Rail roads and their tracks.

[MossRoad]

OK, you buy lunch and I'll pick up you & the Mrs' hotel room and buy breakfast.

btw, decades ago I drove by the Berkshire fenced into a park seen going West out of Fort Wayne. (Bus 24) When I met a young fella at a Lansing Sam's club who said he was working with a Berk restore crew in Durand I asked if he thought it might be the one from Indiana. We kind of assumed so, but I've since heard otherwise that the Indiana 2-8-4 was not 1225 but is in restoration.

Pere Marquette and Nickel Plate Road ran on Berkshires.

You have a good memory. :laughing: How long ago did we talk about that?

 

[the old grind]

You have a good memory. :laughing: How long ago did we talk about that?

Sometime since I joined TBN, but likely within the last year. Doc says I may live to 90, so we have 20 years to meet & greet.

Nickel Plate Road no. 765 Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society

A brief story of RR disappointment: in Oct 18 I tried to book a train ride to my Son's wedding in The Meadows ('Vegas'). There was a o'night Sunset Limited leaving Chi-Town in the late afternoon any/every day for LA with a stop ~ an hour South of LV and two Amtrack runs I could hop onto in Flint to get me to the Windy City by 2:00 PM. I could order two or more tickets for each leg of the trip, but whichever way I tried to combine them I was told the connection could not be made despite 2-4 hrs layovers.
I long to take a rail vacation, Empire Builder or the one that goes from Toronto to Vancouver IIRC across Canada. :cloud9: Like dove hunting in Argentina or an African Safari I'd rather not go alone and have only a guy in a mirror to say "Wasn't that fun?" to. Riding from Toronto back thru Sarnia 35 yrs ago I was quite taken by the difference in condition of the rails in the two Countries. Canada's tracks were smooth and the ride was quiet for conversation. Once in MI the coaches swayed way more and it seems like you felt, not just heard, every joint in the track. It didn't seem like ribbon rails vs old-school, just o'all condition, and one might not be napping on our side of the 'Blue Water'.

 

[Woody65]

Really cool subject. My wife and her family are from Oneonta NY. When I hunted the area I would always fun into abandoned railway beds. When I asked what was up with that I was told that at one time Oneonta had the largest roundhouse in the world. Looked it up and sure enough they were right. If you look close enough, you can see many abandoned railway beds when using google earth and scanning the area around Oneonta. Pic of the roundhouse as it sits today....

 

[RobS]

OK, you buy lunch and I'll pick up you & the Mrs' hotel room and buy breakfast.

btw, decades ago I drove by the Berkshire fenced into a park seen going West out of Fort Wayne. (Bus 24) When I met a young fella at a Lansing Sam's club who said he was working with a Berk restore crew in Durand I asked if he thought it might be the one from Indiana. We kind of assumed so, but I've since heard otherwise that the Indiana 2-8-4 was/is Nickel Plate 765, not 1225, but is in restoration.

Pere Marquette and Nickel Plate Road ran on Berkshires.

Both Pere Marquette 1225 and Nickel Plate 765 Berkshires are operational now!

 

[RobS]

OK, you buy lunch and I'll pick up you & the Mrs' hotel room and buy breakfast.

btw, decades ago I drove by the Berkshire fenced into a park seen going West out of Fort Wayne. (Bus 24) When I met a young fella at a Lansing Sam's club who said he was working with a Berk restore crew in Durand I asked if he thought it might be the one from Indiana. We kind of assumed so, but I've since heard otherwise that the Indiana 2-8-4 was/is Nickel Plate 765, not 1225, but is in restoration.

Pere Marquette and Nickel Plate Road ran on Berkshires.

Both Pere Marquette 1225 and Nickel Plate 765 Berkshires are operational now! I saw them together, along with UP4449, at Trainfest in Owasso back in ~2009.

 

[the old grind]

Here's a favorite pacing shot of 844 that I keep watching over and over. UP 844-The Greatest Pacing Shot...EVER. - YouTube

White (US) or yellow (UK) paint on bearing boxes denote roller vs bushed bearings on tenders, and on pilot and trailing trucks. Note that most all restored locos show the wide drive and connecting rods with the large bearing journals that denote upgrade to rollers.

btw, I'm as big a fan of Wm Stanier as I am of Sir Nigel. (Princess Class, Coronation Class vs Gresley's compounded 3 cyl Mallard and sister speed demons :yawn My favourite British loco is/are Stanier's Black five 4-6-0s, among the best and most efficient workhorses of the old LMS line as well as with later BR. It's one a guy would like to own, but so are a Mig 21, Cessna 172, and an old Corvette. (make offer on that one)

 

[ArlyA]

This has certainly been a popular thread, mostly about abandon RR lines and roundhouses. No one is interested in rail weights???

 

[Hay Dude]

Really cool subject. My wife and her family are from Oneonta NY. When I hunted the area I would always fun into abandoned railway beds. When I asked what was up with that I was told that at one time Oneonta had the largest roundhouse in the world. Looked it up and sure enough they were right. If you look close enough, you can see many abandoned railway beds when using google earth and scanning the area around Oneonta. Pic of the roundhouse as it sits today....

View attachment 646888View attachment 646889

That is amazing....
How could so much labor, effort, engineering, land surveying steel, construction and laid track just be left to waste away and become so useless?
Yeah, I know....trucking industry led by Jimmy Hoffa :laughing:

 

[the old grind]

No one is interested in rail weights???

Of course we are. I even offered >100 lbs of tie plates to trade for <25lbs of code70 or 35 lbs of code 100 rail, maybe in big Barn's shop thread.

Route availability depends on rails specs as much as engine weight. So do bridge/trestle capaty ratings.

 

[ArlyA]

Of course we are. I even offered >100 lbs of tie plates to trade for <25lbs of code70 or 35 lbs of code 100 rail, maybe in big Barn's shop thread. .

And what does someone do with track plates?????