Thursday, February 26, at 9 pm Eastern on the National Geographic Channel, the show “Break It Down” will feature “Scap yard cutters strip, gut and breakdown two 184-ton locomotives.”
Could be interesting.
THAT BREAK’S MY HEART. It is so stupid. I hate the thought of destroying a locomotive, for any reason. And then to do it intenanaly in front of the entire nation… Truly heart breaking.[:(] You shouldn’t evan put things like this on here.
Well, it is a worn out locomotive. It’s not like they’re doing this to a perfectly good one in running condition. By watching it being disassembled, we might learn more about how they are assembled. Learning = good.
Well it’s still sad. I have a tear cumming. I wish I could have a loco for my own. Like a 40-2. I guess that all good things must come to an end.
Justin, you would not like working in the industry I’m in. I scrap rail cars for a living. At first it seemed kind of sad, now its nothing more than getting rid of rusted out, obsolete rolling piles of junk. We also have done an engine now and then. No big deal. We did get in 2 Alco over the years. We saved them both and use them for yard switchers. That gave me a BIG smile. It all just part of business.
I suppose you guys are right. I didn’t mean to offend someone if I did. I just overeacted a bit. I guess that’s just my railfan instinct kiking in. I guess that’s the cycle of life.[
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Is there a way to watch it online? I ain’t got cable.
Here’s a link to the “Overview” web page for this episode, “Desel Locomotive”:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/break-it-down/3861/Overview#tab-Overview
From the accompanying still photos, it’s clear that both locos are ex-Kansas City Southern - 1 is No. 672, and although I can’t read the number on the other, the caption says it is No. 605. Both look like S40-somethigs to me, but I’m no expert.
Justin, you’ll be glad to know that it appears that significant portions are recycled are parts - at least the wheels and 1 of the 645 engines is shown.
From the Schedule page, it looks like this show is 1 hour long. It will be interesting to see if this potentially “morbid” or dramatic subject is handled well, or as badly as the History Channel’s recent “Extreme Trains” episodes.
- Paul North.
Words of wisdom.
Justin, scrapping is usually just prime movers and hulks of the body. We are scrapping our SW-1 and we have taken the headlights, hell, horn, windows, doors, air hoses, anglecocks, seats, heater, control stand, electrical components, piping, traction motors etc. All of it will be filed away to keep our NW-5 (mostly becasue the parts are interchangeable as they are both switchers, SW-1 parts probably wouldnt fit on our SD45 or GP30[:P]) running for a LONG time. The windows are going to our Model 40. The bell will be used whenever railfans steal another one of our bells, the horn, well bleh, maybe on our FP7 to replace that ugly “blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat” 1 chime, seats need to be re-upholstered then they can be used on our NW5 to replace the ginormous captains chair which doesnt let you move, traction motors are being sold to another railroad with an SW-1, the block MAYBE will be just given to them as well, etc. Myself and Kale (nssr9169) just undid alot of piping and filed away individual components for later use.
Point is, when something is scrapped, there are many things that will feed other units for years to come.
Thanks, Mr. North, I saw the comercial and didn’t have the time to do the research. [:D][tup]
Oh well that makes me fell a whole lot better! I thought when a loco was screpped it was just SHREDDED amlesley it will just keep others going. That=goodness![:)]
[tup] - although it might sound better if said with Homer Simpson’s inflections ! [swg]
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Yes. I still have the memory of the first engine I saw in a park. Back in the sixities, I was visiting my brother in Winston-Salem, and he took his young son and me to a park which had a Southern engine in it. The public could go into the cab, so, of course, I went up. I was astounded at the looting and/or vandalising tht had taken place. Hardly anything that could have been taken was left, and much had been damaged. Far better had it been to have made use of hte usuable parts.
There is the cab of a steam engine in Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. It is possible to sit on the engineer’s box, and lay your hands on the throttle, brake, and reverse gear, but none of them can be moved. This is a better use of an old engine.
Johnny
Johnny
OK, the post above got me to thinking so here’s a potential money-making idea for a museum (contributed pro bono from me):
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Construct a duplicate of the engineer’s side of a steam loco cab, complete with movable throttle, brake, reversing lever/ Johnson bar, bell, whistle, maybe a couple other things - definitely including a video screen and sound system, preferably including the “surround sound” kind of thing with the sub-woofer and all that. Install an infra-red light for heat from the boiler area, and maybe a fan to simulate wind;
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Build a small to medium size model railroad layout to O (= 1/4 inch per foot) scale with pretty realistic scenery;
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Equip a model steam locomotive with Lionel’s “Rail-Cam” (or whatever they call it), plus the functions that correspond to the engineer’s controls (above);
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Charge $5 for 5 minutes to “run” the model locomotive from the engineer’s seat, seeing whatever it “sees” via the video hook-up.
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Those waiting in line can be an “apprentice engineer” and sit in the fireman’s seat for free and ring the bell, make sure the “water” and “coal” is fed to it so the engineer can run, etc.
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Add all kinds of signs, photos, etc. to explain what this is all about to those who are waiting, too.
Say, $50 per hour = $400 per day on Saturdays, maybe $600 for the whole weekend, $30,000 per year, plus whatever you can get during the week for school tours and the like, plus summer vacation traffic - maybe $50,000 altogether ? Should pay for itself in 2 -3 months, I would think.
If anybody does this, let me know.
- Paul North.
You could certainly buy a simpified set-up like this off the shelf. There is a company that has run ads in TRAINS and MODEL RAILROADER that makes a small console with prototype- based locomotive controls for u
We do that. The WC locomotive engineer simulation training device. You would NEVER, EVER make anywhere NEAR $50,000, you’d be lucky to make $5,000 in a year. $5 for 5 minutes?! Are you crazy? [(-D] We charge $3 for 15 min
Damn Comcast dropped the National Geographic channel, among others…no choo-choo show for me : (
Was it a good one, anyone who’s seen it?
It was decent. No over-hyping by the narrator. The working conditions/environment were certainly not what I expected to see and the descriptions/animations were sufficient to teach without being too basic or technical either.