Steam Dummies

[J3a-614]

Some reference material on steam dummy locomotives:

http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1998/4/1998_4_34.shtml

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=steam+dummy+locomotive+photo&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=uh7VS53kGZOi9QS0jbnJDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQsAQwAA

Amazing--a Baldwin survivor, of a type used on street railroads (what would later be a trolley line):

http://www.omurtlak.com/resim.php?resim=http%3A//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Mammoth_Cave_Railroad_dummy_steam_engine.JPG

I seem to recall that Ken Kidder (early brass locomotive importer) once catalogue a steam dummy, but I could not locate a photo of one; can anyone else remember and confirm this?

[J3a-614]

For reference, we'll add the B&O's 316, a "dummy" 0-6-0T that was used on subsidiary Staten Island Rapid Transit.

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo316sa.jpg

For comparison, a photo of the same engine after the overall cab had been removed.

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo316s.jpg

Details to note: the canvas awning over the fuel bunker in the overall cab shot; the MU cars in the background that were B&O owned, but were based on a New York City standard subway car design (and some would wind up on the NYC transit system later on); the crude-looking cab that replaced the overall model in the later photo (probably done on the Staten Island, probably didn't have the equipment to do the job the way Mount Claire or Cumberland Shops would have done it), the similarly crude appearing steam dome cover (but a much better looking sand dome, likely part of the original engine--from 1882!); a low fuel bunker that suggests an oil-fired engine; inclined cylinders, again a touch from switchers and industrial locomotives of the 19th century; the blind drivers on the center axle; and the location of the locomotive just short of a pair of wheel stops that would be hard on the rear footboards if the engine were shoved back just a little further. . .

P.D. Lethbridge commented in another post about the B&O having some unusual locomotives.  The B&O also had a lot of old and inherited engines as well.  This 0-6-0T was built in 1882, and photographed in its conventional configuration in 1945--age 63!  It was an antique even then, and B&O had a lot more. . .sadly, they were also very ripe for diesel replacement. . .

[jettrainfan]

Looks like Toby the tram gots a few American counterparts!

[J3a-614]

Jet Train;

You're right, the British would call such a locomotive a "tram engine."

I haven't followed all the Thomas stuff, and do not recall a tram locomotive; at the same time, I recall there were some other characters in the Thomas series that were fairly realistic in terms of what the engines were assigned to (and also in terms of drawing and painting style when the series got a different artist), most notably a pair of Scottish inside-connected 0-6-0s and a rack locomotive on a mountain line; what did they portray for Toby as an assignment?

I've been checking my copy of B&O Power, and the 316 is even older than I thought it was.  That 1886 date refers to a rebuilding date, when the engine was converted from an 0-8-0 road engine built in 1865!

The 316 had originally be part of a series of 27 engines the B&O crews had called "Jersey Greenbacks" because many had been built in New Jersey, and they were painted green.  They were intended as replacements for Winans 0-8-0 Camels, though with only 27 engines they did not replace that many of the Camels on the B&O.  Originally, these engines had various numbers; they would be renumbered into a block running from 312 to 338 in 1882.  The 316 had orignially been No. 243.

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo331s.jpg

Engines 312, 316, 320, 331, 334, and 338 would be rebuilt to Class D-1 0-6-0 tender engines in 1886, retaining their same numbers.  All but the 316 would be retired by 1913.

The 316 was converted to Class D-1 (Overall Cab) in 1898 for service on the Pratt Street line in Baltimore, whwere, according to Sagle, it joined another 0-4-0T dummy, No. 31, which was the lone engine in Class C-6, built at Mount Claire in 1890.  Both engines worked the Pratt Street line until replaced by the Docksides in 1912.  Sagle says the 31 had its overall cab removed, and that it became a shop switcher at Riverside until scrapped in 1933.

Based on the photographs, the 316 would be reassigned to the Staten Island, where it would run until scrapping in 1946.

Sagle also included some commentary on the Pratt Street line.  It was authorized by the City of Baltimore in 1831, and from 1838 connected the Philadelphia Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad (PRR predecessor line) President Street station with the B&O's Mount Clare station; through cars were handled through the streets of Baltimore by horses (and this operation is renacted in a Civil War era suspense or detectve film called the "The Tall Target," starring Dick Powell and released in 1951--good movie, by the way).  Later, track would run from Pratt Street up Howard to Bolton Station of the Susquehanna Railroad (not to be confused with the Erie line of the same name in the 20th century; this one would later become the Northern Central and would later be folded into the Pennsy; part of this route is in service today as the Baltimore Light Rail Line), and all of this would connect with Camden Station in 1852 (which is also still around).

A most colorful practice in several cities with street trackage like this was the practice (required by city ordinance) of a man on horseback who rode ahead of the trundling switcher with a red flag (New York) or a horn (Baltimore) to warn people of the approach of the Iron Horse down the street.  Sagle states that "The urchins of Southwest Baltimore would often plague him by calling him 'Paul Revere.'"  Knowing about when Sagle was born, I wonder if he was one of those urchins in his younger days. . .wonder how you'd simulate that in HO scale. . .

PS--I just took a look at your profile, Jet Train, and you're even younger than Rye Gye!  What got you into this old stuff, and that old rock music, too?  I never cared for it, being a reactionary fossil and going for country when country wasn't cool, but my brothers went in for it like crazy--and I wonder what your dad thinks of both the music and the trains. . .