League of Silly Engines

[GoingUnderground]

Well, there is a well documented case of a passenger, who stepped out in front of the Rocket!

The Rt Hon.William Huskisson M.P. For Liverpool was more than a passenger, he was one of the dignitaries attending the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester. He was fatally injured by the Rocket during the inaugural jourmey to Manchester when, unlike several others who had also alighted from their carriage at Parkside near Newton-Le-Willows, he failed to get out of the way of the approaching loco and one of his legs was crushed.

 

Huskisson didn't die immediately, but succumbed to his injuries at Eccles on the way to Manchester to where he was being taken for treatment after the accident.

[sharris]

The shape of the glasshouse reminds me of the DB ET91 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRG_Class_ET_91

 

Surely that's a conservatory on wheels. 

 

If Kew Gardens were ever to install an internal railway, those are the railcars they should use. 

[pH]

But back to the topic, we in the UK, often think that the wooden cabs on many early N. American locos are weird. But the designers will have chosen to use wood for a reason, and I feel it adds substantially to the locos' uniquely N. American look.

I would suggest wood was used for insulation. The Canadian Pacific 'Selkirk' 2-10-4s introduced in 1929 - http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cpr_steam/T1.htm - had wood-lined cabs, with an air gap between the wood and steel of the cab sides "To provide insulation and prevent condensation over the temperature differential of about 150 degrees F, with 90 degrees F of frost" in which they operated in Western Canada.

 

Also, in early days, the likely lower weight and cost and easier availability of wood compared to steel could be factors. (A cab of some kind is really needed in most of North America. The UK open footplate or weatherboard doesn't work too well at minus 40.)

[rocor]

Before diesel-electric there were steam-electric locomotives. A Heilmann from 1897.

 

[jcm@gwr]

Before diesel-electric there were steam-electric locomotives. A Heilmann from 1897.

 

 

No wonder they gave up, and started making Mayonnaise!

[Andy Kirkham]

Three rejected Fairlie designs of the mid-1860s

Percy Spooner's quadruple Fairlie is extraordinary. Might I ask where this illustration was published? I would suggest that it is probably later than the 1860's (unless it was a schoolboy fantasy) as G.P.Spooner was born in 1850 https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/George_Percival_Spooner and his first realised design was James Spooner in 1872.

 

[Edit] I see that the title of the image is Im1870EnV30-P020, implying  a date of 1870. If so, Percy would have been still a teenager when he designed it, so perhaps it is an apprentice or student exercise. Certainly the design shows little of the elegance that characterises the classic Festiniog Fairlie style.

Edited June 13, 2018 by Andy Kirkham

[Talltim]

Not much changes, plenty think that Climate Change is a con job. Or that the Earth is flat and any kind of conspiracy theory. Didn't the UK just have a meeting, where a key speaker claimed that Australia doesn't exist and instead there are many good actors!

Good Australian actors? Have they never seen the soaps?

[kevinlms]

Good Australian actors? Have they never seen the soaps?

Ah yes, but the biggest source of tourists to view the location of the real houses in Neighbours, are British. At least that's what a late taxi driver friend told me.

 

Got you!

[RedGemAlchemist]

Good Australian actors? Have they never seen the soaps?

 

Hugh Jackman. That is all.

[Joseph_Pestell]

The Huet designed streamlining on the 231 H 1* of the PLM looks a bit odd from the front but from the side it looks like a wreck in a scrap yard.

 

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/peclegg/sncf/articles/article_2003_10.html

 

note they did not build a 231 H 2 which says something for the design.

 

Very interesting. Had not seen those Huet streamlined locos before. How did the driver get any sort of view forward?

[Joseph_Pestell]

Brilliant thread this! Thanks to Bill for starting it.

[GoingUnderground]

Ah yes, but the biggest source of tourists to view the location of the real houses in Neighbours, are British. At least that's what a late taxi driver friend told me.

 

Got you!

A bit like my cousin, who had emingated to Oz telling me when I was there many years ago, that the most of the folks who used Bondi beach were visitors from the UK and NZ.

[pH]

Before diesel-electric there were steam-electric locomotives. A Heilmann from 1897.

 

Some built later in the US.

 

Union Pacific (built by GE) - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_steam_turbine_locomotives

 

Chesapeake and Ohio (built by Baldwin) - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_and_Ohio_class_M-1

 

Norfolk and Western (built by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton) - https://www.american-rails.com/jawn-henry.html

[Sheffield]

The two final Hellman steam electrics were quite successful, being powerful and smooth running. They were intended to provide the advantages of an electirc railway without the heavy capital costs. However they needed a crew of three, one to look after the boiler, one to look after the electrical system, and one to drive. if thing like superheaters and better electrical control systems had been available they might have able to develop further. However the company behind them ran out of money and it all came to an end. It was some thirty years more before diesel electrics became practicable.

[The Johnster]

So that's why they went into the mayonnaise industry...

[Compound2632]

Did the USA have any proper looking engines? 

 

Here's one:

 

[Flying Pig]

Not much changes, plenty think that Climate Change is a con job. Or that the Earth is flat and any kind of conspiracy theory. Didn't the UK just have a meeting, where a key speaker claimed that Australia doesn't exist and instead there are many good actors!

Possibly, although flat earthers are such an extreme example of Poe's law that it's very hard to tell whether any of them is being serious. In case they are (caution - bad language):

 

https://youtu.be/azmb2TIu1j8

 

I particularly like Question 4.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Not much changes, plenty think that Climate Change is a con job.

Yes. Unfortunately one of those is running one of the heaviest polluting countries on Earth.

Edited June 16, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist