Batman…what is this thing? Whatever it is it doesn’t look prototypical
Wayne
I think it is a 4-4-0. The only info was the year 1897.
Brent
Or maybe that is the ‘front’ of the engine behind the cab(4-4-0). Looks like it’s scrap metal now…
Jim
It looks like a 4-4-0, I suspect it was in a front end collision give the title of the picture?
Sean
Nineteenth-century curb feelers!
OK I’m going to say that those are the boiler tubes after an explosion. It says “between Yale and…” So I’m assuming it’s in BC. Cool picture.
On another note I have a picture, either in a book or magazine, of the engine that exploded in the Roundhouse at Brookmere and the plating is peeled back and the rivets are popped like Uncle Buck’s suit buttons after Thanksgiving.
Dan
I’d say boiler explosion also.
Wonder if the engineer and fireman got hurt/killed.
Most likely, if you look at the pic, you see that the boiler is gone where the cab is…
I looks to me like the front half of the boiler’s “outer shell” is on a car behind the cab…complete with smoke stack intact
Ouch. Yes,t he boiler jacket is completely removed from the rest of that loco. It amazes me how every boiler explosion is different. This one cut it half widthways and fubared the tubes. I’ve seen one where it just picked the boiler up off the drivers and flopped it down beisdie the train.
And let´s not forget the major boiler explosion that almost destroyed a whole SP-roundhouse and surroundings in San Antonio Texas in 1912.
26 people died.
I’m gonna be a spoiler here and say that it’s just the effect of cutting the engine up for scrap from the front back. I think if there were a boiler explosion, the cab and dome would be gone or badly damaged. I realize the boiler tubes are splayed some, but that intact cab just doesn’t say explosion. Ever see the Mythbusters episode where they blow up a hot water heater? Impressive to say the least. Could be wrong, but…
Lou
That’s actually the entire front of the loco, has the cylinders and all! [(-D]
There are all kinds of boiler explosions. This one (and it IS a boiler explosion) apparently was due to a catastrophic failure in the boiler shell about midway between the front of the boiler (aft of the smokebox) and the firebox. It blew the boiler fragments and tubes in all directions. the lagging and all of the jacketing went, as well.
The kind Flashwave described is usually caused by the failure of the crown sheet, which has the effect of lifting the entire boiler off the frame and depositing it down the track a ways. I saw a picture in the book “Train Wrecks” of one which landed 300 feet down the track.
Boiler explosions were almost always fatal to the crew aboard the engine, and I expect this one was, as well.
Look again at the dome in front of the cab. There is a siazable dent in it. And while I do find the cab in tact amazing, something tells me the backhead ain’t so pristine. And between shrapnel, concussive forces, hot water exploding out the back of the boiler, the cre met a painful ad unfortuntate end.
I was with Lou on this one, until I saw this:
