Random steam pics thread

[WoundedBear]

note 412

[Trainman203]

N&W J Class:  beautiful until you look at them straight from the side.  The rounded smokebox front almost projects further out than the pilot.  Weird looking.

PRR turbine:  now THAT'S weird.  Only one ever made in real life, and it was a roundly unsuccessful experiment, but thousands of models made.

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

Prosperity Special was a train made up entirely 24 Baldwin locomotives, part of an order of 50, left on May 27, 1922. They "headed west out of the Baldwin Locomotive Plant to East St. Louis, took the Cotton Belt Line across Texas and was switched to SP tracks in El Paso.

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

note 435

[Terry Toenges]

I guess they had a whole lot of confidence in that trestle, taking the locos over all at once.

[bbmiroku]

Look at the driving wheels.  They're not turning at all.  The photo was a staged opportunity, probably by the bridge makers.  Those engines and tenders are probably empty of all water and coal, only being pushed by one locomotive, and pulled by another.  It's still a lot of weight, though less than you may think.

[Trainman203]

There was a big article about the Prosperity Special a couple of years ago in Classic Trains.  It was a publicity stunt dreamed up by Baldwin if my memory is correct, the SP didn't come on board with the idea at first.   They were very adamant about not calling the engines "Santa Fe" types 😂😂. The 2-10-2 was the biggest non articulated thing going at the time so this was a huge event.

NOTES:

1.  The SP burned oil at this time, not coal.
2.  The Cotton Belt does not go to El Paso.  The Pecos River is well east of El Paso.  It is on the T&NO.  I think the PS came in at San Antonio but not directly from the the Cotton Belt which doesn't go to SA either,  some one else was the intermediary, probably the MP.  I'll look at the article tonight to see.  The Cotton Belt may have given these engines up in Dallas, where there was a T&NO connection.
3.  The main rods were carried loose on the the tender of each engine.
4.  Baldwin had a rider on the train to look after the engines, watch for hotboxes, keep the lubrication up, etc.
5.  The overall move was several weeks. The train itself didn't go much over 20 MPH or so, and there were many festive overnight stops.

[bbmiroku]

So would that have been a square tank for the oil instead of a coal bin?
I thought they were oil burners, but the shape threw me off.