STEAMday Sunday 12/29/2024 edition

Arnold thanks for keeping the boiler hot with a full head of steam.  Your Consolidation looks terrific!!!  Congrats on the trade

Here is my B&O President Harrison pulling a 3 car consist with the last car being my new Lionel scale Polar Express sleeper.   Although I'll probably never own a full PE train outfit complete with locomotive,  I think the President Harrison is a nice fill in for he 1225.  I shot this video today.

Long Island Rail Road #18 is a Lionel Legacy model (2131420, $649.99) of a Camelback 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler steam locomotive.

Camelback locomotives had extra-wide fireboxes designed to use slow-burning anthracite (hard) coal from deposits in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Therefore, the engineer’s cab was in front of the firebox and beside the boiler, and the fireman shoveled coal into the firebox from a platform at the rear of the engine. This arrangement made for difficult communication between the engineer and fireman and also posed a danger to the engineer in the event of a broken rod that could flail around and penetrate the cab. Due to safety concerns, the Interstate Commerce Commission eventually banned any further orders for Camelbacks in 1927. The Reading and the Central Railroad of New Jersey were prominent users of this type of locomotive – and so was the LIRR.

In the late 1800s, the Long Island Rail Road had a fleet of Camelback locomotives and even after becoming a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1900, continued to purchase Camelbacks from commercial manufacturers. #18 belonged Class G-54a. It was built by Baldwin in 1903 and retired by 1931, when the LIRR had begun to receive modern G-5s ten-wheelers built by the PRR at Juniata. The Class G-54a engines had 72-inch driving wheels and hauled express trains from Jamaica to the Hamptons on Eastern Long Island that were run by the most senior engineers on the LIRR. In 1924, the LIRR honored engineer James Eichhorn by painting his name on the cab of locomotive #18, as seen on Lionel’s model.

Photos and video show the model on my 12’-by-8’ model railroad.

MELGAR

I had to go back in the archives for this MTH WVP&P Shay with a load of fresh cut lumber.

From our modular display, earlier this month......

Have a great and safe week, folks!

Peter

Good morning, fellow steam fans!  Train operating sessions with my grandson (including frequent power changes) have prevented me from preparing any new material, so it’s off to the archives for today’s post (inspired, once again, by our resident historian, MELGAR).

Central Railroad of New Jersey 4-6-0 Camelback no. 763 is a MTH Railking Imperial model equipped with 3v PS2.  I’ve owned it about fourteen years and it has run flawlessly; the only maintenance required was installation of a BCR and a new smoke wick.  I also added some detail to the plain pilot including a coupler cut lever and a non prototypical steam pump.

Here’s wishing all my Forum friends a Healthy and Happy New Year!

John

561 Flyer 3/16" O gauge K5 Pacific (repainted for Pennsylvania) and 496/497 sheet metal heavyweight cars.  The heavyweight cars are truly rare.

Nothing like PW Lionel burning up the rails. God speed all!

Our family’s Polar Express set has just finished its 20th annual trip around our Christmas tree.  Very soon it will be packed away until the 2025 Christmas season.  Have a great week and Happy New Year everyone!

Great topic, beautiful steamers, here’s the new Lionel A5, Happy New Year Everyone

I was fortunate and blessed to have found this Sunset/3rd Rail ATSF 4-8-2 earlier this year.   Might be my favorite steam engine !   The detail and accuracy is outstanding....    Here's a 2 minute video of it pulling my PFE Express.   Yeah I have to work on moving more smoothly when following the engine !!!   Make sure you have the HD resolution set to 1080 or 2140, its worth it.

https://youtu.be/sJzyiL1J3xc