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It just turned Sunday and you know what that means.

It's time for STEAMday Sunday!

Please remember to post only photos and videos you've taken or ones in which you have received the express written permission of  the owner to post.

I will begin with this video of an MTH PS2 Jersey Central 0-6-0 steam switcher hauling heavy freight abd oil tankers through My Little Town in the distance:

Love the big smoke generated by this little steamer.

Arnold

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Last edited by Arnold D. Cribari

Good morning, Arnold!

Thanks for starting Steamday Sunday on this Thanksgiving weekend.

My steam engine for today is Long Island Rail Road H-10s 2-8-0 Consolidation #111. The model is MTH Premier 20-3230-2 delivered in 2006 with PS2 and scale wheels at MSRP $699.95. The detail on this model is exceptional. I'm not a fan of traction tires so I ordered it with scale wheels that look more realistic. Traction is satisfactory without the tires but the flanges are small so I only run the engine straight through the Atlas O-72 switches on the outer loop of my layout. The biggest effect that I notice with the scale wheels is that electrical pickup is not as consistent as with the standard wheels.

The Long Island Rail Road was independent from 1834 to 1900. It was bought by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1900, which owned it until 1966, when the bankrupt PRR sold it to the State of New York. Consequently, hundreds of locomotives designed and built by the PRR saw service on Long Island, including nineteen H-10s 2-8-0 Consolidations – road numbers #101 to #119. They arrived in the 1920s and hauled freight and passenger trains until the end of steam in the 1950s. During potato harvest, they hauled hundred-car trains of potatoes from the east end of Long Island into New York City. H-10s engines weighed 254,000 pounds (excluding tender) and developed more than 53,000 pounds of tractive effort. #111 was built in 1916 and retired in October 1955.

The videos show #111 pulling two MTH LIRR wood passenger coaches on my 12'-by-8' layout – first running slowly (14.5 scale miles-per-hour) and then running fast (37.5 scale miles-per-hour).

MELGAR

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Good morning, “steam crazies”!  Do you guys remember the rail fans that hung out by the B&M Fitchburg division last Sunday?  Well, they had such a good time, they’re back today!

The B&M put on a good show again.  The boys agree the highlight of the day was seeing/filming B&M P3 Pacific no. 3702 hauling one of B&M’s premier passenger trains, The Gull.

John

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@Bill Park posted:

A big Sante Fe hauls empties toward Maybrook on my NYNH&H NYO&W Layout.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SJzWnZmiNkbnxzYx8

Magnificent video, Bill. It shows the beauty and enormity of your layout. That short video is as good as any I have ever seen. IMO, it's time for OGR or CTT to include your layout in its next DVD showing great O Gauge layouts in America. Arnold

I am so fortunate to live in a state that still has live steam operations as well as lots of model railroaders...it's so neat when I see women involved in the hobby, though they are far few and in-between it seems.

Here's another view from the other side of "Dead Man's Junction." I am working on ballasting all the tracks in this scene ~ about halfway done though this video doesn't show them.

Last edited by Paul Kallus
@Paul Kallus posted:

I am so fortunate to live in a state that still has live steam operations as well as lots of model railroaders...it's so neat when I see women involved in the hobby, though they are far few and in-between it seems.

Here's another view from the other side of "Dead Man's Junction." I am working on ballasting all the tracks in this scene ~ about halfway done though this video doesn't show them.

A double headed coal drag; magnificent!

One from big locomotive to an entirely different kind of big locomotive.  This is my semi-recently acquired American Flyer wide gauge 4693.  Being a cast locomotive, this is one hefty locomotive.  It came from a TCA Desert Division friend who sold me this, four 4000 series freight cars, and a caboose.  All are circa 1930.  What I really enjoy about this over its Lionel counterparts is that this has the look and feel of a real steam locomotive.  I should have photographed it next to an O gauge locomotive to get a sense of how huge this locomotive really is.  All were expertly restored by the late Bob Dennison who did wonderful restorations for many TCA members over the years including a Lionel 1668E for my father nearly 20 years ago. 

I posted a similar sentiment on the TCA TTML yesterday regarding this train in particular and the bigger picture of this hobby.  The train is great and I am happy to own it.  The people whose hands this passed through to bring it to me and the stories they have are greater than the train ever will be.  Because I know the history of this piece, it instantly transports me back to so many fond memories of friends in this hobby past and present. 

