Through out the years I have seen many locomotives both diesels & steam powered. There are some locomotive that i’ve seen that are a bit “weird” looking such as “slugs”,cabless “B” units & “Fireless” locomotive that look like steam locomotives without the smoke stack! What are the “weirdest” steam or diesel locomotives that ever existed on rails?[%-)][%-)]
There was a picture of a homemade center-cab diesel on here a few months back (remember, MC?). Otherwise, I’d have to nominate GM’s LWT-12 units (think “Aerotrain”) or the single diesel-hydraulic switcher made by (IIRC) GMD. And who can forget the “Crandall” rebuilds of the C&NW? Or the NYC RDC with jet engines on the roof?
That tackey, gross,looking maglev… YUCK! [xx(]
Then again that’s an entire diffrent power source…
BL2 for sure. GG1 is odd looking. I used to think the GP30 was ugly but its since grown on me. The few Russian and Australian diesels I have seen seem to lack anything that I would consider as style.
Carl: Copcar took the picture of San Luis Valley Southern D-500 at Blanca (Ed Ellis’ Iowa Pacific owns the SLVS name and little else - Although the railroad never formally abandoned the last part of the railroad around the vegetable shed(s) in Blanca, the railroad lands were sold off - it’s gone.)
The GM&O Ingalls Shipbuilding turret diesel would fit the bill along with the Mexican San Luis Potesi rebuilds of Alcos and others. The shovelnosed GE/Alcos on White Pass & Yukon might fit along with electric mine locomotives…and then there are all the industrial critters from Brookville/Porter/Davenport et al
Yeap, because all American locomotives are the epitome of style and power and will always be the best, god I love you guys.
http://locopage.railpage.org.au/photos/3010.jpg
CL Class locomotive (I can bet money the first thing you will think is ‘hey that looks like a cross between a E series and F45’)
http://locopage.railpage.org.au/photos/C501-C506-G542_Moorabool_1990.jpg
C Class, I’m not a huge fan but its an Australian version of the SD40-2W
http://locopage.railpage.org.au/photos/G542_Sydney.jpg
G Class, yes it looks like a box with 2 cabs and I’m sure the flat face would make you guys think ‘OMG ITS TEH UGLY’ but they’re as useful as any SD40 in the US
http://locopage.railpage.org.au/photos/SCT001_DryCreek.jpg
The new SCT Class, its basically the Australian SD70ACe
I know many Americans will find the above ugly and weird but its only because you grew up with grandmas apple pie and theories of the US being teh awesome but open your minds and look abroad.
And btw, can anyone point to me on a map where Australia is? and if you get that far can you locate the capital cities without using Google Earth or Google Maps?
Wow!! Now those are some really “weird” looking steam locomotives[:O]!
Thanks for sharing that!![:D]
I have always thought these 6-2-0 Cramptons made a rather bold statement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crampton_Camden_and_Amboy_RR.jpg
Wow, I know this one. I can, I can tell you, without looking at a map where Darwin is: North; where Perth is: West, Melbourne is South/Southeast and south of Adelaide and Sydney is on the East Coast. I dream of riding trains in Australia. From Melbourne you can take a train to Sydney and then connect to even more trains to …it escapes me, oh, wait…maybe it’s Brisbaine? nearly as north as Darwin, but on the northeast coast. How’s that?
tina
You’re either a joker or you’re dead serious. Proves a point tho, most Americans are like that.
Oh, I was quite serious. I spend time looking at the map of Australia because some day I hope to go there and ride trains and meet what is reported to some of the kindest and welcoming people on Earth. And the reputation of Australians here is that they quite frequently, with a straight face, engage in wit. I consider wit a sign of itelligence.
My husband and I look forward to meeting you in your part of the world someday.
tina
And of course, on this forum, it’s quite difficult to tell if they have a straight face or not…
Hey Tina, how’re you doing? Long time no post!
Hello Brian,
Been busy with church job and daughter. Currently back to being a volunteer musician. Good timing…my local parish just got a three manual organ the week I volunteered to play piano. I got to play it twice now.
I don’t post often as I don’t quite have the breadth of knowledge to ask good questions or to engage in stimulating commentary. I prefer to read and learn. Even at that I only occasionally visit. I guess that makes me a lurker in forum terms, but somehow that just doesn’t sound very lady-like.
Okay, back to the discussion at hand. No more off-topic, especially about me!
tina
Coming to folks’ defense here. Yes, the Australian locomotives I’ve seen in photographs would certainly qualify as “weird-looking” to most Yankees (or other Americans). And they even modified some good old ex-C&O C630s to look that way! But I have a feeling that there’s a purpose to it, and that if our railroads had to work in a similar environment, we may have come up with adaptations that made our locomotives more, shall we say, formidable. But for most of us, those units, like Vegemite, would be an acquired taste.
And I think Tina did a great job of “stimulating commentary” and geographical expertise. Could most Aussies tell us about the locations of our states, capitals, and major cities?
(Disclaimer: I have no desire to go to Australia. We have had an Australian house-guest in the past, though we’ve entertained more people from “Enzed” than from Australia. And yes, I’ve tasted Vegemite–once was enough!)
I’m not joking. [V] I’m 100% serious! As both a railfan & a modeller, i’m intrigued of these “oddities” of the locomotive world existed & if they were ever placed into service in the world’s railway systems! Anyone recalled the Southern Pacific locomotives that came from Germany or the Union Pacific diesel locomotives that wre the heaviest locomotives that ever ran on the U.P. aka “The Sumos of the rails”??
The post by Bucyrus covers mosty of my potential nominees. I could add a Swiss steam locomotive with a pantograph, drawing electricity to boil water:
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/swisselec/swisselc.htm
On the other hand, this entire website should keep you occupied for several days:
Here are two diesels that I consider odd. First is Pennsy’s home made diesel switcher. Then is GM Aerotrain locomotive.
Both of these photos came from the Railroading in the Northeast website.
Heck, sometimes I can’t even remember US capitals. I once had a heck of a time during a party game - had to give world capitals starting with “R”, and since we didn’t have any reference materials available, I took a hit because nobody else knew the capital of Iceland. I’m no expert on Australia, but I might be able to get a few of the capitals right. Same with Canada…
I’m sure the Aussies, and Europeans for that matter, think a number of our locomotives are a bit strange. I know the Citroen was an odd looking automobile for a while.
One of the rail magazines did an article some years ago entitled “Horrible Heffalumps” which pictured a number of strange looking locomotives, mostly repowers. “Christine” comes to mind - I think it might have been a DL109 repowered by EMD. Conrail was well-known for their “Dewitt Geeps” - RS-3’s with EMD power, IIRC. I’d have to dig way to much to fine the article.
It all comes down to local perception of needs. The thread about the lack headlights on British steam locomotives actually ties in here. In the US, we like to beef up the front of our locomotives, in case of a collision. The lack of true headlights on Brit locos might indicate that they fear such collisions less than we do, thus don’t feel the need for as much collision protection.