STEAMday Sunday 12/22/2024

Thanks Arnold. Have a Merry Christmas.

My Steamday locomotive last Sunday was New York Central 4-6-0 ten-wheeler #1244, a Lionel Legacy model (2431660) that I bought recently. I’ve been busy building a model this week and haven’t had time to photograph another engine so I’m posting different photos and videos of NYC #1244 than I did last week. I’ve left this engine on my 10’-by-5’ layout partly because I think it’s as fine a model as anything made by Lionel or anyone else. It has a classic look, excellent details, and runs well. So, when I haven’t been otherwise occupied this week, I’ve spent a few minutes admiring it on the layout. In my opinion, Lionel did a great job on this model.

MELGAR

A modern Lionel 4-4-0 with LionelChief Plus and Blue Tooth, pulling a Christmas-themed consist on the home layout…..

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and safe travels to all…….

Peter

Ho, ho, ho!  Merry StDaySun, Steam Crazies!  A train you saw last year at this time is on the move again this holiday season.

New York Central 0-6-0. no. 901 is switching a flatcar with a giant Santa in the Springfield, MA yards.  The Santa was delivered by the Boston and Maine from a display at a museum in VT to be transported to the home of a certain rich businessman/politician.  He leases and arranges transportation of the Santa every year because he has to have the  best holiday display in his neighborhood!

I hope you all have a happy and healthy holiday season!

John

@MELGAR posted:

Thanks Arnold. Have a Merry Christmas.

My Steamday locomotive last Sunday was New York Central 4-6-0 ten-wheeler #1244, a Lionel Legacy model (2431660) that I bought recently. I’ve been busy building a model this week and haven’t had time to photograph another engine so I’m posting different photos and videos of NYC #1244 than I did last week. I’ve left this engine on my 10’-by-5’ layout partly because I think it’s as fine a model as anything made by Lionel or anyone else. It has a classic look, excellent details, and runs well. So, when I haven’t been otherwise occupied this week, I’ve spent a few minutes admiring it on the layout. In my opinion, Lionel did a great job on this model.

MELGAR

Mel, I see what you’re saying, it’s one of those simple but handsome engines that will always look good on your layout. Thanks for sharing again.

Gene

Did a little Christmas decorating on the layout yesterday.

Ran a few steamers too.

Bob

2024 Christmas tree trains.  All steam, all season.

LGB 2085D HANOMAG pulls string of DEUTCHE BAHN coaches on Christmas layout.

Thanks so much Arnold for keeping the firebox hot and the boiler pressure optimum to get us rolling for this fine Sunday morning!!  ( Btw - that tall fellow on Seinfeld, his name was Kramer.)    Some really great posts this morning so far!

My series of photos for today is entitled " When Steam was King".  

It's that time of year when the snow and wind kicks up without warning...

Last week I posted a short video of my Atlas 0-6-0 switcher with a closeup of the rods and valve gear while moving slowly. 

@Don McErlean made a nice comment that he enjoyed the video.  I also enjoy watching these and have done them for all my steamers; lets me get a close look at the action. 

The most unusual gear arrangement I have is on my 3rd Rail Pennsy Q1, a dual purpose engine.  It is a 4-6-4-4 with the rear engine mounted opposite normal, or reversed.  This allowed for the largest drivers possible for a duplex wheel base, 77" diameter.  Unfortunately, soot from the firebox kept fouling the cylinder, plus the firebox was made smaller to fit everything in, limiting steam production at speed.   Here is a video of my Q1 trying to pull too much while starting over a switch.

Pennsy liked the design concept and made modifications that resulted in a great performing fast freight engine.  They changed the driver arrangement to a more conventional 4-4-6-4 with the cylinders leading the engines, but resulted in smaller 69" drivers and a slower top speed.  It was not a dual purpose engine like the Q1, but could haul over a 1,000 freight cars at 50mph.  Here is my MTH Q2.

