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Rail-Rover Crossing: 1905
... any were saved. (The Gallery, Dogs, DPC, Philadelphia, Railroads, Streetcars) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/03/2017 - 12:01pm -

Philadelphia circa 1905. "Broad Street Station of the Pennsylvania R.R." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Of Course, it HAD to be DemolishedSuch an magnificent piece of architecture. Look at the sculpted stone details! Nearly every surface is embellished. This was constructed when Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) stock was an absolute "blue chip" that brokers could recommend to widows and orphans. (That's an old expression for a "low-risk" stock.) This is the same firm which constructed the magnificent Pennsylvania Station in New York city, also demolished! On that occasion, the NY Times editorialized that "Our civilization will not be known for the monuments it has constructed, but for those it has destroyed." More Marvelous ArchitectureThe building on the extreme right edge isn't all that shabby, either. Anyone know what is is/was? The balconyI was wondering if the deck area above the sidewalk was used as one. While looking for an access point I found two men walking back through different window-doors. So yes it was. Any ideas of what they might be selling from the cart across the street? Location, Location, LocationBuilding on the right is Philadelphia's City Hall. View is looking north and west from the mid-block (top of a building?) west of Broad Street and north of Chestnut. Trains would enter and leave the station from the left (west) and travel to the main line tracks on the other side of the Schuylkill river, roughly where 30th Street Station is today, and the continue north, south or west. The problem with the station was that it was essentially a terminal on stub line and trains had to turn to leave the station or be turned in West Philadelphia, which made through service inconvenient. PRR replaced the commuter service with the nearby Suburban Station and inter-city service was moved to 30th Street, and the station became unnecessary and was demolished. The site became a number of large office buildings and open plazas where, e.g., the LOVE sculpture now is. RE: More Marvelous ArchitectureThe building on the right is Philadelphia City Hall, and you are correct to praise it! When did it burn?The station was demolished (not burned) in 1953 but the train shed (visible at the left of the photograph) had a disastrous fire in 1923. This website has some photographs including an image after the carnage was cleared away and the platforms covered in wood and restored to service as soon as possible. Two Different Architecture Firms, Actually ...The original portion of the Broad Street Station, at the far right hand corner in this image, was designed in the Victorian Gothic style by the Wilson Brothers of Philadelphia and completed in 1881. The newer portion, which is front and center, was designed by the great maverick architect of Philadelphia, Frank Furness, and built 1892-1893. By the way, neither firm designed the late, great Pennsylvania Station in New York; that monumental piece of Beaux-Arts Classicism was designed by McKim, Mead and White of New York City, with Charles F. McKim in charge of the design. Street LightsSure got a lot of globes on those street lights. I wonder if any were saved. (The Gallery, Dogs, DPC, Philadelphia, Railroads, Streetcars)
Industrial Tableau: 1900
... located. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Mining, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/11/2016 - 10:11pm -

Lake Erie circa 1900. "Harbor entrance at Conneaut, Ohio." Where ore from the Lake Superior iron ranges was unloaded for transport by rail to the smelting furnaces of Ohio and Pennsylvania. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. The other end of the trailWe saw the Marquette, Michigan docks where they load the boats with ore a few years ago on Shorpy. (Yes, they are called boats on the Great Lakes, even if they're 1,000 feet long). Conneaut? Looks like a poor man's Ashtabula. Nice photo. Switchman's nightmareLook at all the switches in these tracks. It must have been a nightmare for the switchman. Or did a worker walk alongside and change the switches as needed? 2 Way TrafficAs shown by the railroad ferry slip in the center, and the loaded United States - Ontario Steam Navigation Co. coal cars waiting for the boat, the port was also used for Northbound traffic across Lake Erie to Canada. That smoke looks realLooks like a very well made model train layout. Love my puzzles.If any photo would make the perfect jigsaw puzzle, this is it. RR Car Track ScaleThe building in the foreground with the steeply-slanted shed roof is a Scale House for weighing RR cars. The tracks in front have two pairs of rails. You will see two sets of track switch points, but no switch frogs. One pair is the "dead rails" - non-moving rails for the locomotive to traverse without crushing the scale. The other pair are the "live rails" - cars on these rails are going over the scale platform. In those days, the scale was a mechanical marvel that worked much like the balance scale in a doctor's office. Some had huge read-out dials, but many were moving counterweights on beams. The concept might be simple, but making this work accurately on something as heavy as a loaded RR car was no mean feat of design. The pier in the far right background has what might be Hulett unloaders. These were featured on Shorpy not long ago. Once again, a photo rich in satisfying detail and excellently composed and exposed. Re: Track ScaleNice description of the scale system! So, was there enough freedom in the couplers to allow the locomotive to divert to the dead tracks and pull the loaded car through? Beats having to uncouple and drop the car, then pick it back up... The first Hulett unloader constructedwas at Conneaut in 1899, and can be seen in the very middle of the photograph, above the carferry slip of the United States & Ontario Navigation Company, the carferries of which, Shenango No. 1 and Shenango No. 2, brought railcars of coal crosslake to Port Dover, Ontario. Conneaut hosted another carferry service, the Marquette & Bessemer Dock & Navigation Company, which ran the Marquette and Bessemer No.1 and No. 2 (the former a collier which loaded coal directly from cars into its hold) to Erieau and Port Stanley. The first Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 disappeared with all hands on December 9, 1909, and the wreck has never been located. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Mining, Railroads)
Mazonia: 1900
... the track to the opposite track. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/20/2012 - 3:50pm -

