STEAMday Sunday 11/3/2024 editiom

Happy STEAMday Sunday! Great start Arnold! I too have a Lionel Hudson on the layout today.  It’s a 783 from the Kughn era (1984). My friend had a special relationship with Charlie Ro, and was getting wholesale prices from him. A carful of us drove from  Brooklyn to Malden, MA to pickup 13 Hudson’s. At that time there were about 25 of us that  met every Tuesday evening. I didn’t have a PW Hudson, so I wanted the 783. I don’t care for the early SOS, so I no longer connect the tender.  I’m also running a Lionel B 6 switcher from the same era.

Thanks Arnold for keeping the fire stoked and the boiler hot to get us rolling for this fine Sunday.  Nothing says " steam" better than a Hudson IMHO .... and yours and Bob's look terrific!!

My offering today is " The N&W Beasts of Steam" showing my entire N&W steam roster.  

J class 611 speeds through Patsburg on the Free State Junction Railway.   This is a 2006 Lionel scale model with TMCC.  

Here is a -0-8-0 switcher which I got brand new off the Bay.   I weathered the engine and tender.  This is an early MTH RailKing model with scale dimensions.   In this pic the crew is about ready to begin their day.

As part of the weathering project, I added a real coal pile.

Of course there was no larger beast on the N&W than the Y6b Mallet.  This is a MTH RailKing model.   The curvatures on my layout will not accommodate a full scale articulated.   Here she is at the point of a 25 mixed freight.  

My 4-6-0 leading this week’s mixed train of milk, freight,passengers and mail......

Have a great and safe week, folks!

Peter

Here's a few shots of my Lionel Legacy 4-4-2 LIRR Atlantic steamer. Sadly she won't handle my 027 curves so she's a shelf (actually box) queen for now. I bought this from LeapinLarry who graciously offered it to me from one of his friend's collections.
The Christmas tree loop is 036 so.......

I should put it on the layout and take some proper pix.

Bob

Good morning steam fans!  The Steam Crazy Lines president liked the film taken by the company photographer south of Plymouth, NH yesterday, so he sent him out to the same location today.

The photographer captured a train of reefers headed up by B&M 0-8-0 no. 613.  You might think this is a beer train based on the “billboard” displays on the cars; if you did, you’ve been fooled!  This train is back hauling dairy products from NH.  I believe this practice caused the ICC  ban privately owned billboard reefers, reasoning private owners can’t advertise on vehicles used for interstate shipments.

John

S gauge Ok here?

American Flyer Hudsons are fairly common but the black rubber roadbed beneath is not!

@RSJB18 posted:

Here's a few shots of my Lionel Legacy 4-4-2 LIRR Atlantic steamer. Sadly she won't handle my 027 curves so she's a shelf (actually box) queen for now. I bought this from LeapinLarry who graciously offered it to me from one of his friend's collections.
The Christmas tree loop is 036 so.......

I should put it on the layout and take some proper pix.

Bob

Nice looking engine Bob, unfortunately you’re not able to run it regularly. It’s worth displaying out of the box though.😉

Gene

@Genemed posted:

Nice looking engine Bob, unfortunately you’re not able to run it regularly. It’s worth displaying out of the box though.😉

Gene

It is Gene. The problem is with the pilot truck, it jumps the track on the curves. I need to see if I can adjust the tension on the spring.
Thanks

Great Northeastern Railway steam at the ready on a foggy, very early morning in Mt. Carroll Yards.

I envy you guys that have permanent layouts up that allow for you to shoot whatever image(s) is/are needed for the current week's topic, here and other topics as well.  As for me, I am restricted to looking thru pictures that I have of past Christmas layouts.

But I find my own ways to participate . I'll do the same this week too.  Here's a different type of steamer.

- walt

I actually runs around the track if I wind it up.

Have a good STEAMday Sunday

Hafner Trains founded by William Hafner made toys of all sorts but started producing clockwork trains about 1907 using die cast locomotives.  He never adopted electricity to his trains as he felt this made them too expensive to be considered toys.  William Hafner led the firm until he retired and his son, John took over during WWII.  The firm made products other than toys, primarily automobile accessories, lawn chairs, tools and Christmas Tree holders.  The firm was quite successful until John took early retirement in 1951and sold out to Wyandotte Toys of Michigan who continued the train line for some period until they filed for bankruptcy in 1956.  There is some evidence of financial maneuvering of the Marx company to cause this result by denying Wyandotte the ability to borrow funds even though they were successful but this was never proven.  Marx did take control of this line post 1956 but never produced the toys in the United States and instead only marketed them in Mexico.   Dating the Hafner 1010 locomotive is very hard, they made numerous variations of trim and color beginning in 1938 and continuing after the war.  This configuration with the full cowl on top and full length side plates is called the Type 1 variation out of 4 but it was also the most commonly produced.

