Hi folks
There is something that has time and again come visiting my mind , has decently waited until asked " What’s up , what do you want up here in the control center ?"
And the little idea has come forward with " Uhm , something I want to note about model railroading … it is … well , model locomotives are made by the numbers , mostly , aren’t they …"
“… and so ?” my mind asked with a slightly strict note ,
" well now " the idea said " couldn’t you set up an engine roundhouse with quite a number of locomotives of what was but a single one-off-a-kind type in RR history ?"
" Oh !" made my mind " gee - that’s right ! actually I have to think about it , gee , that’s funny - mmh !"
Now I ask you : isn’t it ? What do you think ? It belongs to what’s known as ‘alternative history’ , actually .
For instance ( I tend to think of steam as for railroading , mostly ) Crestline in steam times with 3 x S2 turbines and 5 x S1 6-4-4-6 after they had sent # 6100 home to Altoona with a stringent " Don’t bring her back before the slipping issue is sorted out *)" - and , yep , Altoona did succeed and some high enough ranking Pennsy official getting the news enthusiastically ordered four more right away … getting seriously rebuked for it , no doubt , yet Altoona had built them and so there they were at Crestline …
Or what would be your favorite for a small series of what really had been a once promising yet soon orphanized one-off type of locomotive … steam - diesel - electric ?
Regards
Juniatha
(* … and the tig
J.
Having a fleet of one of a kind in multiples would be cool. I guess I am too much of a rivet counter to do it. The only experimental I have is 5698 the one of a kind brother of 2 K5s. What I am more into is making multiple locomotives into one of a kinds. An example is turning one of BLIs 2-10-0 I1sa into an as built I1s with Johnson bar reverse and no pilot mounted air tanks. When it came to the bread and butter of steam locomotives the Standard Railroad was not as Standard as it claimed.
Pete
You could set it up as an operating Railroad museum. That way you could put anything on or in it.
Juniatha,
Actually,Would we not need,‘‘alternative,learning and teaching’’,to have,alternative history??
Cheers,
Frank
Pick your universe with care. Not all are as mundane as the Neil Armstrong universe most people mistake for reality.
Maybe, in your universe of choice, somebody figured out how to connect the front and rear engines of those PRR duplex drives, thereby converting them into 4-cylinder 4-8-4s (plus the 6-8-6 - and maybe more of them.) In another universe, instead of cutting NYC 999 down to 68 inch drivers the Water Level Route decided to go with more and heavier 86 inch drivered monsters. In still a third universe trains come out of the Powder River Basin behind coal-burning high pressure 4-10-6 + 6-10-4 Withuhn-Garratts.
Unfortunately, following the prototype I do, I can’t indulge in any ‘what would have happened to the one-of-a-kind’ fantasies. The JNR came out of WWII with a small number of standard classes, each class numbering in the hundreds. Then the Occupying Authorities put a stop to manufacture of new locomotives. Except for some ‘kitbashes’ (4-6-2 and 2-8-2 to 4-6-4, other 2-8-2 to 2-8-4) there were only 5 steamers built new from the ground up - and they were highly specialized 2-10-4T helpers, not line-haul general purpose types.
Of course, my privately-owned coal hauler (in an area that never had a workable seam) is freelance, so anything goes. Golwe, anyone?
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - sort of)
J, I haven’t bothered to investigate, but I know the Jawn Henry turbine for the N&W was ‘rare’, and so was the equivalent experimental for the C&O. I don’t really model either one, per se, but I do collect most of their stable of steamers and I image them from time to time on my layout. I believe that a Jawn Henry is either just recently done in brass or soon to be done, and I would give an arm to have that beast hauling sixty 100 ton hoppers on my double main.
In fact, I have only three duplicates in my stable of about 24 locos. I have two modern SD75M’s which I rarely run, but got them cheap, and two each of an N&W J Class and an NYC J Hudson. All the rest, from CPR to UP, are one-offs. I would not be interested in having all the real road numbers. In fact, I’m self-conscious as it is with that many locos, most of which only get three or four hours of operation in a year. [:$]
I would love to get a Pennsy S1 and an S2, and I’d love to get the Jawn Henry. Maybe in the next life. And only one. [:D]
Crandell
Crandell, if ‘Racehorse’ Smith had had his way there would have been at least five copies of ‘Jawn Henry.’ Stuart Saunders argued against it and the board voted the idea down. Not much later Saunders (a lawyer) took over the N&W presidency from Smith (an operating man) and opened the diesel floodgate - before moving on to Penn Central…
J., staying in the Northeast, imagine the D&H with a roundhouse full of high-pressure triple expansion 4-8-0s. Of course, the Leonor F. Loree didn’t survive its namesake by much.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with water turbines in the hydropower system)
More of Jawn Henry ? Not exactly my choice - yet if you like it …
Leonor F Loree’s tripple expansion double trouble single type of 4-8-0 ?
Hmm …
Regards
= J =
My prototype based SP branchine used 2-10-2’s as primary power, the occasional 2-8-0 served as helpers and as local switchers , yet I can’t resist have a few 2-6-0’s on the roster in leiu of those 2-8-0’s which can be hard to locate in S scale.
Dave
Pretty sure this is a “Rule #1” situation, so go ahead! Now, if you could kitbash a 2-8-8-6…
(Rule #1: It is my railroad, my rules!)
NW
Taking your multiples of one-off concept a step further, how about prototype engines that were planned but never made it to the rails? I’ve often thought a fleet of ACE-3000s would make for an interesting alternative in modern railroading. I’d also venture that if a manufacturer made them available and affordable, they’d sell like hot cakes. Dan
Posted by NorthWest Mon, Aug 26 2013 5:43 PM
… Now, if you could kitbash a 2-8-8-6…<<
If you would decide to build a 2-8-8-6 - which by 3D printing could be considerably eased now - you might let me know for the design since I had already put up one in connection with my ‘steam construction in the 1950s’ alternative history , I had transiently shown a sketch in my thread some time ago .
Regards
Juniatha
3D printing for example
http://www.makerbot.com/
http://www.rapidprototyping-nietfeld.de/ncd-rapid-prototyping-kompetenz/19.html
For a “freelanced” railroad, I have been pondering a railroad between Prince George, BC, and Anchorage, AK. That line would need fast and powerful locomotives, like your 2-8-8-6. Something to think about, if I ever build it…
NW
Hi NW
That line would need fast and powerful locomotives …<<
and very good insulation of boiler , cylinders and
cab !
That is icy cold territory !
Yet : sounds interesting - and a challenge to think of building a freight carrying RR , too !
Regards
Juniatha
Hello Juniatha and all–
I believe there should have been more than one PRR HC-1 2-8-8-0 (#3700), not to be confused with the much later HH-1 ex-N&W class Y-3 USRA 2-8-8-2’s.
It had more drawbar force than some of the freight cars (or was it PRR crews?) at that time were able to handle–it might have been quite a mauler on Virginian or someplace else, but was instead condemned to mostly pusher service west of Altoona…
John
Hello,
I would have liked to see the Timken Four Aces duplicated. What a fine looking and well performing locomotive!
NW
Hi NorthWest
Yes - true !
I think there should actually have been four of them Four Aces -
1111 - Ace One
1112 - Ace Two
1113 … oh-uhm , no : 1114 - Ace Three
1115 - Ace Four
… and the point for photographers was once to get them all on one photo …
[;)]
Regards
= J =