Circa 1900. "Chicago & Alton Railroad. Signal station and crossroads at Mazonia, Illinois." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Iron Mountain BabyThe boxcar behind the tower is from the St Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, which is famous in railway folklore for the Iron Mountain Baby. Route 66About 26 years later Route 66 would follow alongside the northern Illinois part of the Chicago & Alton RR from Chicago down to Springfield. Do RR folks know why the wires are running so close to the ground on the right? I assume the covered raceway covers the mechanical links to switches behind the photographer. MZThe "MZ" sign designates the telegraph code for this interlocking tower. Each operating point on the railroad had a unique code assigned to it. Re: Iron Mountain BabyWhat a great story! Thanks for the link! The photos and meticulous work restoring and adjusting them make this site a wonderful resource, but the comments often enhance the stories immensely. Just one more thing I love about Shorpy! No PlatesWhat wonderful detail of track construction at the turn of the century. This photo still shows that they were not using tie plates (metal plates placed between the crosstie and rail to make the structure more stable and keep the rail from cutting into the ties). Amazingly, other than the rail becoming heavier and larger through the years, most of the other features of construction remain to this day. Main lines have mostly gone to continuous welded rail these days, eliminating those "clickity-clack" joints, but industrial and older yard tracks still have the angle bars (splice bars) and bolts joining each length of rail. There also has been little improvement in the design of those crossing frogs, where the steel wheels still must bang across about an inch gap in the rail used to accommodate the flanges of the rails for the crossing route. Cable conduitI've only been in one railroad switching tower in my life, and that was nearly 50 years ago, but I'm pretty sure the switches were all mechanically operated. So those "wires" along the track are probably the cables running from the operating levers (you can just see the tops of them in the tower's windows) to the switches. Flag Stop?There's no town here, and probably never was one; that mass of trees conceals a great expanse of marsh. Lacking my 1948 Handy Railroad Atlas I couldn't tell you whose line cut across the C&A here, but in any case the track is gone. If you look at the Google aerial view you can just barely find a trace of it to the northwest. There's still a junction here, though: the line that bends off to the left (see the semaphore to the left of the handcar) is still there. The wires down on the ground most likely controlled the signals; it looks a bit haphazard but I don't think there's enough room under the boards to put rods for everything. Gandy Dancersfixing the track, and those cables on the left are to operate switches down the track, in the foreground you can see where the cables go under the track to the opposite track. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads)
Mass. Transit: 1941
... (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/13/2018 - 3:10pm -

January 1941. "Commuters who have just gotten off the train waiting for the bus to go home. Lowell, Massachusetts." Photo by Jack Delano. View full size. YuckLooks like coal cinders spread on the frozen, snow-packed streets. I remember the city of St. Louis doing this when I was a boy and it sure was a huge slop when it thawed. Demolished in the '50sI sure hope they saved that Yellow Cab thermometer. Collected advertising thermometers for years. Never seen a Yellow Cab. I imagine it's a rare bird. Lowell Union Stationwas demolished in the 1950s for highway construction: The current station is not even worth posting. We are lucky to still have a few of the old granite "Richardsonesque" stations left on the Worcester line, notably Framingham (now a restaurant) and, of course, Worcester (not Richardsonesque, but still beautifully restored), but also the smaller versions in Ashland (veterinary) and Wellesley Hills (coffee shop). As the song goes, "you don't know what you got till it's gone." Dreaming of Hawaii? It's at The Lexington every night! The nearby advert beckons cold commuters to warm up at The Hawaiian Room, hosted by the self-described Irish Hawaiian Ray Kinney. Conveniently for us, there's an upcoming PBS special: https://www.pbshawaii.org/tag/the-hawaiian-room/ Chains, Leis and AutomobilesLowell's got it all! That blondeJust a little ray of sunshine isn't she? Tire chainsWhen coal cinders aren’t enough. Plymouths RockThat's a nice selection of taxicabs. I like the 1939 Plymouth seven-passenger with the tire chains. The other three appear to be 1940 Plymouths. To YuckI was born and raised in St. Louis. Cinders in the streets were common in my childhood. Most homes were heated with coal-fired furnaces and the cinders were typically deposited in a concrete-walled ash pit and, eventually, gathered for application to wintry streets. But there were other uses. Years passed. I became an engineer. One day a young engineer approached me with a set of plans of an existing old high school and asked the meaning of a notation on its plot plan. The note pointed to an oval running track behind the school labeled "CINDER TRACK." Compare to "Homeward Bound" travelersThis picture fascinates me because of the many similarities to my favorite photo on Shorpy -- Delano's color picture, "Homeward Bound." (It's my biggest Shorpy purchase, framed on my office wall.) In both pictures there is around the same number of bundled-up people waiting patiently for the bus in the same spot outside of the same train station in Lowell, and at least some look the same - but in the black-and-white taken from a second-story level, there's much less snow on the roof of the train station than in the color street-level photo. One gentleman appears in the same place in both photos, second from the left. My guess is that both were taken around the same time of day, one or two days apart. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Jack Delano, Railroads)
I Think I Can: 1906
... Thanks for the memories, Dave. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 3:11pm -

