I found some photos of NH’s lightweight trains on rr-fallenflags.com.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nh/nh3000ark.jpg
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nh/nh3101ark.jpg
I agree with traingeek087 that the NYC X-plorer looks good. But I think that the NH 3101 (the second picture) looks very sharp, though!
there was a book, published at kalmbach: “diesels from eddystone”. it mentions the engine of the nh-version of the x-train
hydraulic transmissions are not uncommon among german diesels, in freight, suburban und express-service.
I like the first better because the corrugated sides on the passenger cars look too much like a bus.
The thing I like about X is that it’s unique , the nose on it doesn’t look like any other passenger train (Besides the baldwin sharks that were used for passenger service by the PRR) The nose is different and I like the sleekness of the body.
To be honest, I prefer the “Speed Merchant” FM P12-42s that NH and B&M had to the John Quincy Adams Baldwin RP210s.
You want ugly, REALLY ugly for your articulated Talgo power? Go here:
http://www.modellbahnarchiv.de/Talgo/acftalgo_java.shtml
go down to the bottom, and click on TJ_L, and look for the ‘bug’.
Now that thing is UGLY!!! If there was ever a contest for the ugliest train in the world, it would win without question! I think that most railroads would probably be embarrassed to have that thing going down their rails! It says that it was built in a Spanish unbrella factory. I’m sure that didn’t help its reputation either.
TRain X’s color scheme stunk as well. Dark grey and bright yellow. WOW.
Mitch
Weird color schemes could be an occupational hazard of the Fifties ;-}
Seriously, I think the point of the yellow nose was to make the train very, very visible to onlookers, as well as to make the impression of speed and modernism. To be honest, I’ve always thought it ‘worked’ with the standard NYC grey color… although I think I would have preferred somewhat LESS yellow than the full-dip treatment. (And perhaps a less obvious logo on the nose, too…)
the yellow nose may have to do with street-crossings. in britain, the then br decided to paint yellow all engines noses, for this reason.
if I remember correctly, the engines of the nh-x-train showed great fuel efficiency, but the transmission had a tencency to overheat at speed.
That’s what the Rio Grande did with some of their big engines, they put what looked like a yellow sun painted on the front, now this was the age of steam of course, but you know what I mean.
Traingeek, here is a link to the Baldwin Diesel Zone site that has info on the X-Train including pictures, build dates and reference books. Hope this helps.
http://yardlimit.railfan.net/baldwindiesels/rp210/index.html
About the “ugly Talgo.” Hey, if they photographed my backside from that angle I would call myself ugly, but my wife thinks I look OK from the normal portrait. While the early Talgos were not great in the ride department, that observation car was one of the more popular features.
Speaking of portraits, how come all of the railfan photos of trains are these portraits of the loco with the cars trailing behind? I guess you are going to send me over to the MR forum, but a lot of us are interested in 12" to the foot trains so we know what models to build, and I am currently interested in building models of Talgo and others to better understand how the articulation worked. How about more photos of the passenger cars, the trucks, the rooflines, etc. so we can get more engineering details on such trains? I guess we can’t change the 1950’s photo archive, but I am talking about for the future. What good are photos of steam engines if we didn’t have any good shots of the valve gear which is the interesting part?
There are beaucoodles of pictures of the train structure around, including a couple of the links provided on page 1.
There was a recent auction for one of the Aerotrain models that had very clear pictures of the special brass detail parts for the suspension. Something to research when building models is to get the patents for the relevant technology; this is particularly valuable when looking at Alan Cripe’s trains. I assume you have the book we mentioned earlier, which is a valuable reference.
Perhaps the thing to model will be the UA TurboTrain – Rapido is coming out with a resin kit later this year that will be an ideal starting place (my apologies for a moment to the full-size railroaders):
http://www.rapidotrains.com/turbo03.html
Look here for a possibly valuable example of how the suspension geometry worked on the TurboTrain:
http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/amtTurbosUA/uacturbos.jpg
and some video footage of value is part of the ‘trilogy’ described here
http://www.train-video.com/PT.html
Some interesting links regarding high-speed trains in general can be accessed without further Googling from