@CAPPilot- Hey another neat video of a REALLY complex valve gear, great story as well.  Thanks for posting Ron

Well today, amidst all these beautiful highly detailed accurate models, I am going in the opposite direction.  I have a fascination with the "old" things in our hobby, what would have delighted young people in the far past.  Today I am showing one (I recently acquired 2) American Flyer (Chicago Flyer)) cast iron, clockwork locomotives from a century ago.  This one is an American Flyer #10 from 1925 or just about to turn 100 years old.  She is clockwork and comes with a Flyer # 120 tender, which was used with a number of these engines.  Her clockwork engine is all complete but I don't have it working as yet so that is a future task ( I just got these 2 on Thursday - a Christmas present from me to me .  So folks, if you were around a century ago, this is what you might have played with or put around your tree.  By the way, the #10 never did have drive rods as you can tell since the driving wheels have no boss where the rods would have connected.  Why not?  I suspect Flyer was trying to hit a price point and leaving them off allowed a lower price, but that is just speculation.

Best Wishes, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year

Don

Mr. Muffins Custom run, Lionel Norfolk & Western Berkshire #759.

@CAPPilot and @Don McErlean,

I really liked your very interesting posts today. In a way, they are similar - Ron's looks at engineering history and some of the last attempts to improve the efficiency and power output of reciprocating steam locomotives and Don's talks about the history of models of the these types of machines.

Early in my career, I worked at a company that was building an automotive steam engine sponsored by the EPA. The objective was to design a modern steam engine with an efficient combustor/boiler,  low emissions, and low fuel consumption. We found out how difficult that was - and why. But I also gained an appreciation of how advanced steam locomotive design for the railroads had been. Steam engines are regarded today as old (and unsophisticated) technology. After all, computers were not involved in their design. But I don't think that perception is correct. Sophisticated engineering went into designing these machines. Ron's Pennsylvania engines are a good example.

So, two points to be made. Steam locomotives were sophisticated pieces of engineering and Don's comments should make us realize that the same thing applies to modern steam locomotive models.

MELGAR

Last STEAMday Sunday till Christmas hope you did your list

@MELGAR - Thank you for the nice compliment.  You know, somehow in my memory I remember, it was in the 80's I think, there was an entrepreneur (first name of Ross I think but not sure) who was convinced (we were in the "oil crises" days) that the US had almost unlimited supplies of coal and that we could switch back from diesel to coal by using a very modern steam engine.  To my recollection he or his company built a full scale prototype and the results were quite interesting.  

Again MELGAR  Thank you

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year

@Don McErlean posted:

@MELGAR - Thank you for the nice compliment.  You know, somehow in my memory I remember, it was in the 80's I think, there was an entrepreneur (first name of Ross I think but not sure) who was convinced (we were in the "oil crises" days) that the US had almost unlimited supplies of coal and that we could switch back from diesel to coal by using a very modern steam engine. To my recollection he or his company built a full scale prototype and the results were quite interesting.  

Again MELGAR  Thank you

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year

@Don McErlean,

The program I worked on involved four EPA contracts and ran during the early 1970s. Two engines used water as the working fluid - one was a turbine and the other was reciprocating - and two engines used another type of fluid that would not freeze at typical low temperatures - also one turbine and one reciprocating. Initially, the emphasis was on low emissions. The 1974 "oil crisis" caused the emphasis to shift to fuel economy because the fuel was gasoline. These engines differed from steam locomotives in that they had a condenser to recirculate the working fluid rather than exhausting it to the atmosphere. A tender with a large water supply that was used once and exhausted like a steam locomotive was not efficient, necessary or practical in an automobile. I worked with some engineers who were real steam enthusiasts and some British engineers who had experience with steam.

MELGAR

Season’s Greetings steam fans!  Working the northern division of my model railroad (aka under the Christmas tree ) today.  Wabash is the order of the day today. Running my MTH Cannonball and a Lionel Northern re-lettered for Wabash with QSI sounds.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!