Circa 1906. "Engine, Mount Washington Railway, White Mountains, New Hampshire." The little engine that could also serve as a portable pizza oven. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. New Hampshire's Cog Railway"The Cog" as it's known has been (during the summer) delivering passengers (mostly tourists) to the summit of Mount Washington since July 3rd 1869. Soot spewing coal fired boilers have been largely replaced with cleaner diesel units, although coal is still used on some early morning ascents. The boilers are canted as in this photo so that they'll be level during the steep ascent and descent. [You'll note that this engine is not coal-fired. - Dave] [I did notice that Dave. However, coal has been the railroad's solid fuel choice for a number of decades. - Mal] The weather on top of the summit can be among the most severe in the country and is where the world's record wind speed of 231 MPH was recorded. Hence the mountain's timberline is at only 4,000 feet. Train quesitonProving I know very little about trains. Is it supposed to be stuck up in the air that way? Railway to the MoonThis engine served on the cog railway that still ascends to the 6,288 ft summit of Mt. Washington. It is the oldest rack-and-pinion rail system in the world (1869). Before construction, the project was derided as a pie-in-the-sky "Railway to the Moon." So it truly was the little engine that could! The numeral 1 on the engine identifies it as the rebuilt "Mt. Washington," originally named "Falcon." Incredibly, it's still sitting in storage in the shops at the rail yard at the foot of the mountain. KilroyThat's probably his first appearance, behind the tender. That bend?T'was like that when we took it out dis mornin'. Honest. Not On the Level!The reason the locomotive boiler is on a 'slant' in regards to the frame and cylinders is that when the locomotive is working and climbing on the way to the summit, the water and firebox within will be more or less horizontal on the grade. The large dome accumulated steam well above the level of the water. As wood was the fuel, a long smokestack with a large opening at the top which is covered with a screen was applied to catch sparks and help prevent fires along the right of way. The screen has a latch so it could be opened. Wood is easy to fire, burns clean, and leaves little ash. Coal has more heat value by weight, and was used in later years. Unlike most of the other locomotives featured on Shorpy, this one does not need sand for traction nor has piping or a sand dome for sand application. The spoked locomotive wheels riding on the rails are not powered, the movement supplied by large pinion gears driven by the four external steam engines, the gears' teeth mesh with the teeth on the horizontal rack between the running rails. The teeth of one of the 'cogs' or pinion gears can be seen above the front spoked wheel and frame. There appears to be a band-type friction brake below the front coupler operated from the cab by the long reach rod and lever. The operating handle for an injector to put water into the boiler can be seen inside the cab side window. Thank You. Leaning Into the WindThese cog railway locos have slanted boilers because when they are climbing the hill, they want to boiler level to prevent "priming", that is, water getting into the steam pipes (very bad). The Pikes Peak locomotives were similarly slanted. [In other words, the boiler is level when the engine is ascending or descending the grade. Note that the passenger car stays on the uphill side and that the loco always faces "up," with descents made in reverse. - Dave] Kilroy was here?I wanted to see Kilroy so bad that I ran my computer up to 400+ on the zoom and still couldn't find him. Oh well, I love this cog railroad and it is definitely bucket list worthy. Dave, thanks for the location pic and I don't know how I missed this guy. One of the neatest trips in North AmericaI am lucky to have been able to take this trip three times. All with steam power. One one trip; we hiked to the Lake of the Clouds Hut, and back. Awesome views. My last trip, we saw snow at the summit in late July. The TV station was still broadcasting when I was there. The weather guys up there were fascinating. Everybody should do this once if you can. ThanksThanks to everyone for your input. This is why I consider Shorpy such an education in so many areas. Fond memories of a trip up Mt. WashingtonThe summer I was 13 I rode the cog railway up Mt. Washington with my parents and brother. On the way up my brother & I stood in the aisle of the car and found ourselves leaning forward at such a steep angle I thought I'd pitch forward on my face. We also visited the famous flume. What great fun! I loved New Hampshire. Thanks for the memories, Dave. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads)
Twin Cities Trucker: 1939
... Cars, Trucks, Buses, John Vachon, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/18/2020 - 1:17pm -

September 1939. "Truck driver who operates between Twin Cities and radius of 150 miles tying in load. Minneapolis, Minnesota." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Pre Aerosol Graffiti I see the street artist of the time had to use sidewalk chalk for their tagging. Or, are those rail hobo telegraph messages? [Routing designations scrawled by railyard switchmen. -Dave] Independent TruckerThis is a good example of how independent owner-operated trucking worked back then. Licensed and regulated trucking companies and union drivers would have referred to him as a "gypsy." If you had a large enough freight shipment, it would be much cheaper to just "rent" a boxcar from the railroad and be responsible for loading and unloading it yourself. The railroad would park the car on a "public" or "team" track, and you would "release" it to the railroad when it was loaded and ready to move, and when unloaded at the destination and available for reassignment. You had a limited time to hold the car at each end without incurring extra charges called "demurrage." You could save even more by having a one-person delivery service like this one to unload it for you if you couldn't do it yourself. My great-grandparents used this method circa 1895, when they moved 75 miles from Darlington to Columbia, South Carolina. It was the only way to do it then, since roads (and trucks) did not yet exist. Safety CabWhen your brakes are unreliable, it's important to be able to jump out quickly! Thisis N.P.R. Trucker's Hitch?I'm curious how the tension on this load is maintained. Is it possible that a "trucker's hitch" is applied on the opposite side of the vehicle? Insulation for Minnesota wintersThese are Gimco rock wool insulated batts. Rock wool has traditionally been made by melting down basalt stone and recycled slag from steel mills. Interesting article about it here: https://www.familyhandyman.com/walls/mineral-wool-insulation-is-making-a... He's got a story to tellIf only he could tell about that time he lost the cab's door. ToastyI'm sure that new Minnesota homeowners will appreciate those "Full Thick Sealal Bats" come wintertime. Old boxcarsA couple of elderly cars for a 1939 photo. Believe it or not, the one on the right is probably older -- you can see the metal “truss rods” under the floor of the car, a tensioning system to strengthen the wood floor. Unless it had steel members added, most of that car’s structural members are probably wood, while the car on the left lacks the truss, and probably has a steel underframe. I love the arched “Northern Pacific” lettering -- the kind of thing that vanished as wages rose, because it was harder to do with a single stencil. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, John Vachon, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Railroads)
Alva Paul LeMay
... View full size. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by chazlemay - 09/20/2011 - 8:56pm -

