Steam Engine Torque?

[rbattelle]

Oh, and another thing. Check out what I picked up at Half-Price Books yesterday:

Modern Steam Engines, By Joshua Rose. Published in 1887. An amazing book with beautiful drawings.

Whoa baby, you guys gotta check out this book. I just read the first few pages and already I feel like an expert in steam engine design! Well, not really.



Did you know that inline engines were originally called tandem engines? Fascinating.



Ryan

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Yeah Scott there's been a fair amount of RR/steam related discussion on TDR recently. . . don't we need a logging RR forum too?

rbatte I need to check out your links. Yes as far as I know all steamers are double-acting (basically a 1-stroke engine right, every stroke's a power stroke) but maybe the double expansion compounds may be single-acting in the secondary cylinders? It would be interesting to see if there are any single acting (ie "two stroke") steamers ever built (I would think they were very early steamers).

Cojhl2 he chuggety-chug lope you speak of- I heard that relates to valve timing, the adjustment of the reciprocating sliding valve that opens & closes the ports to let steam in and out of the cylinders. Yes, steamers need timed too! So where were you living when the steamers went by?

Hey I just noticed you show Waitsburg in your sig. . . ever see any trains headed up those rickety old tracks to Dayton anymore or did traffic finally die out? I keep hoping someone buys the old Green Giant plant and uses the RR, otherwise 125 years of rail traffic passing by Washington's oldest RR depot may come to an end

Vaughn

 

[cojhl2]

Cojhl2 he chuggety-chug lope you speak of- I heard that relates to valve timing, the adjustment of the reciprocating sliding valve that opens & closes the ports to let steam in and out of the cylinders. Yes, steamers need timed too! So where were you living when the steamers went by?



Hey I just noticed you show Waitsburg in your sig. . . ever see any trains headed up those rickety old tracks to Dayton anymore or did traffic finally die out? I keep hoping someone buys the old Green Giant plant and uses the RR, otherwise 125 years of rail traffic passing by Washington's oldest RR depot may come to an end



Vaughn

Hi Vaughn,



Ah yes,, those rickety old tracks are the ones! One of our farms is at the junction of the old NP and UP tracks. Just outside Waitsburg they shared the track to Dayton. That was done sometime in the thirtys I guess.



That meant the trains 2 to Dayton and the same two back went every day. One was from Walla Walla I guess as it went thru Dixie and the other went to Pasco.



Our other farm next to the state park sat right on the combined track. So in the AM two trains up and in the PM two back. they went about 20 to 30 mph I would guess.



Also as a kid I hung around the grain elevators in Huntsville. From there I talked to the train people cause they were switching cars etc. (Oh no mister, it wasn't me that drained the air from the car's tanks!!)



The diesels started running about the time I was in High School (52-56).



Today a train comes up from Pasco when it is needed, (the track to Walla Walla has been torn out as has many of the spurs to all the elevators in the countryside).



That train travels about 4-5 mph and will stop to talk about anytime to anybody next to the track.



Small town country livin,, can't be beat!!!!

 

[rbattelle]

Finally, after all these years, I learned the origin of "top center" and "bottom center".

In a simple slide-valve steam engine, when the piston is at the top or bottom of its travel, the slide valve is exactly in the center of its travel (assuming no lap or lead).

The phrase is, for the most part, meaningless for modern internal combustion engines. Yet we still use it.

Fascinating.

Ryan

 

[Mikie12]

Mac; The locomotive in the link; that was built in the RR company's shop...

After Baldwin, Alcoa and the like had gone out of business?

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Hi Vaughn,



Ah yes,, those rickety old tracks are the ones! One of our farms is at the junction of the old NP and UP tracks. Just outside Waitsburg they shared the track to Dayton. That was done sometime in the thirtys I guess.



That meant the trains 2 to Dayton and the same two back went every day. One was from Walla Walla I guess as it went thru Dixie and the other went to Pasco.



Our other farm next to the state park sat right on the combined track. So in the AM two trains up and in the PM two back. they went about 20 to 30 mph I would guess.



Also as a kid I hung around the grain elevators in Huntsville. From there I talked to the train people cause they were switching cars etc. (Oh no mister, it wasn't me that drained the air from the car's tanks!!)



The diesels started running about the time I was in High School (52-56).



Today a train comes up from Pasco when it is needed, (the track to Walla Walla has been torn out as has many of the spurs to all the elevators in the countryside).



That train travels about 4-5 mph and will stop to talk about anytime to anybody next to the track.



Small town country livin,, can't be beat!!!!

Yes you are right the NP and Wa/Or Navigation Co (then UP) ran on the same track, and the RR depot was moved when it was fairly new to the spot it is now. Yeah I have followed a couple trains to Dayton, 10mph is about as fast as they dare go! I was shocked to catch one train there on the flat just east of Prescott flying along at just under 40 a couple years ago, talk about inviting disaster.



So it sounds like the traffic hasn't completely stopped yet, that is good to hear. Often enough to mow the weeds down? Are they still running the Arostook & Bangor engines?



