Hey everybody, Mighty 611 is up at Strasburg romping on their line! Check out the Virtual Railfan camera link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKSL9WI2fc4
A grey, dreary day, but the old girl’s doing her best to lighten it up! A bright ray of classic steam sunshine!
One of these years I’d love to see them take its streamlining off.
I’m sure they would for the right price. (there’s a joke in there , but it’s too easy).
Here’s a cheesecake shot for you:
https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/photos/NW05562.jpg
As with that other field of interest, sometimes too much exposure is not as sexy as the right lingerie…
I’ve seen that before. Why I’d like to see it in person. I think it looks better than the streamlined one.
It occurs to me that the streamlined nose cone does come on and off fairly easily – I can’t say as much for the skirts, and interestingly the fairing under the smokebox appears to have been present on the J1s. Note that N&W seems to have done some attempt at historical revisionism by keeping as little record of the J1s as possible – I suspect this had more to do with the rod fiasco than the nonstreamlined appearance, but the two were ‘joined at the hip’ in practice – and never pulled the cones even when the engines went to freight service.
I suspect that if you asked politely when the locomotive was due for service involving more than just opening the inner smokebox door, you might be able to schedule a time to see her with the nose off.
Looks strange. Interesting, but strange.
Like a Northern with thyroid trouble.
The “other” N&W J class: https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/neg/NG101498.jpg
That other J is so antique it’s exquisite!
I agree but I do like the Atlantic and American types. They just seem so right.
Their 2-8-0’s were cool too: https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/neg/NG101374.jpg
Even the Mollies had a vintage style: https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/photos/NW06845.jpg
Check out this 4-6-0: https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/photos/NW06654.jpg
Early articulateds had a 19th century stle: https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/photos/NW06294.jpg
But then, so did the competition’s: https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/neg/NG100393.jpg
The J1’s would have looked a lot like the K1’s if not for the shield below the smokebox: https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/neg/NG101581.jpg
A “My-T-Fine” assortment of antiques!
And you can see the 20th Century s-l-o-w-l-y arriving with that articulated.
Thanks Becky! [tup]
Have recently watched a number of video’s of the B&O steam power fighting Sand Patch, 17 Mile and other serious grades on the system. One thing that gets overlooked is just how slow steam power - even with 2 on the head end, one in the middle and two on the rear were actually moving the tonnage up the grade - appears to be 5 or 6 MPH. With the train configuration I just mentioned there would be 13 men involved in getting that train over the road - Engineer & Fireman for each of the five engines and a 3 man train crew - head end brakeman, flagman and conductor.
Now we have a two man crew with nominally 3 or 4 units operating in a DPU configuration hauling two to three times the paying tonnage at 12 to 15 MPH. Not only getting the tonnage up the grade, but getting it down the grade without the time expending chore of setting up retainers at the crest of the grade and then turning off the retainers once the train is off the grade. Not to mention the brake shoe/wheel wear created by having brakes applied to some extent for mile after mile.
All true Balt, everything you say is true.
But the drama’s gone.
I know, drama doesn’t pay the bills. Just sayin’.
When CSX was using Dash-8’s as their ‘Road Power’ and put two Dash-8’s on a 90 car coal train out of Atlanta inroute to Waycross and beyond it was all drama all the time with the three rolling hills between Tilford and Manchester. Would they make it? Would dew set in and dampen the rail and cause the train to stall. Would a thundershower move through the area and wet the rail and cause the train to stall. Would the trick dispacher hold the signal too long at a control point and cause the train to stall. Drama, you want drama? Every trip with a 90 car coal train and two dash-8’s was drama.
Eventually, instructions were issued at Tilford that if it was raining, Tilford was to add a thrid engine to the engine consist. Then came the AC’s and the drama vanished and trains got increased to 100 cars.
Akron grade was one of the last holdouts for B&O steam. Mostly mikados.
Akron’s B&O grades were relatively unique, at least on the B&O System. The bottom of the grade was at Akron Jct where curvature restricted speed to 10 MPH. Westbound the grade was a little over 1% and a little over a mile long; Eastbound was also a little over 1% but it was a little over 2 miles long.
As I recall, most 1st generation diesels had a minimum continuous speed of about 9 MPH. In my experience on the territory - a heavy short train was in danger of stalling as most all of its tonnage would be in the grade and it was still having to comply with the 10 MPH speed restriction at the bottom of the grade. Longer trains would have the rear of their trains using gravity to assist the head of the train in climbing the grade.
In my experience, there were no ‘assigned helpers’ for Akron grade. A yard engine from Akron Jct. would be summoned to assist. Admittedly, all my experience on the territory was in the diesel age.
Wow! I think the non-streamlined one looks awesome. Maybe the most handsome steam locomotive I’ve ever seen. Kinda reminds me of a Reading T-1.
I’m generally not so big on streamlined steam locos. But I really wish a Pennsy T1 still existed.
I also think the non-streamlined J looks good. Maybe not as good as the streamlined version but overall it looks natural without the big bullet nose. Sometimes I think the drivers of the Js are a bit too small to match the big wide bullet nose.
Hi Mr. Jones!
Those small drivers on the N&W J Class locomotives were basically a compromise. J’s needed to handle some “sawtooth” land profiles on the N&W system so small (er) drivers were used instead of the larger types found on most Northerns.
However, those small drivers were so well balanced a Class J could run up to 100 MPH comfortably, although that wasn’t done very often.
The fairings and skirts add dimension to this one locomotive and make it look rather huge, and so I agree that the comparatively smaller radius drivers do look a bit odd, almost coal-draggish, compared to your typical Northern class of steamer. But, as said just above me, those as-delivered roller bearings made fast speeds possible on this gal. When the Pennsy trialed a J, they burned a valve at high speed, near 100 mph or whatever it really was. I might have the few details incorrect, but that’s what my brain tells me.