This is a picture of my grandfather Alva Paul LeMay (tall man left of the window) and Chester Duffield (to his left). As the story goes Chester befriended my grandfather, taught him to read and write and got him on at the railroad. Unknown location. View full size. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Railroads)
Over and Under: 1936
... (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Carl Mydans, Milwaukee, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/25/2021 - 6:30pm -

April 1936. "Housing conditions in crowded parts of Milwaukee. Housing under the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct." Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. InterlockingThe maze of trackwork is controlled as an interlocking from the signal tower. The elevated pipes are the rods controlling the switches that determine the direction of travel and the signals that control train movement through the interlocking. The signalman moves the switches by large levers in the tower. It's called an "armstrong" system because of that. The signals are semaphore signals, probably of the upper quadrant type. There is another of the interlocking system signals behind the man in the image. The vertical signal blade is likely giving a train engineer permission to move through the left hand track of the two curving off to the right. Upper quadrant signals were deemed safer than lower quadrant ones as the blade would drop to the horizontal "stop" position in the event of a signal malfunction. Interlockings like this are now controlled from an operations center miles away from the interlocking. A few interlockings and semaphore signals like these may still exist somewhere in the US. I spyA guy between the tracks carrying something white. A signal device which I hope commenters will explain. A streetcar zipping across a rail bridge. A crisp array of laundry on the line. An intriguing series of diagonal shadows falling from that pipe-y business running close to the ground between the houses and the tracks. And -- up up up – three pigeons, one with its wings caught forever in mid-flap. "Pipe-y Business"The "pipe-y business" mentioned in jd taylor's comment are push rods that are connected to large levers in the switch tower. The other end of the pipes are mechanically connected to the various switches that control the path that a train takes through the rail yard. The only computer in this 1936 image is the brain of the guy in the switch tower to control where the train goes. The pipe-y business and the signal deviceThose are the connections between the track switches and the "Armstrong" levers in the control tower. To move a train from one line to another the tower man pulls the correct Armstrong levers and the rods connecting the lever to the track cause the switch to move. Later, these movements are accomplished electrically with much less effort, but are still controlled from the tower. The signal device is called a train order board and tells the oncoming trains to proceed, slow or stop. Simply put, straight up is proceed. Diagonal board is a slow order, and horizontal means STOP! The two order boards control two tracks. The ValleyI worked on the west side of Milwaukee briefly in the '80s, the area called The Valley. This Shorp looks reminiscent of my time there (minus the homes under the bridge). Drying clothesThe lady of the house would need to get the laundry in before the train comes by, otherwise the laundry won’t be very clean. Mr. Mydans is being watched... by the vigilant signalman in the tower, who is standing, arms akimbo, trying to decide if he should call the railroad police on the strange dude taking pictures of railroad infrastructure. Amazing how much detail those large format cameras picked up. [Medium format (Speed Graphic 3¼x4¼). - Dave] Compared to the typical imager in most consumer-level gear, any format larger than 35 mm is 'large' today, and digital backs for medium format and larger cameras are priced well out of reach for mere mortals... Lots going on here That guy on the tracks isn't holding any signal device. The guy in the signal tower is about to yell at him through the open window to get off the tracks. At any rate, he's almost to his destination, the F. Knop Tavern, just out of view on the right. The "pipey-business"controls the switches in the railyard from that little square 4 window building on the left, all hand powered. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Carl Mydans, Milwaukee, Railroads)
Orange and Blue: 1968
... Police Line consists of a mere length of twine. (LOOK, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/14/2013 - 11:17am -

June 8, 1968. "Funeral cortege of Robert F. Kennedy." More of the mourners who lined the route of RFK's funeral train as it made its way from New York to Washington. The mood may have been blue, but the Popsicles were not. Photos by Paul Fusco and Thomas Koeniges for Look magazine. View full size. Different CrowdDifferent time of day? Different zip code? The last crowd looked like they had all spontaneously dropped their household chores, hair curlers and all. They were standing in tall grass, most of them wearing shorts, and I almost start scratching my ankles thinking of the chigger bites. But here, they're dressed to the nines, at least the five very fashionable women in the front row. I love that dress with the Morse code patterns, or is it more like an oilfield geologist's sounding chart? I've known a few women who would kill to find that in a vintage shop. Who knows which state, just somewhere along the Penn Central line, as this is after the merger, but before Amtrak. CoverageI was ten years old when this happened. I remember "Bewitched" was preempted for coverage of the funeral, which was on all the networks. The thing went on forever. The poor newscasters ran out of things to say, so resorted to saying, time and again, "Yes, the coffin will be passed through the removed windows of the train car," which I though was incredibly spooky. At some point, one of the guys said, "So tragic...two brothers...from the same family." This reminds meof a European on his first visit to the U.S. who noticed that Americans are always eating in the street, others Europeans have mentioned this also, seems funerals are no exception. A HOT June Day!According to records kept by www.weatherunderground.com the high temperature on that date in NYC was 88, and 80 in Washington, D.C. - so assuming this photo was taken somewhere between those two points, it was a pretty hot day all around - which would explain the ice pops - bottled water was not around back then. [It was, but the bottles were glass. - Dave] Re: GreenlandIn '68 I was a SAC crew dog flying 'Thule Monitor' (AKA 'BUTTERKNIFE') missions, where we'd take a B-52 up to Thule and orbit the place for twelve hours, (ostensibly) watching just in case the Soviets vaporized it. We killed time (and probably drove Soviet radio monitors nuts) by playing 'Trivia' over the UHF with Thule ground control. Any chance that was you? HemlinesYou could just about take a laser sight (time machine needed, of course,) and etch a straight line with those hems on the three skirts to the left. StrangeI find this photo kind of surreal. Popsicles and a funeral train. Two things that I would have never put together. [Don't knock it till you've tried it. - Dave] Why the popsicles?Did an ice cream truck running a special on orange Popsicles pass by just prior to this photo was taken? Just seems weird that several of the people in the picture seem to be eating them; I mean the same flavor and everything. This also reminds me of how things have changed; all of the visible females are wearing skirts/dresses even in the free for all late '60's when things began to relax fashion-wise. I remember wearing either a dress or a skirt every day to school around that time. By the early 70's though, jeans were the norm. Gold pinky ringsI don't remember that as a fashion statement in the late 1960s or early 1970s, but two of the women in front (maybe all five, but I think the two AA women have wedding bands on their index finger, and it's hard to tell with the blond on the left) have pinky rings. Heard it from GreenlandI was stationed at Thule Airbase in 1968 and worked in the comm center. A friend of mine worked in Tech Control and had access to all the Armed Forces Network news feeds. Since I was a political junkie, on every primary night he'd patch me into the live not-for-broadcast feed so I could keep up with the latest election news. I was listening to the feed from the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after Kennedy had been declared the winner of the California primary and heard the pandemonium after the shooting. The previous April, I was working at Eugene McCarthy headquarters in D.C. while home on leave the previous April when MLK was killed. It's hard to describe the feelings of those days. It felt like everything was falling apart. SurrealI was just finishing up at CUA then, Almost too much going on to fully appreciate. Strange times. It is a SaturdayJudging from the clothing of the young people in the crowd, I thought they were all possibly office workers, stenos, etc. but after looking at the day of the week site, it said it was a Saturday and certainly not what most people today schlep around in on a weekend. Practice for the futureCellphones haven't been invented yet, so we'll just hold up these popsicles. Minimal RestraintNote that the Police Line consists of a mere length of twine. (LOOK, Railroads)
Jurassic Park: 1942
... heavy controls. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/17/2014 - 5:20pm -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Working on a locomotive at the Chicago & North Western Railroad repair shops." Photo by Jack Delano. View full size. I'm not entirely sureBut, it looks like some boiler tube work is underway. Big job...The smoke box is open, but I don't see any tubes laying around. It actually looks as if the cylinder has been replaced (an upgrade?) based upon the shiny down pipe. Compare it to the engine in the background. Regarding the tubes, I had a friend who worked for Rogers Locomotive in Paterson, NJ. He said they would take the tubes out of the longer locomotives, cut off the corroded ends, and recycle them into shorter locomotives. Mr. Gannon was 103 years old when he related this story! Boiler vs SmokeboxThe tubes are in the boiler at this point, not visible from this angle. The end of the pressurized boiler is at the end of the shiny sheet metal jacket covering the insulation. The rough steel forward of that point is the non-pressurized smokebox, which uses changes in gas flow direction and the coarse screening at the top to remove most of the cinders from the exhaust. The boiler contains both small diameter fire tubes, and larger diameter flues, which themselves contain the very small diameter superheater pipe bundles. The superheater pipes heat the steam well past its boiling point, drying it so that the water molecules become much more energetic, getting more power from each gallon of water. The tubes and flues end at the front of the boiler, held by the front flue (or tube) sheet. Removing the tubes and flues requires first removing the steam pipes in the smokebox, which are present in this photo. Similar to the boiler, the steam pipes angling down to the cylinders are rough steel castings, covered with insulation, with a shiny sheet metal protective jacket. Later steam locomotives were extremely complex, both to increase thermodynamic efficiency, and to help crews operate the increasingly heavy controls. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
West Mine: 1939
... drop-bottom. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Mining, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/03/2018 - 11:42am -

January 1939. "West Mine, West Frankfort, Illinois. Now abandoned. This mine has been down about a year." Photo by Arthur Rothstein. View full size. QuestionAre there any other photos of this tipple? Really would make a nice model on my model railroad. [We'll rummage around and see what we can come up with. - Dave] Been thereMy father-in-law was raised in Raleigh, Illinois, which was coal territory. In the late 1990s, he sold his coal rights to a company and made some decent money for doing nothing. The checks stopped coming after a year or so because the coal was too dirty to be used as fuel. I took a tour of a closed coal mine in West Frankfort, Illinois, around that time. My memory recalls a burnt oily sulfuric type of odor. The ceilings were the right height for someone who was not "Big John" but more like Curly Howard. The mine was closed to the public shortly after our tour because it was considered unsafe. Perhaps I was ignorant of the possibility of being buried alive or blown up, but I found the tour informative. My wife, who has claustrophobia, was not impressed. Not a place for a lady. Coupling, If You Don't Mine943, meet Burlington Route. I now pronounce you: Coupled. Heights for FixItThe ceilings were the right height for someone who was not "Big John" but more like Curly Howard Moe: 5'2" Larry: 5'4" Curly: 5'5" [You look lost. - Dave] Locomotive firing - not so greenYou did not miss the engineer posing for the classic leaning out the window scene. In fact, he is sitting on the other side of the locomotive. We're looking at the left side, the fireman's side. And you wouldn't see him in the window either, he's shoveling right now. Note the large billow of black smoke over the cab, then a puff of almost white smoke, and dark smoke for about 8 feet directly above the stack. The dark smoke was emitted immediately when he placed each shovelful, the white when he turned back to the tender to pick up another scoopful. Crop issues here, not of the green kindIt drives me crazy that I can't see the full cab on the engine with an engineer from central casting leaning out! But there is a lot going on in this photo, that's for sure. Ahh, T-section Bettendorfs on the gondolaIt appears to be a side-dump type or possibly a drop-bottom. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Mining, Railroads)
Pampa Depot: 1943
... switched during off-hours. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2013 - 8:09pm -

March 1943. "Pampa, Texas. Going through a town on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. Grain DoorsThe several stack of wooden panels in the middle of the picture are grain doors. before the advent of covered hopper cars to carry grain, it was typically carried in boxcars. The regular boxcar door was opened by sliding it to the side and the grain door placed just inside the opening, nailed at each side. The grain door left a gap at the top of the door opening. The elevator worker then placed a tube through the opening to fill the car. Since grain was heavy, it would only fill the car to somewhere below the top of the grain door. At the receiving elevator, the grain door would be breached to let the grain flow out near the bottom. Lots of shovel work getting the last of the grain out, unless the elevator had a car tipper, which would tilt the car to get most of the last of the grain out. Life in a Small TownI have never been in Pampa, TX but this picture reminds me so much of life in a small town in Kansas. The first thing you might notice is the smell of the hot creosote from the cross ties baking in the sun. Then there would be the sound of the machinery and blowers in the grain elevator. Once you get away from the sounds of the elevator there might be the sound of someone on a construction project with the sounds of hammering or sawing somewhere in the distance. Other than that, it would be mostly quiet. There might be the sound of a passing car once in a while or, maybe, the roar of a passing freight train highballing it through on the mainline. There was always the thought of having a cold one at the end of the day in the local "watering hole" and listen to the old timers telling tall tales. I would surely rather live there than in a big city. Sky toneJack Delano's work continues to amaze. In this one he probably put an orange filter over the lens to render that burning Texas sky as a middle tone of gray. Masterful control of the B&W process, indeed. MonolithsThe tall black objects to the right of center are 'water stands'. They supplied water to replenish the tenders of steam locomotives. One is oil, the other water...Lorenzo is correct that the more distant monolith is a water crane which was found in nearly all busy steam era service facilities but I would have to say that the nearer structure is an oil column since the Santa Fe along with most other roads out west ran mostly oil fired locomotives. Oil was cheap and abundant, coal less so. Great photo, Shorpy! Oil and WaterThe far standpipe is water, the near one is Bunker C heavy fuel oil for the oil fired steam locos. Building on left behind box carLooks like the same building, 5 windows, detail at top and arch above center window. View Larger Map Oil columnThe "stand" nearest the camera is actually an oil column. They were often co-located with watering facilities so the locomotive could take on both water and fuel in a single stop. "Stand" was a term used sometimes, but "column" was the more correct term. Water or oil "plug" was a slang term used as well. What's that on left?Birdhouse? or a mailbox? Dropbox Dot Com"Birdhouse? or a mailbox?" It's probably a dropbox for waybills. They were common where cars were interchanged when / where agents weren't on duty, or when customers were switched during off-hours. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
National Tube Works: 1910
... (The Gallery, DPC, Factories, Pittsburgh, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 1:32pm -

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1910. "Furnaces, National Tube Works." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Tube City King's Handbook of New York City, 1892. The National Tube Works Company, the New-York office of which is at 160 Broadway, conducts one of the gigantic industries of the country. It was originally a Boston institution, and the office of its Treasurer remains there. The New-York office is that of its General Manager. Its principal works are at McKeesport, Pa. The establishment there covers forty acres, thirty being occupied by buildings. The product includes every variety of wrought-iron pipe, boiler-tubes, pipes or tubes used for artesian, salt, oil or gas wells, rods and columns used in mining, grate-bars, hand-rails, telegraph poles, gas and air-brake cylinders, drill-rods, Converse patent lock-joint, wrought iron kalameined and asphalted pipe for water and gas works mains and trunk lines, and locomotive and stationary injectors. An important branch of manufacture is that of sap pan iron, kalaineined and galvanized sheet iron, cold rolled iron and steel sheets, and corrugated and curved sheets, for roofs and ceilings. Another speciality is the celebrated "Monongahela" brand of Bessemer, mill and foundry pig-iron. The company finds a market for its goods not only in the United States but also in Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, Australia, and Africa. The works have a capacity of 250,000 tons of tubes and pipe yearly. The company was one of the first to use natural gas as fuel in the manufacture of iron. The gas is brought from its own wells, through twenty miles of pipe, to the works. The Monongahela: River of Dreams, River of Sweat, 1999. McKeesport became a heavy-industry town. It was home to the largest producer of steel pipe and tubing in America, National Tube Company, which opened in 1852. The city's nickname was Tube City. … Mckeesport is one of the small cities that suffered because of the decline of the steel industry. For a long while after U.S. Steel closed the plant in 1984, the riverside complex was a mass of rubble, grass, trees, and unused buildings. Now much of the old plant has been razed. A mini-mill and a couple small companies have moved into the area, but there is still much vacant land. The former docking facility, from which a bargeload of pipe was shipped every day for so many years, is still idle. Glazier Wantedfor large Tube and Pipe Factory. Must have own tools and access to large quantities of glass. Estimated replacement of 200 panes of glass. All inquiries to Mckeesport Factory site. LS & MSI've often hoped to stumble across a railroad car marked LS/MFT, but here we see a couple rather new looking Lake Shore and Michigan Southern hopper cars in the company of the Baltimore and Ohio units. I wonder what track arrangement got that solitary LS & MS car snugged against the bumper? Hardly looks like room for a turnout and a turntable seems unlikely. Those new coal ''gons''belong to the Lake Shore & Michigan Railway which was mostly owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt and was absorbed into the New York Central in 1914, the LS&MS logo seems to be a large (mail sack) with a lock. Note the small NYC logo before the NYC amalgamation. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories, Pittsburgh, Railroads)
Bustling Lakeport: 1907
... the rails in place is quite rare. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Small Towns, Stores & Markets) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/23/2013 - 9:26am -

Circa 1907. "Lakeport, New Hampshire -- Union Avenue." Among the enterprises vying for your trade: All America Shoes, Mount Belknap House, a pool parlor, architect A.F. Crosman, Pickering Restaurant & Quick Lunch (the "hand" sign) and the Lakeport depot. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Still looks pretty quietSome of the buildings still there. Double paned?In the zoomed image taken from the window below the "All America Shoes" sign, note the reflections of the man (red oval), pole (cyan oval), and sign (green oval). Note also that there are two reflections for the man and the sign (dashed ovals), as well as some other objects from that side of the street. The doubled reflections suggest that there are two panes of glass in that store window, and the distortions suggest that they're neither quite parallel nor quite perfectly flat (no surprise, given their size). My question is, was the use of multiple panes of glass (whether properly "double paned" or not) common back then? Was it for insulation, protection, appearance, or something else? Or is there another plausible explanation for the duplicate reflections in the window? (Bonus inset: the time of the photograph was approximately 3:43.) [That's not a clock - the hands are painted on in the customary position for such signs, which maximizes the space for company name, slogans, etc. There are many examples here on Shorpy, such as this one. -tterrace] (My mistake about the clock. I've removed the inset.) Window ShoppingLove the big windows of rippled old glass. My place has some broken windows that we won't replace because we can't find panes big enough. To get that look today, there's one place in New England that will heat and treat modern glass to give it that wonderful uneven look, but it costs. Oh, does it cost! Onerous TrafficWhen, oh when, will they build the freeway? Can you findwhat it says on the "hand" sign, still one of the best signs made. [Yes, you can, by reading the caption. -tterrace] Trolley Rails On A Dirt Road?OK, I give up as an old trolley rider out of the Brooklyn of my youth. I have often wanted to ask: What happens to trolley rails on a dirt road during heavy rains when the road turns to a quagmire of mud? Could the rails be anchored down several feet? What prevents them from swaying in the mud? Knowing the answers to this mystery is on my bucket list. Tracks on a dirt roadTrolley tracks would be laid on a gravel bed to provide the necessary support. This actually would be true whether the roadway was paved or dirt. 1907 LitterbugIn front of the All-America shoe store there is an empty box or crate that used to contain Fletcher's Castoria. The ties that bindTracks buried in any kinds of streets usually are just the same as elsewhere. Sometimes metal tie rods are used for street tracks instead of regular wooden railroad ties. Using just concrete to hold the rails in place is quite rare. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)
Mammoth Plates: 1891
... all of the low areas of the city. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, W.H. Jackson) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 7:56pm -

Mexico circa 1891. "Ferrocarill Central Mexicano. Canal of Nochistongo," a drainage excavated in the 17th and 18th centuries to keep Mexico City from flooding. Note the giant camera and tripod employed by William Henry Jackson in the making of his heroically proportioned photographs, the largest of which were recorded on a medium the archivists call "mammoth plates" -- glass negatives that measured 18 by 22 inches. (This particular image was made on an 8x10 inch glass plate -- what modern photographers would consider "large format," but still only a fifth the size of an 18x22.) Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size. Big CamerasWere those "Mammoth Plate" cameras custom or home made or were they available commercially? ImpressiveI used to shoot a lot of landscapes in large format (4x5) before the digital age hit photography. I can identify with these gents lugging all that equipment around but not to the extent they did. I cannot imagine 18x22 in the field. My hat's off to them. That's an extremely hard thing to do. Unsteady footingOne slip, and goodbye large format camera, tripod and photographer! PerspectiveIs anyone fooled by the perspective here? It doesn't look like that ledge is tall enough for the train to look as tiny as it does! The Big Picture>> Were those "Mammoth Plate" cameras custom or home made or were they available commercially? If you were a photographer in the mid 19th century you'd most likely buy a prefab lens assembly and make the box yourself (not that complicated, as most cameras then didn't have shutters), or have one made to your specification. After the Civil War, American Optical, Scovill and the Henry Clay Co. were among the commercial makers of big view and box cameras. A nice selection here. Rapido corren los carrosMakes me think of a rolling "rrrrrr" tongue-twister a Mexican priest taught me many years ago: "Rapido corren los carros cargados de azucar de los ferrocarriles." Glass PlatesGlass plates were coated on the spot. Or at least the night before. The glass was the expensive part, the silver nitrate emulsion came in either screw top tins or light tight jars, and were coated in the field. If the plate negative was not satisfactory it was a simple matter to strip the emulsion, recoat the glass plate and try again. [You're thinking of the wet-plate negatives used around the time of the Civil War. Most glass plates made after 1880 (including this one) are dry-plate negatives -- coated with emulsion by the manufacturer and presensitized. - Dave] Little Town in the backgroundI like how you can make out the little town in the background of the photo. You can see the big church with its dome and towers. Very nice picture. I wonder where in Mexico this was taken. Nochistongo CutThe little town in the background distance of the photo is Huehuetoca, State of Mexico. The domed church that you can see in the distance is still there and can be located near the center of town on google maps. This impressive ditch called the Nochistongo Cut (El Tajo de Nochistongo) was dug by hand (mostly indigenous near slaves) starting, if I recall correctly, in about 1607 and took about 120 years to complete. It is said that up to 30,000 laborers were worked to death in the process, though I haven’t seen any historical texts confirming it. Considering the times & place it could easily be true. It’s about 45 miles from Mexico City and is visible (the ditch) in satellite view though the waterway is obscured by trees & bushes. The railroad still passes there but there are 4 lines now. The area is rapidly filling up with outer suburbs of the capital. It was dug in an effort to relieve the severe flooding Mexico City was subject to ever since the Spanish conquest, when the Spaniards as a tactic destroyed some of the protective dikes the Aztecs and their precursors had erected to regulate water flow in the Valley of Mexico and then proceeded to erect their own capital city on the ruins. Ultimately the cut was not successful at stopping the flooding, as Mexico City was sinking slowly into the mud of the ancient lake beds, leaving the drainage collectors too high to drain all of the low areas of the city. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, W.H. Jackson)
Mt. Tom Railway: 1908
... (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 7:37pm -