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Here is the 1010 locomotive along with both the 1010 tank car (yes the number is the same as the loco for reasons unknown, coincidentally however 1010 is also the street address number of the Hafner plant in Chicago) and the 81932 PRR caboose.  These cars were introduced just before WWII and were again produced after the war.  Likely this train would have been mid 40's to very early 50's.

Best Wishes Hope your Upcoming week goes well

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

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Don

@Don McErlean Nice history on Hafner.  I don't remember seeing any Hafner on my brother Jim's layouts, but he probably had some.  I do remember he had several wind-up engines we used to run.  I was always a little paranoid that I would over wind the engine and break the old springs, so they did not run very long when I wound them up. 

It is August 10, 1949, it is warm, the sky is clear, and S2 "Big Swoosh" is departing the station with the "Broadway Limited".  Shortly, it reaches a high speed on the long straight aways in the western part of the Pennsylvania System.  This is where the S2 shined, as it was efficient at high speeds and always drew crowds.  Unfortunately, later that month severe boiler damage takes the engine out of service.  Pennsy management did not think it worthwhile to repair the S2 as diesels were becoming more common and much more efficient.  It was stored and finally scrapped in 1953.

S2 is a 3rd Rail model.

@CAPPilot - Thanks for the comment Ron, but you didn't have to worry too much with Hafner.  He had produced more or less the same wind up motor for nearly 30 years and the design, constantly improved,  was top notch.  I have a question about the "big Swoosh"...was that the steam turbine?  I know that the turbine never worked out too well for Pennsy as they spent too much time at idle and the fuel consumption of a turbine at idle is awful (same is true for aircraft engines today).

Best Wishes, and again thanks for the comment.

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

@CAPPilot - Thanks for the comment Ron, but you didn't have to worry too much with Hafner.  He had produced more or less the same wind up motor for nearly 30 years and the design, constantly improved,  was top notch.  I have a question about the "big Swoosh"...was that the steam turbine?  I know that the turbine never worked out too well for Pennsy as they spent too much time at idle and the fuel consumption of a turbine at idle is awful (same is true for aircraft engines today).

Best Wishes, and again thanks for the comment.

Don

@Don McErlean  Always like your posts

The Big Swoosh was Pennsy's one and only steam turbine.  The crews called it either the Swoosh or the Big Swoosh.  The video doesn't pick up the 'swoosh' sound very well.  While inefficient at low speeds, it was efficient at high speeds and did well on the long straights of Pennsy's western tracks.  It was built during WWII (1944) and would have done better if not for the fact they could not get high quality, lighter steel to build it due to war restrictions.  It was heavy.  Even with its weaknesses, it would have lasted longer if it was not for the boiler failure.  It pulling the Broadway Limited as late as August 10, 1949, is a true story. 

@CAPPilot- Ron thanks for your response.  I spent a good deal of my technical career dealing with turbine engines (aircraft) and Pennsy's discovery that they are awful at idle and low speed is true across the board.   You know as far as rotational speed on the turbo machinery they "idle" at about 90% speed.  Anyway, thanks again for sending me the information.

Best Wishes

Don

@CAPPilot posted:

It is August 10, 1949, it is warm, the sky is clear, and S2 "Big Swoosh" is departing the station with the "Broadway Limited".  Shortly, it reaches a high speed on the long straight aways in the western part of the Pennsylvania System.  This is where the S2 shined, as it was efficient at high speeds and always drew crowds.  Unfortunately, later that month severe boiler damage takes the engine out of service.  Pennsy management did not think it worthwhile to repair the S2 as diesels were becoming more common and much more efficient.  It was stored and finally scrapped in 1953.

S2 is a 3rd Rail model.

Ron is that 3rd Rail model 6200 from the late 80s to early 90s?

Here is my 6200 it’s been on the shelf for many years. When I lived in Brooklyn I didn’t have a layout. I ran it at my friends a few times.  It was in a case in my home office. When we moved to NJ I got a train room and put it on a shelf with the rest of the steamers. One day my late wife was in my office, and asked about the engine in the case. I said it was upstairs. She replied I always liked that one and left the room. What’s a man to do? I still had the case so the Turbine came back down stairs. Now that you stirred it up, I should probably bring it back up stairs and let it Swoosh around the layout.