In a message dated 6/8/2007 1:12:40 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Well, unlike the dirty brown neighbor to the south, the NYC was quite innovative and always Certainly glad Glenn brought Ed's letter to light. Of course, the "dirty brown neighbor" was the late, GREAT PRR (ushered into oblivion, by the way, by the greediest of the greedy at the time, Perlmann of New York Central fame). While the NYC may have employed picks and shovels to remove ice, the cooler heads at PRR simply installed steam lines under the pans and on the ties, inside and outside the rails to PREVENT ice. Less than a block from me now, stands a BRICK pump house which housed the steam boiler and pumps to lift the water from a small reservoir to the track pans above. A steam boiler at track level provided the necessary steam to prevent freezing in the winter. The PRR owned at least three homes at this location, two small, one larger in close proximity where crew members/maintainers lived with their families. As Bill Lane pointed out, unsuspecting hoboes riding on the rear of a PRR tender could become "bum-sickles" in the winter, because there would have been NO warning when water was to be picked up (controlled by fireman) and the PENNSY tender water hatches had NO latches on them, so that water could simply open the hatch when the tender overfilled and run over the back of the tender OR run down the "deck drains" on either side of the tender at the rear. All of this can be easily seen at RRMPA (PA RT 741) in Strasburg, PA. It is possible to look under several of the steamers to see the "scoop", look down from the bridge to see the drains and see and read the explanations on display. ( I understand that once upon a time, not TOO long ago, a bright thinker at LIONEL spotted the drains on a prototype model and ordered them filled because he knew nothing about railroading). By the way, I believe the Central called themselves the "Water Level Route" because they simply didn't have the motive power to climb mountains as the PENNSY did hundreds of times every day. Jim "TUSCAN PROUD on the Keystone Main" Lyle ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
