Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Pub Talk). This thread is read-only.
If I had the money i would buy this for you.
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/clt/4387557440.html
crazy how much these little guys are going for. Found it while searching for hand tools.
Wow! Crazy how much money toy trains go for. Very nice thought EET, but that’s crazy money for a toy.
The F7’s were some of the first diesels that became widely used in the 50’s. They were beautiful engines and very similar to my favorite engine, the E8 passenger locomotive.
Steam actually went out pretty quick. They offered so much savings to the RR’s versus the constant maintenance and supplies needed for a steam engine that they basically threw most of them away. We have a couple of places here where they literally ran them in a big pit and covered them up with dirt.
They were weaklings by today’s standard 4400 and 6000 horsepowered mosters with traction control, but they changed the world in their day.
I think the only thing that kept steam going a little bit longer was WW2 if that didn’t happen the Diesel locomotives would have too over sooner. Passenger rail was already dead and done you can say that Amtrack has kept is somewhat alive but its not profitable with government subsides. I think only a few lines are actually profitable. They keep pushing the Detroit to Chicago line, but the thing that kills it is is the train trip is a few hours longer by train than by car, and when you get there you have to rent a car or rely on mass transit to get around. I would probably take the train because long drives in cars its a pain in the ass.
Amtrack took over all the passenger service in 71, but on the C&O our passenger service never turned a profit after like 1953. The interstate highway system and the advancement of commercial air travel killed the efficiency of passenger rail. All the sudden trains were the longest possible option for getting anywhere.
I hard no idea how regulated the railroads were back then it was next to impossible for railroads to kill off non profitable services back then. Once the Boeing 707 tool off that was the death of passenger railroads that jet shrunk the world. The one thing that is sad is how bad air travel has became it used to be so much classier back then even in the 80’s it was decent by the 90’s for most of the domestic airlines your basically in a meat wagon. The only saving grace is some of the international airlines that still offer good service Like Singapore Airlines and Emirates I hear Virgin Atlantic is decent. The only thing that would have sucked is they allowed smoking on planes back then. It’s crazy that they even allowed it as long as they did.
small shippers (under 20 carloads a week) used to be the bread and butter for the RR’s. Now days all they want to fool with is long haul unit trains (100+ cars of the same shit going to the same place).
I use to be part of the steam world. Although not a train. I served on two ships that were steam powered. The last was the USS Cleveland LPD7. Two steam boilers, not common and it was going to be decommissioned till 9/11. The Cleveland is a troop transport/landing platform. Has a flat bottom so we can get really close to shore. We flood the well deck and the ass end of the sip sinks about 8ft into the water, that way we can launch boats, hovercraft, and those floating tank like things(LCU).
She wasn’t fast but we still chased down pirates! But we often brook down. An old steam ship is a lot of work!
Awesome pics EE!
So you worked on a Cleveland Steamer 😆