Just an Earth-Bound Misfit: The Rantings of an Aging, Armed, Pinko Chick

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Friday, November 8, 2013

Because It's Friday

Challenger #3985 hauling a freight train. This is what she was made to do back in 1943 when she left the ALCO plant.

Note the caboose at the rear and that there were no "helping" diesels.

8 comments:

LRod said...: Last week's Trains and Locomotives airing on RFD-TV was a UP Steam film of the 844, from rollout through the mid-'90s rebuild and through the 2000s rebuild. Lots of detail on tubing and "sheet" metal (½" plate is hardly sheet, in my book).

Interestingly, and ironically, based on last weeks comments about helpers, one of the first happenstances after the '90s rebuild was on the return to CYS they encountered a stalled drag headed by an SD-60, and wound up pushing it into the yard.

They also mentioned running small freight drags as part of their (UP) steam program, highlighting the 844 for braking—the exact opposite of the excuse I've heard (and cited last weak) for having a diesel in the consist when 844 (or 3985) is on the road.

For all that, it was interesting seeing the passenger combo with 844 on the point and an A-B-A set of E9s cut in behind the aux tender. Were there ever any prettier diesels than the Es and Fs? I've remarked elsewhere that EMD could house a modern SD motor in E/F tin and they'd look great in service. Maybe they could get some market back from GE by going retro…

LRod
ZJX, ORD, ZAU retired; 11/08/2013 11:20 AM
Comrade Misfit said...: I'll admit that EMD's E/F series locomotives were nicely designed. So were Baldwin's "Sharknose" and the ALCO cab units.

Amtrak's current ones, like the ones that are used by Metro-North, leave me cold.; 11/08/2013 12:01 PM
Chuck Pergiel said...: I'm confused. This looks like a modern freight train. Is this loco working? I thought steam had been relegated to demos.; 11/08/2013 4:26 PM
Comrade Misfit said...: It's a modern train. But when the UPRR is moving #3985 from one place to another, they have been known to put her to work hauling freight.

Heck, it's what she was built to do.; 11/08/2013 9:55 PM
BadTux said...: From Wikipedia: Locomotive and tender combined weight 1,073,900 lb.

Wow. Not the biggest locomotive ever built (that was of course the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy), but the sheer *scale* of this thing is just astounding.

Of course, with modern electric motor controls and diesel-electric locomotives there's no need for a huge engine like this, they just string multiple locomotives together as needed and control them all from one point. But you can't do that with steam, so... you get the Challengers and Big Boys.; 11/10/2013 1:56 AM
Comrade Misfit said...: "Modern electric controls", being circa late 1930s when EMC began building E and F series locomotives.; 11/10/2013 10:35 AM
BadTux said...: Hey, that's modern compared to steam, which was basically 19th century technology scaled up. WAY up.

And I assume you meant EMD. Since EMC makes computer storage gear :).

But yes, that flexibility is one reason why the diesel-electrics took over the world. No more need to buy huge locomotives that can only be used economically on extremely long loads, just throw as many smaller locomotives at the load as needed, then when you break the train send the locomotives off with the pieces to their final destinations. Still, I hope to see a Big Boy running before I die... UP says they should have it up and going in four or five years, but who knows?; 11/10/2013 9:31 PM
Comrade Misfit said...: It was "EMC" back then. It became EMD during the war.

(Kind of pissed me off when they moved locomotive production to Canada after NAFTA was signed.); 11/10/2013 10:55 PM