Train Stuff

Truck Shop

Well-known member
Some favorite old photos and stories from the book [The Locomotives that Baldwin built]. The one photo of the weigh in has a great story,and building
twelve locomotives in a single day. I always liked the photo of 1208, I bet that engineer had a chaw of tobacco in his mouth and was cussing just to
cuss. lol

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rzucker

Well-known member
Some great pics.. I think the 1208 was in the same class as the Union Pacific Challengers, They were built by ALCO, however. If you look at 1208 the front and rear cylinders are the same diameter, meaning both sets use full boiler pressure. Unlike many of the compound engines that used high pressure steam in the rear cylinders and then reused the lower pressure exhaust steam in huge front cylinders. The NP 5000 class engines were a good example of an articulated compound engine.
 

Truck Shop

Well-known member
Some great pics.. I think the 1208 was in the same class as the Union Pacific Challengers, They were built by ALCO, however. If you look at 1208 the front and rear cylinders are the same diameter, meaning both sets use full boiler pressure. Unlike many of the compound engines that used high pressure steam in the rear cylinders and then reused the lower pressure exhaust steam in huge front cylinders. The NP 5000 class engines were a good example of an articulated compound engine.
Is this the engine you are taking about as a NP 5000?

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rzucker

Well-known member
Yep, that's the one. One of the old timers told me they just barely fit through the Stampede tunnel. Then throw in some hot coal exhaust and steam... Pretty miserable trip. He also was on board one Z5 that had a slow head on collision with another Z5, luckily nobody was hurt.
 

Truck Shop

Well-known member
That's pretty cool info RZ. Ya know after all these years of working on trucks, the one thing that I still find very interesting is railroading.
Especially the old steamers and all the stories that go with them.

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rzucker

Well-known member
Nearly all the older guys on my mother's side of the family were railroaders from the late 40s to the mid 60s from the Spokane area. Most were with the Milwaukee RR and a few were Northern Pacific. Listening to those guys was the greatest. Sadly they are all gone now.
One of my fondest memories was riding a GP-9 from Newport Idaho to Spokane with my great uncle one night when I was 9 or 10, had to be 69 or 70. At the time he was close to retirement so he got a local "home every night job". It was mostly a pick up at the Diamond Match mill and run to just south of Spokane and bring back a few empties. Man the blowers on that engine could howl.
 

Truck Shop

Well-known member
In the early 70's NP had four engines just like these setting in the small yard at Ellensburg. The doors were open so I took a tour inside one of them.
As far as the diesels go I always thought these were the best looking, setting or moving. What class or series are these?

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rzucker

Well-known member
EMD "F" series, which model I'm not sure. F-7 or F-9 I think. There was a bunch of obscure engines with that same carbody.
 

Truck Shop

Well-known member
RZ do you know if this engine is back on the rails after the rebuild and certification. I would one day like to take a trip on it.

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Truck Shop

Well-known member
RZ do you have this Book? This one is on lone to me and it is the best I've seen. Nice art work inside to.

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rzucker

Well-known member
Wow... A 1941 edition. That's gotta have some interesting info inside. That was right at the time the Diesels were starting to compete with steam. But that was the also the beginning of super power steam also. UP's Big Boy engines were just being delivered at that time and I think the Timken "Four Aces" was adopted by the NP RR around then too.
Then the start of WW2 really made things interesting. The question was "stick with a proven design that eats a huge amount of steel and manpower? Or switch to something more efficient but unproved?"
An interesting time.
 

rzucker

Well-known member
Thanks Mike. I've never been able to see the 3985 in person, but I remember seeing UP 844 in the Wallula yard in late 1973 on her way to Expo 74 as a display. Pretty impressive up close. Even got a cab tour while they were pumping water into the tender. To this day I've wanted to run a steamer...
 
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