Airplanes, trains, ships, etc. I spend a fair bit of time just reading things online about a wide variety of topics, trains are a big one
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That’s cool,
I really enjoyed my time with the UPRR as a Conductor. However, working RR management was very taxing on my soul. Totally rubbed against the grain of my personality. Round the clock teleconferences, Horsepower, TPOB (Tons per Operative Brake) and on-schedule departures were my main focus running the Green River mile.
 
Kspring1077 said:
That’s cool,
I really enjoyed my time with the UPRR as a Conductor. However, working RR management was very taxing on my soul. Totally rubbed against the grain of my personality. Round the clock teleconferences, Horsepower, TPOB (Tons per Operative Brake) and on-schedule departures were my main focus running the Green River mile.
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Kind of curious around what year you got out. Was it before or after they turned the MYO's and yardmasters into uber drivers :). I'm a sixth district engineer coming up on seven years now. Keep looking for a way out to be an A&P again but no such jobs in Wy.
 
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How about a homebuild? Total weight 166.1 long tons.

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Seriously. Some guys got together and built this from plans.
Now they get to drive it:) - it is allowed on the normal rail network.

https://www.a1steam.com/
https://www.a1steam.com/category/history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Peppercorn_Class_A1_60163_Tornado

"Construction of Tornado began in 1994 ... was completed in 2008 ... full certification of the locomotive was achieved in January 2009 ... Having been designed with compliance to modern safety and certification standards, Tornado has been conducting passenger services on the UK rail network and on mainline-connected heritage railways since 2008."
 

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KSCessnaDriver said:
EMD tried to go four stroke with the SD90MAC-H (with the 1010 prime mover). Originally delivered with a 710 (2 stroke) prime mover at 4300HP, they were intended to be 6000 HP with a 1010 prime mover. Some did indeed get converted, but most were later converted back to a 710 2 stroke. Only when EMD was forced to build Tier 4 locomotives, did they go back to a 4 stroke design for emissions reasons. On the other hand, GE has been 4 stroke since the U-Boat days.

Nothing sounds quite like an old 645 (20 cylinder) prime mover in something like an SD45, running at notch 8.
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I do know the GEs and EMDs have a very different sound. The GEs kind of make a chugging sound, the EMDs a constant and annoying drone. As I live super close to a rail line and see trains passing by all the time, you'd think I'd learn more about locomotives, but all I really know is they're mostly black and mostly look the same, although they sound different.
 
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