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Ugliest locomotive?

DavidB-AU

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micknich2003

micknich2003

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I think the ugliest steam loco I've seen for some time has to be this.

http://www.railarchi...ion/nyc7189.jpg

It's a Shay but instead of running up and down steep badly laid lines in the forests these were built to run on the streets of Manhattan (mainly 10th and 11th Avenue) which were used as a main freight line by the New York Central until the 1930s. The law required trains to be preceded by flagmen but the NYC gave them horses - they were known as New York Cowboys- so that the trains could run faster. Allegedly the trains mowed down any pedestrians foolish enough to attempt to cross the street though in reality they were far less deadly than cars and trucks.

This absolutely amazing photo http://www.shorpy.co...ges/02882u1.jpg captures the street scene very well from 1911, about ten years before the Shays were built and the "dummies" i.e. tram locos were 060Ts

 

What an Handsome looking locomotive. Mick.

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Ramblin Rich

Ramblin Rich

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Good grief - that first one looks like an attempt at a stealth loco (apart from the livery....)

Some of the others look like they've crashed into very ugly walls as well. The last Union Carbide one looks like it's had balcony windows added...?

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Torper

Torper

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Please forgive me if this one has already been mentioned, but i can't think of many uglier locomotives than the one pictured at http://www.abdn.ac.u...harb_id=AHB2050 . Or maybe it should be in the Silliest locomotive category?

 

It's an Aveling & Porter traction engine locomotive, two of which the Great North of Scotland Railway hired from distillery railways to work at Aberdeen Harbour in 1913 for a short time during a strike by carters at the docks. According to "Steam Days" magazine, which pictured one of these beauties in its February 2012 edition, the crew who drove one of the locos to Aberdeen remembered the journey well for its great duration, the dirt resulting from lack of protection, and the fact that they had to stop frequently on the way to raid coal wagons as their coal reserve was only one bucket.

 

DT

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MJI

MJI

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For me UK stuff

 

Ugly is 59 and 66 but 67 looks terrible and the new 70 Diesel is hidious. Warship is not pretty like the Hymek & Western.

 

Electric none really

 

Steam, Crosti 9F just wrong looking

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newbryford

newbryford

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The ultimate in "modern image" the quintessential "box on wheels".

 

Not all boxes on wheels are "modern image"

 

Two contenders for ugliest steam powered boxes on wheels.

 

http://www.semgonline.com/steam/leader_01.html

 

http://www.lner.info/locos/J/j70.shtml

 

Trying to refrain from dragging this very good thread into yet another steam v diesel debate. :locomotive:

 

Cheers,

Mick

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newbryford

newbryford

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The first is gonna touch a raw nerve with 'Southern extremists', but the second is plain unfair.

Regards - Toby.

 

Is there a "carrot dangling on a stick" smilie?

 

 

Carrying on from the J70, can I nominate all of the Thomas characters - except Bill and Ben? :locomotive:

 

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

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Padishar Creel

Padishar Creel

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Seems that the "new" Class 70 is winning on the diesel front, but the choice of livery may be part of the problem. Freightliner use a livery of flowing curves on a locomotive with straight lines and sharp angles. If a livery (even with the same colours) more sympathetic to the shape had been used it may have improved the looks.....

 

 

...check out the difference in looks of a 90 or 86 in the same livery

 

Look at CJMs fantasy Freightliner livery on a Mehano Blue Tiger. If that had been used on the 70 the results may not have been so bad

 

es Grüßt Euch

PC

 

http://cjmmodels.co.uk/v2_gallery/pages/Specials_mehano.html

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Joseph_Pestell

Joseph_Pestell

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I think the ugliest steam loco I've seen for some time has to be this.

http://www.railarchi...ion/nyc7189.jpg

It's a Shay but instead of running up and down steep badly laid lines in the forests these were built to run on the streets of Manhattan (mainly 10th and 11th Avenue) which were used as a main freight line by the New York Central until the 1930s. The law required trains to be preceded by flagmen but the NYC gave them horses - they were known as New York Cowboys- so that the trains could run faster. Allegedly the trains mowed down any pedestrians foolish enough to attempt to cross the street though in reality they were far less deadly than cars and trucks.

This absolutely amazing photo http://www.shorpy.co...ges/02882u1.jpg captures the street scene very well from 1911, about ten years before the Shays were built and the "dummies" i.e. tram locos were 060Ts

 

Thanks for posting these. Had not seen them before or known of this street railway. Paris had a similar arrangement where steam-hauled trains ran over tram routes to bring produce into the central markets.

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Ozexpatriate

Ozexpatriate

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This absolutely amazing photo http://www.shorpy.co...ges/02882u1.jpg captures the street scene very well from 1911, about ten years before the Shays were built and the "dummies" i.e. tram locos were 060Ts

Thanks for posting these. Had not seen them before or known of this street railway. Paris had a similar arrangement where steam-hauled trains ran over tram routes to bring produce into the central markets.

Steam "dummies" were commonplace on North American city streets around the turn of the 20th century and its first two decades as a replacement for horse-drawn trams (aka streetcars). They were small steam engines disguised as tram cars and the connecting rods and valve gear were frequently hidden under wooden skirts according to the idea that the motion frightened the horses that they shared the street with. Generally they were relatively short lived as many street cars adopted electric traction.

 

They were everywhere. Here's a few examples:

 

There's a steam dummy with a coach illustrated part-way down this page, on the Mount Tabor line here in Portland.

 

Another is the Belmont Tramway on what would later become Brisbane's south east side.

 

The Wisbech and Upwell Tramway is the most famous example of steam dummies (tramway engines) in the UK. Also:

This kind of Victorian/Edwardian innovation also led to designs like the GWR steam railmotor. In North America there was explosive growth in electric traction around the same time that largely obsoleted the steam dummies on streetcars and interurban services. In Manhattan, electification was mandated by legislature after the Park Avenue tunnel accident in 1902.

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DavidLong

DavidLong

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As far as I'm concerned this topic was all over in the first page. For UK steam the Krugers take some beating but the Great Western almost pulled it off with the quite appalling 'streamlining' as applied to a few of Swindon's finest.

For UK diesels there have been some ugly ducklings that only their mothers could love but they do tend to come from the earlier years of the new(ish) technology (Class 58 excepted). However, by the noughties there really was no excuse for the Class 70. Has industrial design sunk so low? Well no, it doesn't have to as can be seen by comparison with Vossloh's Eurolight, Siemens' Eurorunner and Bombardier's Traxx. All, one assumes, conform to modern safety standards without descending to the depths that GE's designers have stooped to. Just a few years previously they had produced with Adtranz the Blue Tiger which, while not quite winning beauty contests, had a sort of eccentric charm.

http://www.vehibase....ger/photo-1.htm#

I'm pleased to see that DRS in looking for new traction has turned away from transatlantic products and gone for Vossloh's Eurolight, the mixed traffic loco for the discerning purchaser of motive power.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

 

David

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