Central Ohio#1293

Great phots, glad they got her repaired and back on the rails.

I spent the day riding the "40 miles for 40 years" train, which left from Brecksville Station near Cleveland and went all the way to Canton and back.  The train pulled in at 2:00 and did two runby's before boarding for a 2:30 departure.  First three pictures show the visiting equipment from the Age of Steam Roundhouse.

This picture shows the disaster that was the CVSR's idea of a photo line.  Brecksville is a tough place for a photo runby, so with that in mind I think they did the best they could.  Still wasn't close to a proper runby at Indigo Lake or Boston Mills.

Here are a couple of videos I managed to grab during the runby's.  I will say that for as rough of a location it was for a runby, the backdrop was pretty stellar.  Just not enough room for that many people to get decent shots all at the same time.

Once we stopped down in Canton this little lady was the first to approach the locomotive.  Thought this was a nice "beauty and the beast" picture.

They lined up all the equipment for a nice shot with the 1293 and the CVSR's observation car.

Our very own TimBo taking a break from his firing duties to say hi to the crowd from the right-hand seat.

Picture angles were somewhat limited with Downtown Ford's fence right behind us, but I managed to grab a shot of the 1522's old auxiliary tender which is now operated by the AOSR.

Here's a small idea of what the crowd was like around the visiting steam locomotive.  She drew quite the crowd! 

1293's rear truck is rigidly attached to the frame, limiting her reverse speed to no more than 15 MPH.  As a result, they cut off the AOSR equipment and it followed us back to Brecksville.  This afforded a rare thing on the CVSR - a view from the observation car without a diesel strapped to the back!  Once the sun went down they got quite a show, and those of us in the dome were able to partake as well.  They should do this more often, I think they would be able to charge even more for the observation car seats!

The interior of the CVSR's dome was beautifully restored.  Here's a picture of the embroidered head rests.  My only complaint was the leg room.  They removed the reversible chairs and welded them in place so that 4 seats face each other.  This results in about 10" of legroom for both people sitting across from each other.  It was a little tight, but the view made up for it!

The AOSR equipment took long enough to get back that a number of us were able to get off the train and beat the 1293 to Boston Mills where she was to stop and get coal.  This is a shot of the crossing I used to test my settings.

Once the 1293 showed up the crew got to work loading the coal and making their rounds.  After a long day I'm sure they were motivated to head to Fitzwater for the night.

Here Scott Czigans of the AOSR crew is shooting the rods while the rest of the crew helps.  Alemite at Night...

Best number board shot I was able to get.  My little point-and-shoot did NOT want to focus on the number boards for some reason.

A little action show showing the crew loading coal under a beautiful clear Ohio sky.

Right before they left northward I grabbed this going away shot.  I always loved the way steam looks on a cold night with long exposures.  It was a nice end to a great day behind steam on the CVSR.

Great photos, guys! Thanks for posting them.

Cute!  So the old name for the RR, which was the Ohio Central RR now becomes the Central Ohio for steam locomotive operations?  Not bad!  i kinda like it.  Looks like the logo is quite restrained and the lettering looks a bit like some of the old B&O tender lettering.

Gonna have to get down there and take a few photos, myself.

Paul Fischer

It really is sharp.  I wish I had a better picture of the herald on the nose of the 1800, it was really nice.  "Age of Steam" in a circle along the top in maroon, then on the bottom of the circle was the overhead shape of the roundhouse in maroon with "Roundhouse" in the same gold that's on the nose.  Really sharp!

In my opinion JJJ can name it whatever he wants, it's his train set!  I'm just grateful he brings it out letting us steam nuts enjoy them from time to time on public trips.  I hope it continues!

Maybe Rich or Hot Water can answer this...

What is the deal with a "rigid trailing truck"? Does that mean it doesn't swivel/turn? If thats the case, why have it like that? I would think, other than support for the firebox (wouldn't another drive axle serve that purpose as opposed to a trailing truck), what is the point of having it? There must be more to it than I'm imagining. 

TIA. 

If another drive axle was there, making it a 4-8-0, the width of the firebox is limited to the space BETWEEN the wheels.

With a trailing truck, the firebox can be much wider because it is positioned ABOVE the trailing truck. This was the fundamental design difference between older power that did not have trailing trucks and newer power that did. It is also the basis for the Super Power design from Lima. The use of a 4-wheel trailing truck, to support an even larger firebox, was the primary design feature of Lima Super Power.

In all honesty, I'm not even sure if it qualifies as a "trailing truck" on the 1293.  It looked like the bearings for the rear wheel were mounted to the locomotive frame similar to another driver.  My guess is that it has a little more lateral play, but the question remains - what do you call this thing?  Is it still a trailing "truck"?

There was an article in February 1954 TRAINS Magazine about the G5 class locomotives which outlined numerous details.  Its explanation of the unique "trailing truck" is this:

"probably the simplest trailing truck ever devised: not a truck at all, but an axle carried in the rigid frame with overwide pedestals set at a backward angle so when the axle moved laterally on curves, the journals were displaced longitudinally, giving truck action"

To put another way, instead of the trailing truck having its own frame that pivots around curves on a bolster, as on most locomotives, the entire trailing axle is allowed to slide from side to side within the locomotive's frame.  The slides are set in such a way that the wheels stay paralell to the rail through a curve.  The trailing truck design is rather fascinating in its simplicity.  I'm not well schooled enough to know if this was applied to other classes of locomotive, but it's pretty slick. 

If anyone's interested, I'll try to grab some better pictures when we head back up for the trips on the 29th and 30th.