🚀 go-pugleaf

On 2018-01-23, hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com <hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:

> On Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at 4:27:06 PM UTC-5, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> I inherited a photo from my father (a long-time railroad man)
>> of a train with three serially-coupled steam locomotives working
>> its way up the steep grade into the Crownest Pass.  It's an
>> amazing shot - the way smoke is blasting out of those stacks
>> you can almost feel the ground shake.  Apparently my father
>> saw the photo in a magazine and tracked down the photographer
>> so he could get a print from the original negative.
>
> Despite their limitations, steam locomotives had a romance 
> that diesels never developed.  People love photos such as you
> describe.  Many books published with stuff like that.  One
> famous photographer, O Winston Link, has a museum.
>
> The downside, from an economic point of view, was that yes, the
> ground was indeed shaking from the reciprocating action of the 
> wheel drivers.  That pounding took a toll on the rails and wayside
> structures.  Diesels, using electric motors for traction, did not
> have that degree of wear.
>
> Further, despite their relative simplicity (compared to a diesel)
> steam engines needed extensive maintenance.  They could only travel
> a limited distance before needing to be removed from a train to
> be serviced.  I think it was 500 miles, then maybe 1,000 miles.

Yes, despite the romance of steam, my father said that diesel-electrics
were much better from a practical standpoint.

> Personally, I like all-electric locomotives (like Amtrak's NEC
> corridor).  Back in the day, these had major advantages over steam
> in dense territory, despite the cost of constructing wire and substations.
> However, today, the diesel-electric locomotive offers most of the
> advantages and the power supply for all-electrics has become very
> expensive.  Amtrak is still basically using much of the 1930s PRR
> system in the NEC, which is worn out.  It is also 25 Hz.

And no one is about to string electric wiring through the wilderness.

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
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