We visited this several days ago. While we are RR fans not all that technical about it. Docent suggested we could go through in about 90 minutes. We took 4 hours. The volunteers were all knowledgible and fun to talk with. Most single impressive thing was comparing a side by side early locomotive and an articulated 4-6-6-4 (IIRC), the later is simply huge. Most of the rest is impressive as well, as is the building. And the Sacramento River, and RR swing bridge (a medium tour boat required a swing).
Do they still have the Pullman sleeping car with the motion inducer to give the feel of the rails?
The cab-forward is a 2-8-8-4 arrangement. The machine was not a compound arrangement. And, yes, it is huge.
It’s been a bit over five years since my last visit, I guess time for another trip to Sacramento.
Since it’s a cab forward, it’s actually a 4-8-8-2.
(motion inducer) They do. And several other specialty cars, including a mail car
While they get outside funding from the state and other outside sources, they struggle to stay open. The library and archives struggles to function at all. Go visit sooner than later.
As big as the Cab Forward is, the Big Boy is even bigger, of course. But the Cab Forward is a great locomotive in its own right. At 295 of them, there were more of them built than any other class of articulated, if my memory is serving me correctly. Baldwin got them right and SP loved them.
I agree that a Cab Forward is an impressive machine. There are, indeed, many interesting exhibits in that museum–and my wife really liked the gently rocking Pullman
2
This last Sunday, we went to the Illinois Railway Museum and watched a demonstration of an RPO exchanging mail at about 30 mph. E-9 BN-3 led two heavyweight cars,an RPO / Express car and a coach /baggage car and the clerk kicked out a mail pouch and grabbed a mail pouch from the holder. That had been a regular event until the middle sixties. When the postal service killed mail by rail, it doomed most passenger trains. When I was dating the girl that I married, her home was 100 miles North of Cincinnati. I would drive to the Winton Place station (first stop 10 minutes out of CUT) and hand a letter to the RPO clerk on the B&O Detroit bound overnight train and she would have it the next day (her father was a postmaster) in a smaal town East of Sidney OH. That was in1959.
Also ,Winton Place had seven* overnight trains in the morning that discharged mail for all the northern Cincinnati suburbs and there were over ten trucks lined up in a row and as the trains arrived, the clerks would eject the appropriate sack.Saved the time taking it down to CUT and back. That was probably a carry over from when there was multiple deliveries in a day.
- PRR Chicago
PRR Pittsburgh
NYC Detroit
NYC Cleveland
B&O Detroit
B&O Washington DC
N&W Portsmouth,
It is, indeed, interesting to watch the exchange of mailbags when a train does not stop. When I lived in Wesson, Mississippi in the early sixties, I could watch the exchange twice a day as #3 and #4 came through town. #8 stopped about midnight, and picked northbound mail up (it may have also picked southbound mail up and left it in Jackson for #25 to deliver), and #25 stopped about 3:30 in the morning to leave mail. Some people in town complained about the blowing horn early in the morning, for there were two crossings close to the station–I never heard it, even though I lived across the street from the track and one of the crossings.
Worked seveal stations where mail was picked up an delivered on the fly. PO employee would arrive several minutes prior to the scheduled arrival of the train and hang the outgoing mail on the Mail Crane and then await the arrival of the train. The R
Were there incidences of passengers or other civilians on the platform when the mail sacks were tossed off the moving train?
Stations I was working where mail was handled on the fly were not passenger stops. Very little to no foot traffic and no passenger platform.
So 7 overnight trains everyday in 1959 as posted by Electroliner
Electroliner 1935
ROBIN LUETHE
(motion inducer) They do. And several other specialty cars, including a mail car
This last Sunday, we went to the Illinois Railway Museum and watched a demonstration of an RPO exchanging mail at about 30 mph. E-9 BN-3 led two heavyweight cars,an RPO / Express car and a coach /baggage car and the clerk kicked out a mail pouch and grabbed a mail pouch from the holder. That had been a regular event until the middle sixties. When the postal service killed mail by rail, it doomed most passenger trains. When I was dating the girl that I married, her home was 100 miles North of Cincinnati. I would drive to the Winton Place station (first stop 10 minutes out of CUT) and hand a letter to the RPO clerk on the B&O Detroit bound overnight train and she would have it the next day (her father was a postmaster) in a smaal town East of Sidney OH. That was in1959.
Also ,Winton Place had seven* overnight trains in the morning that discharged mail for all the northern Cincinnati suburbs and there were over ten trucks lined up in a row and as the trains arrived, the clerks would eject the appropriate sack.Saved the time taking it down to CUT and back. That was probably a carry over from when there was m
They did “howl”. How many “train off” petitions did railroads have in the late 50s for their money losing passenger operations?
[quote user=“Miningman”]
So 7 overnight trains everyday in 1959 as posted by Electroliner
Electroliner 1935
ROBIN LUETHE
(motion inducer) They do. And several other specialty cars, including a mail car
This last Sunday, we went to the Illinois Railway Museum and watched a demonstration of an RPO exchanging mail at about 30 mph. E-9 BN-3 led two heavyweight cars,an RPO / Express car and a coach /baggage car and the clerk kicked out a mail pouch and grabbed a mail pouch from the holder. That had been a regular event until the middle sixties. When the postal service killed mail by rail, it doomed most passenger trains. When I was dating the girl that I married, her home was 100 miles North of Cincinnati. I would drive to the Winton Place station (first stop 10 minutes out of CUT) and hand a letter to the RPO clerk on the B&O Detroit bound overnight train and she would have it the next day (her father was a postmaster) in a smaal town East of Sidney OH. That was in1959.
Also ,Winton Place had seven* overnight trains in the morning that discharged mail for all the northern Cincinnati suburbs and there were over ten trucks lined up in a row and as the trains arrived, the clerks would eject the appropriate sack.Saved the time taking it down to CUT and back. That was
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit there in 2003:
Enjoy, Ed
That’s a nice bit of film-making Mr. Pullman, my compliments!
And you didn’t forget the old show-biz rule…
“Always leave them wanting more!”
Thanks for posting!
[quote user=“Electroliner 1935”]
Do they still have the Pullman sleeping car with the motion inducer to give the feel of the rails?
[/q
[quote user=“Electroliner 1935”]
Do they still have the Pullman sleeping car with the motion inducer to give the feel of the rails?
[It has been 12 months since I have seen the Pullman car with the motion and sounds, but I have seen it every year for 20 years. CSRM is a fringe benefit when we live 800 miles away and have family in the area.]