You are right the NP ran through Dixie to Walla Walla, but the current line also goes to Walla Walla. Here's a map: http://www.watcocompanies.com/Railroads/blmr_pcc/blmr_pcc_map.htm



They were planning to refurbish the yard track in Dayton because there are several sections of 54-pound rail that dates to 1890. Those rails squirm like spaghetti under loaded 100-ton grain hoppers.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Mac; The locomotive in the link; that was built in the RR company's shop...

After Baldwin, Alcoa and the like had gone out of business?

Alco and Baldwin both got into the diesel making business. Alco made some decent diesels and lasted until 1969. They eventually succomed to competition from EMD and GE. Baldwin merged with Lima but only lasted until 1956. They tried some unique engines like the steam turbine job and the "shark nose" diesel.

 

[Greenleaf]

Got Torque? :-laf

 

[rbattelle]

Wow, where is that thing, Greenleaf?

Ryan

 

[Greenleaf]

Setting in my backyard right now. It's too cold to fire her up now. I filled her with 22,000 gallons of RV antifreeze and I'd loose all that. Besides the neighbors are still ticked from the last time I allowed my 12 year old nephew to pull the whistle cord.



OK, Would you believe Roanoke VA?

 

[rbattelle]

Do they still run it? Here's a pic of her running in 1990.



Ryan

 

[EMD-Run8]

Here's some trivia. How many knew that the 100 mile distance of a steam engine (for water, coal, etc. ) was the origin of the 100 mile day for train crews? Up until around 2002, we were still getting paid under that system.

 

[rbattelle]

Here's some trivia. How many knew that the 100 mile distance of a steam engine (for water, coal, etc. ) was the origin of the 100 mile day for train crews? Up until around 2002, we were still getting paid under that system.

Can you elaborate a little about this rule? I read it somewhere else, but the article didn't give any detail. Something like 8-hours/100-miles? I took it to mean that the crew was only expected to travel 100 miles per 8-hour shift.

Greenleaf - what did Steve say about a steam forum?

Ryan

 

[CWebster]

Another closet steam fan here. I've always wanted to restore or build a steamer, but they are worth there weight in gold... its discouraging to say the least. At least RFDTV has some on occasionally, and i've actually seen the ad for a video with steam tractor pulls! I'm all for a steam forum... after all steam is family!

 

[cojhl2]

Just watched "Freight Trains" on Modern Marvels. Brought back some additional memories.



We lived next to tracks as one of my past posts mentioned. There were grain elevators and Apple shed sidings close enough to our home for us kids to be hanging around when the trains came thru and switched cars. The engineer would always talk to us while his brakemen were working on the uncoupling and coupling. Then he would once in a while give us a huge scarey blast of steam out of somewhere bout the cylinders. It was always done in fun and he would make sure we were safe before he let it lose. But to an 8yr old it was always scary.



The apple shipments were done in cars made of wood and with ice in each end. They would bring the car in and then it had to be loaded that night.



Also we were great friends with the section crew. They explained many things about track maintenance. They had those wonderful little put puts (cant remember what they are called). To reverse direction they would run the engine backward.



Also we loved the torpedos they installed to warn themselves of an approaching engine and to also tell the engineer he had to stop because there was a section crew ahead.



One more thing then I'll letcha get back to business. After college I worked for a company in a small town in Eastern WA. Every Mon, Wed and Fri the train crew from Spokane would stop for supper at the same tavern I hung out in after work. I became friends with the crew and got to ride in the engine from Garfield to Moscow Id one night and and back the next day. I have some fun facts about that trip also but alas I fear I am monopolizing your time.



Bye,,



John

 

[Mikie12]

Hey guys; Are any of the link pictured locomotives still in limited operation, or have the eckonazis stopped them from firing them.

 

[EMD-Run8]

Can you elaborate a little about this rule? I read it somewhere else, but the article didn't give any detail. Something like 8-hours/100-miles? I took it to mean that the crew was only expected to travel 100 miles per 8-hour shift.

Simply put, the 100 mile day (at the time) was based on how many miles a steam engine could run before needing water, coal, etc. The "trip rate" system, though still based on the same runs, changed that in 2002.

 

[Greenleaf]

Hey guys; Are any of the link pictured locomotives still in limited operation, or have the eckonazis stopped them from firing them.

here are a few. I don't know what all has been mentioned to say if all are in operation.



http://www.cassrailroad.com/



http://www.newhoperailroad.com/

 

[Batphreak]

Hey guys; Are any of the link pictured locomotives still in limited operation, or have the eckonazis stopped them from firing them.

Actually the Steam engines I know of that have had to shut down haven't been because of Eco-nazis. The EPA and other idiots don't really care because the operation of these things is so limited it just isn't a blip on their eco-radar. The insurance industry is the biggest hurdle, most insurance companies don't understand these things, and they're really not interested in taking risks that they don't understand. These days when someone mentions a Steam Boiler machine everyone thinks "Medina Ohio incident. " This kind of story is told on this website, I rode on the last hurrah for this engine, The Ozark Flyer.



http://www.frisco1522.org/

 

[rbattelle]

I just found out I'm going to be 1 hour South of Baltimore in a couple weeks. That means I can visit the B&O Museum! They've got one of these: link. Oo.



Can't wait!!



Ryan