10000113941000011396

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@GG1 4877 posted:

One from big locomotive to an entirely different kind of big locomotive.  This is my semi-recently acquired American Flyer wide gauge 4693.  Being a cast locomotive, this is one hefty locomotive.  It came from a TCA Desert Division friend who sold me this, four 4000 series freight cars, and a caboose.  All are circa 1930.  What I really enjoy about this over its Lionel counterparts is that this has the look and feel of a real steam locomotive.  I should have photographed it next to an O gauge locomotive to get a sense of how huge this locomotive really is.  All were expertly restored by the late Bob Dennison who did wonderful restorations for many TCA members over the years including a Lionel 1668E for my father nearly 20 years ago.

I posted a similar sentiment on the TCA TTML yesterday regarding this train in particular and the bigger picture of this hobby.  The train is great and I am happy to own it.  The people whose hands this passed through to bring it to me and the stories they have are greater than the train ever will be.  Because I know the history of this piece, it instantly transports me back to so many fond memories of friends in this hobby past and present.

10000113941000011396

Great looking engine and wonderful narrative.  Thank you  

@GG1 4877 -Johnathan that is one spectacular engine for sure.  It's American Flyer (Chicago Flyer by the way) competitor to the Lionel #400E.  Great acquisition - hey how about posting some pictures of the entire train.

Best Wishes

Don

Don,

Give me about a week so I can get my Christmas tree up and I'll post photos and a video.  I'm really excited to run this train for the first time.  It affords me the opportunity to take my #8 and assorted 500 series cars to work to run around their Christmas tree this year in lieu of the Polar Express I ran last year to introduce my office to a whole different era of toy trains.

Not applicable to this post, but the same person sold me an original #10 Peacock passenger set in the original box that has never been restored and another eight restored 500 series cars.  If I can save my pennies, he is holding a 390E Lionel for me as well.   

Speaking of the 390E, here is a 2020 Christmas photo of my two cars, a caboose, and a borrowed MTH reproduction 390E from fellow Desert Division Member and past national TCA president, Chris Allen.  He has been my mentor in so many ways on the collecting of tinplate trains which again is outside of my normal interests.

As an aside, I've had a 400E on my radar for several years, but other interests have always put that purchase on the back burner.  One day perhaps when I can set up a few permanent layouts.

Christmas 2020

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@GG1 4877 -  Great trains I love the 390E as well and the 500 series cars.  I have never collected much Std Gauge as I never had anywhere to run them.  I did run my 384 and its passenger cars as well as an 8E and its 500 series freights around the Christmas tree for a number of years but current circumstances with Christmas travel sort of stopped that as well.  These "giants" always look good running around.  As a slight bit of humor, the first time I ran Standard, my boys were about 5 and 3 years old.  One look at the noise, pounding, and blue sparks shooting out from the contact rollers and they fled!  Took awhile to get them to come back to the tree and realize nothing was wrong.

I will look forward to seeing that video

Best Wishes

Don

@GG1 4877 -  Great trains I love the 390E as well and the 500 series cars.  I have never collected much Std Gauge as I never had anywhere to run them.  I did run my 384 and its passenger cars as well as an 8E and its 500 series freights around the Christmas tree for a number of years but current circumstances with Christmas travel sort of stopped that as well.  These "giants" always look good running around.  As a slight bit of humor, the first time I ran Standard, my boys were about 5 and 3 years old.  One look at the noise, pounding, and blue sparks shooting out from the contact rollers and they fled!  Took awhile to get them to come back to the tree and realize nothing was wrong.

I will look forward to seeing that video

Best Wishes

Don

Don,

I don't expect to collect much more standard gauge myself.  It is a passing interest, but still a fun one.  However, I will say that after seeing some of the Presidential sets in person at the TCA national convention in 2014, I could be talked into adding more.    The American Flyer sets hold much more interest than the Lionel ones for me.

Good morning, welcome to today's edition of STEAMday Sunday.

Please remember to post only photos and videos that you have taken, or ones in which you have the express written permission of the owner to post.

I will start us off with this nicely detailed K Line Boston and Albany tank engine:

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Here it is rolling down the line hauling 6 Pullman Green Madison heavyweight passenger cars:

Arnold

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Long Island Rail Road #18 is a Lionel Legacy model (2131420, $649.99) of a Camelback 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler steam locomotive that runs well, sells at a reasonable price in today’s market, and looks very much like its LIRR prototype.

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 aside the boiler, while the fireman shoveled coal into the rear of the firebox. Although Camelbacks were powerful, 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 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. The Class G-54a engines had 72-inch driving wheels and hauled high-speed Limiteds 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 videos show the model in conventional operation on my 12’-by-8’ model railroad.

MELGAR

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MELGAR, another interesting post and technical analysis, as usual!  

I’m curious about your statement regarding PRR being a “prominent user” of camelbacks, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of one.  Maybe photos are rare because PRR used them primarily before 1900?  It seems PRR primarily used conventional steam engines after that date.

I’m sure you can “shed some light” on this subject!

John

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