Random steam pics thread

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

note 473

[Trainman203]

It's 3:05 pm CDT.  Let's see how long it takes for someone to tell us what kind of engines the last Baker's Dozen of photos are, and what their purpose was.  Sid, you probably know already.

[bbmiroku]

I'd guess some sort of track inspection engine.

[WoundedBear]

[WoundedBear]

[RAM]

I just wonder what kind of control they had in the viewing cab.  It looks like some of them had a horn.  and maybe an air line to send  signals to the engine, like they used on passenger trains.  I am sure they had a brake valve in case they wanted to stop to check out something. 

[Terry Toenges]

They just stepped on the clutch and put it in neutral to disengage the drivers.

[bbmiroku]

If you look closely along the roofline of the inspection section of reply #909, near what looks like a distortion of the picture, there is a line leading to the whistle.  So they probably had a pullcord.
But I like your 'splanation better Terry.

[WoundedBear]

[Trainman203]

That's almost certainly the elevated railroad in New York before 1900.  I say that because of the apparent lack of motor vehicles on the street.

Can anyone tell us what gauge track the elevated had?

That's a Forney engine. I've always heard that after the elevated electrified , a number of the Forneys went to sugar cane plantations .

[ebtnut]

The photo would have been taken after 1893 when the 3rd Ave. trolley line went to cable operation.  You can see the slot between the running rails.  In 1909 the system went to electric operation.  The below-ground cableway was rebuilt to a conduit system, like Washington DC used into the early 1960's.  I tend to agree with Trainman that the photo is around 1900 or earlier.  Old elevated Forneys went to a lot of places - cane plantations, logging railroads, would-be trolley lines that didn't have the resources to install the electrics, etc.