Yes, I would think the Milwaukee’s bipolar electrics would top the poll of locomotive pole polls.
U.P. Uber Alles
voted for UP but BNSF forever…untill the merger
The Central Pacific? Yeah, I like fallen flags too, but that’s a little ridiculous. I think someone’s been watching too many simplified railroad history specials–the ones that end about 1869 or so.
PS: I know, I know; I should have just let this “pole” die quietly. [:(]Sorry.[:(]
I had a different thought, that the “pole” referred to was that(the pole) which was used with those “cute little dimples” you see on virtually every steam locomotive drawbar. Poling was a creative but dangerous practice where one would use a pole long enough to reach from the locomotive to a car on the next track over to move the car from an adjacent track. In old photos one can see the pole stored underneath the tender on hooks. I hope there may be some old heads who can report on actual experience with this practice. AA
locomtive (sic) “poles”, “russian” decapods, “chinese” steam- oh my!
Yes, during my early teen years in Michigan I watched the crew of a Grand Trunk Western local freight use the pole to push a car on an adjacent track. It was done as described above, using the “dimples” on the ends of the pilot beam. When not in use the pole was hung under the tender of the 2-8-0. I believe these were known as “pike poles” (or was that just in the logging industry?) and were later outlawed because, if they snapped, bystanders could be injured or killed.
In the image at this link http://www.railarchive.net/gtw2683ctf.jpg you can see the pole hanging below the tender, partly hidden by the crewman standing next to it. [Photo (c) Richard Leonard, taken at Bellevue, Michigan, 1953]
