Great Britain had a large number of slate quarrying operations, for which a number of odd looking steam locos were produced.
One of the, IMHO" oddest designs is a 0-4-0 vertical boiler DeWinton steamer, featured in the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PSuAxTSrtI
The cab was probably fitted at a later date.
Watch how the driver has to hang outside the cab to operate the diminutive loco!
Thanks Ulrich for showing us the DeWinton. Actually from a US perspective the vertical boiler is not all that odd. In this country locomotives with vertical boilers were used for many years by the Baltimore and Ohio. The B&O also used a sail on a wind driven rail car.
John
What a sweet-running little engine that DeWinton is, and fast too! “Peter Pan’s” no slouch either.
You’ve done it again, Ulrich! How do you come up with these videos?
Wayne
Wayne - rather than wasting my time watching the “idiot box” I search youtube for interesting train videos. There is a wealth of really fascinating videos there, some of them professionally made. The trick is to know what to search for. I am quite familiar with European railroads, which is a big help
Here is another video of those vertical boiler beasties, filmed on the Ffestiniog Railway in 1986.
Wrightlines of UK offers an O scale kit - it would make a nice addition to the roster of my “Schietwedderooger Kleinbahn” O scale layout (Schietwedderooge means “Foul Weather Island” in our local German dialect).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eqfP6O9A-pY
SIR MADOG: I, too am a youtube train video junkie. There are tons of fascinating ones available. It’s helped me expand my meager European rail knowledge considerably. Of course, I must endure the off hand wife/family barbs like “oh you watchin’ stupid train videos again?” One thing I’ve noticed through direct observation as well as video, is the more relaxed method of railroading across the pond, i.e. fouling switches before coupling, stepping on the railhead, not going through the exaggerated genuflecting examining switch points or walking great distances beyond the end of equipment as my current employer requires. Very refreshing! Reminds me of the good ol’ days. Oh, but they are certainly serious about leaving on time over there!
rfpjohn - I am blessed with a wife who has a good understanding for my hobby. In our better days, she has joined me on many a railfan trip throughout Europe. Of course, I did not overdo it. I always saw to it, that there are number of interesting things for her mixed and matched into such a trip.
When I now watch those “stupid videos”, we both enjoy fond memories of places we had been to.
Unfortunately, our budget does not allow for anymore traveling - [sigh]
SIR MADOG: Actually my wife is also very understanding of my quirks and has accompanied me to countless rail related activities. She still ribs me, however, but that’s kind of how our relationship works. There is one friend of hers who gets a postcard from my wife every time we go near anything with rails! My sons have grown up in this environment, but it seems the railroad bug didn’t bite them very hard. Sorry to hear of your budget constraints. I hope better times are coming.
You Tube! i might have guessed! Lotsa good stuff on the You Tube, especially railroad related.
A question: just HOW do you post a You Tube video to this Forum? I tried several times, even followed what I thought were the directions, but no luck.
Don’t ask me. I just stopped using white out on the screen for my spelling mistakes!
Ulrich,
This video has a much better shot of the pistons going up and down. I also liked the guy who was feeding coal to the fire with his hands.
John
Ulrich,
You guys can say in a word what would take us a sentence or even a whole paragraph.
John
Here is another oddity - A Baldwin 1930 built 4-6-2 2ft. (!) gauge steamer, which spent her service life in South Africa, hauling limestone to Port Elizabeth. A lot of north American flavor on a Welsh 2ft. gauge railway!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bQ6CQTSCOIg
Enjoy!
Edit: The gauge is not 2ft., but 1ft. 11.75 inches or 600mm! That´s why the BMR also runs a German Heeresfeldbahn loco.
The engine looks very simular to the last two 2-6-2s built by Baldwin for the Sandy River & Rangely Lakes 2ft system in Maine. The larger of the two, #23 weighed in at about 32 tons. Huge by Maine 2ft standards, small compared to the engine in the video. Their website says they are in the process of restoring a Baldwin 2-6-2 which they list as having a weight of 41 tons. I guess the roads they were built for were a little more substantial than our stateside 2 footers! You might want to check out the videos for the Wiscasset,Waterville & Farmington Railway for a look at a typical Maine 2 foot operation. Those folks have done a remarkable job restoring nearly 3 miles of the original right of way, abandoned in 1933. They have an impressive shop and very capable group running the outfit. Their 0-4-4T #10 weighs in at a whopping 14 tons, and it was slimmed down from 30 inches to fit the gauge! ( For Edaville back in the 60’s)
Try this:
In the YouTube video you want to paste in, copy the URL from the browser. (If you’re embedded, you have to click the little ‘view this video in YouTube’ icon at bottom right (it helpfully shows the words “YouTube” if you have balloons turned off) and then copy that URL. Code will look something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Zr6aRj-Nw
Open up the reply you’re making for the Forum post… When you get to where you want the video to appear, click on the silly little ‘movie’ mystery-meat icon in the bottom row of the blue options bar – looks like two frames of film with a ping-pong ball sitting in front. This will give you a box where you paste the URL you’ve copied. Then click the helpful button and… well, it worked for me when I tested it in Firefox on a Mac, so it ought to work on lesser systems too ;-}
RME
Thanx Overmod, I shall give it a try!
All I can offer here is a copy and paste link but here it is: http://www.railtasmania.com/ttms/exhibit.php?id=vb
The link is to an 1890 vertical boiler locomotive in the Tasmanian Transport Museum.
Kinda sorta half-fixed that for ya:
http://www.railtasmania.com/ttms/exhibit.php?id=vb
(This is via the ‘insert image’ control next to the embed-video one. Since this is a page, rather than an image, it won’t render inline. You should be able to put a 'jpg or .bmp or whatever in via this procedure so it will display inline.
One note: If pasting, do not include the “http://” as this particular utility ‘helpfully’ inserts if for you and then delivers a cryptic parse error (of the ‘it’s your fault you’re holding it wrong’ kind) when you go to embed itl.
RME
Thanks Bob.
John
Slightly off-topic in a trains forum, but have you ever heard of a steam bus?
Well, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KMECB5vJ6PQ