Re: Odious practices continue
Ok, I take full and open responsibility for bringing in the kiddie term of cow catcher. I just wasn't sure the international crowd on the board would fully conjure up the image I was trying to convey. I have since been flogged, keel hauled, and beaten about the head and shoulders with a fine rubber hose. (Hmmm, I might actually enjoy that last one!) I lay awake at night staring at the ceiling thinking My God what have I done! Any way, my own experience is that a good solid breast beam, at slow speed with a 1920 Baldwin, handled the tail end of a stationary Subaru just fine. The pilot never entered into the equation. It was a gentle, slow motion dance-like-sequence as the car ever so slowly was brushed aside, locomotive wheels solidly locked up. The round ends of the beam never even left much of a mark on the car. The owner had thought he had cleared the track when he came in and parked. He was wrong. 47 tons of solid American iron taking on 1 ton of tin. Then there was this garbage truck. Never mind. Have a good laugh guys. J.R. - Original Message - From: Trent Dowler [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of sslivesteam [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2003 12:49 AM Subject: Re: Odious practices continue ~~ good humor mode, very much: ON ~~ Hello. My name is Trent, and I use kiddie terms. gasp I wasn't the first to use the term cow-catcher in this thread, but I've called it that most of my life, and will probably die calling it that. I sort of like the comical picture it conjures up of cows being whisked along the rails, eyes big, jaws dropped, tails flipping along behind, and their hooves tangled up in the contraption. big, BIG grin I'll make another attempt to find the Shay book that you mentioned. I've never been able to find it and had actually forgotten about it. A refrigerator at 90 mph?! I sincerely hope no human harm occurred because I would really feel bad after laughing so hard. I know a couple of youngsters who once built a snowman on a Union Pacific mainline. My sources tell me that the moment of impact was quite spectacular. Later, Trent Keith Taylor wrote: As unimaginable a thing as a Shay with a wooden pilot (please let us try to stay away from the kiddie term cow catcher) might be, there are examples of them in real life, and NOT for Hollywood!
Re: Odious practices continue
Hello All, Although I tried desperately to refrain, I finally gave in and allowed a mental picture of a Shay with a 'cow-catcher' to amble through my mind. Have they no shame?! I'm all for a good whimsical creation on occasion, but this I could never stand for. (all said in good humor) Trent, As unimaginable a thing as a Shay with a wooden pilot (please let us try to stay away from the kiddie term cow catcher) might be, there are examples of them in real life, and NOT for Hollywood! The Shay Locomotive, Titan of the Timber, by Michael Koch, shows several examples of Shays, that were used in passenger service, sporting wooden stave pilots! These locomotives wer not meant for swithcing, and so didn't need a place for the switchman to stand, but did require a means of deflecting unwanted objects from the rails. I have to imagine that the schedules called for some very long runningtimes between the stations though! However, this is not to say that a Shay thus equipped was an attractive sight! I also imagine that the British lines didn't need protective pilots due to their fenced in rights of way. They weren't as likely to come across an abandoned washing machine on the tracks. You wouldn't believe the stuff I encountered thrown on the tracks in front of the trains I have run. Hitting a refrigerator at 90 MPH is an unforgettable experience! Keith (who loves Shays, and wouldn't allow a pilot to ruin it's front end appearence!)
Re: Odious practices continue
~~ good humor mode, very much: ON ~~ Hello. My name is Trent, and I use kiddie terms. gasp I wasn't the first to use the term cow-catcher in this thread, but I've called it that most of my life, and will probably die calling it that. I sort of like the comical picture it conjures up of cows being whisked along the rails, eyes big, jaws dropped, tails flipping along behind, and their hooves tangled up in the contraption. big, BIG grin I'll make another attempt to find the Shay book that you mentioned. I've never been able to find it and had actually forgotten about it. A refrigerator at 90 mph?! I sincerely hope no human harm occurred because I would really feel bad after laughing so hard. I know a couple of youngsters who once built a snowman on a Union Pacific mainline. My sources tell me that the moment of impact was quite spectacular. Later, Trent Keith Taylor wrote: As unimaginable a thing as a Shay with a wooden pilot (please let us try to stay away from the kiddie term cow catcher) might be, there are examples of them in real life, and NOT for Hollywood!
Re: Odious practices continue
That is just plain sick. Yuk. A shay with a pilot is wacky looking to begin with due to the off set boiler and high framing. Pinkish red? That's an engine that will forever live with shame! - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of sslivesteam [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 2:47 AM Subject: Odious practices continue Two weeks ago the BBC spent a week at Railtown 1897 in Jamestown, California filming one of a four part history series, the specific one at Railtown is about the completion of the Trans-continental RR. Can't figure out why they didn't go to Promontory - maybe the weather wasn't what they wanted. As it turns out, of the three operating steam locomotives at Railtown, the 1891 Rogers built 4-6-0 (#3) is undergoing major boiler restoration, the 1922 Baldwin 2-8-0 (#28) is being retubed (it was headed to Baltimore before the roof disaster and cancelation of the planned festivities there). The only operating steam locomotive available this month is the 1922 Shay (#2). As a result, Brits will soon be regaled with the epic driving of the Golden Spike and the locomotives will be the shay, with a cow catcher attached to the foot boards and the pilot painted blue to represent one of the locomotives and faced in the other direction, the pilot is a pinkish-red. Is anyone planning on redoing their Catatonic to replicate this scene! Dave Connery
Re: Odious practices continue
Hello All, Although I tried desperately to refrain, I finally gave in and allowed a mental picture of a Shay with a 'cow-catcher' to amble through my mind. Have they no shame?! I'm all for a good whimsical creation on occasion, but this I could never stand for. (all said in good humor) However, in defense of the Brits, their actions could be comparable to me going over there to conduct a documentary and not fully understanding the history of their locomotives and railroad practices. I'm sure that at some point they would shake their heads and walk away mumbling obscenities. Later, Trent, who is afraid to go to sleep for fear of dreaming of Shays with 'cow-catchers'. cold shiver As a result, Brits will soon be regaled with the epic driving of the Golden Spike and the locomotives will be the shay, with a cow catcher attached to the foot boards and the pilot painted blue to represent one of the locomotives and faced in the other direction, the pilot is a pinkish-red.