Holyoke, Massachusetts (vicinity), circa 1908. "An elevating car -- Mount Tom Railway." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Self-LevelingThe gears and chain underneath the car enabled the car to "self-level" based on the underlying terrain such that passengers were always kept sitting upright relative to the slope of the incline, making the ride slightly more comfortable. More than enoughI'm hoping it didn't take eight people to run this wonderful machine up and down the Mount Tom run. And I'd move away from the fellow in the second to last row, he doesn't look too steady, if you get my drift. Looks like funwww.mounttom.com for more info on this railway. NOTICEAnyone smiling will be removed by the conductor(s) immediately. The Place to BeOnce Holyoke was the place to be. It had an opera house, literary societies and stunning architecture. Indeed, some of New York's best architects from the early 20th century got their start there. And Mountain Park on Mt. Tom was a very fashionable summer retreat, even President Mckinley went there at least once. Holyoke's paper and silk based economy boomed until the end of the WWII. Deindustrialization has hit Holyoke hard and the place now has a reputation of being a very rough town. But once it was really at the pinnacle of society in the Northeast. ObedienceWith the exception of the ghosty lady in the first row of seats, it appears that almost everybody else sat still, looked at the birdy and didn't smile. I Guess I Need to "Brush" up on LocomotionI can't figure out what purpose the brushes might serve on the bottom of the streetcar. Were they used for electric pickups or were they just for dirty boots? The wires along the top of the rails are also a mystery. [The lower conductors are telephone wires. - Dave] A clean track is a happy trackAnyone have any idea what the brushes are for at both ends of this car? ExcessWant some tram with your conductors? The brusheslook like they were a local modification, and they are outboard of the rail, so they're not there to clean it. They have a bonding wire running from them up into the car. So I'll make an educated guess and suggest that the car was prone to charging up, and the brushes were to intended to ground it at the carstops, to prevent the passengers from getting a jolt when they got on or off. More intriguing to me is the chain drive from the rear axle to the shaft at the centre of the truck - can't even begin to guess what that was for. Uniform of the dayI count SIXTEEN people wearing uniforms, most seem to be conductors. The brushes appear to be groundedPerhaps they're there to discharge static electricity when they reach the platform to avoid shocks? Musical ConductorsI believe there are only two conductors, one driving and one at the back. They have the same type of hats (double braid). The other men in Nero collar jackets appear to be band members possibly arriving for the day's work at the top of the hill. [I guess they'd be fiddlers, then. - Dave] Safety brake sensor, not self-leveling chain driveThis is an intriguing semi-funicular trolley railway, unique so far as I can find, but there is virtually zero technical decription available of its design from the period, at least on the internet. Including the two Shorpy hi-rez photos there are only about a dozen photos in all, most fuzzy. And not a single photo of the summit's sheave 8 ft diameter unpowered pulley. Contrast that with the Lake George Catskills funicular, of which even the suppliers of each piece of the system are known, and line drawings available. Yet the two Mt Tom trolleycars themselves are quite spectacular high quality designs for the period to my engineering eyes. They lasted forty years. So who was responsible? For my personal interest's sake, I have figured out how it all worked, which for an old retired mechanical engineer has been quite interesting to say the least. Thanks Shorpy for publishing these two photos in the first place. The chain drive from the railwheel axle through the bearing journal cover is to a governor shaft/regulator mechanism, not dissimilar to the Lake George arrangement by Otis which preceded this rail line. If the cable breaks, and the car runs away, the regulator senses the overspeed or reversal of rotation and activates the braking jaws on the car to grab the third iron rail and stop the car. Presumably it stops the electric motors as well. The self-leveling argument for the seats seems to have been invented out of thin air by another blogger and repeated here. The seats themselves can be seen here to be pre-tilted so that they were more level when on the actual incline. The brushes are the way only the Elizur Holyoke, which always took the left turnout at the bypass facing uphill whether ascending or descending, remained in telephone contact during the bypass phase of the journey. One brush arm is longer than the other to reach the appropriate wire - internal contact method unknown. Beyond the turnout bypass either up or down, both cars used the two wires to the right of the line facing uphill for telephone contact. And guess what? I cannot find a single photo of the main telephone wire contact system. Nobody seemed to photograph the right-hand side of either car. Ever. Other photos show different attachment arrangements of the brush arms to the EH car, so it must have been troublesome. No, the two trolleycars are not mirror images of each other either. Very clever indeed. Some photos from other sources may be found here: http://leonardjlosholyokehistory.blogspot.ca/2013/02/more-photos-of-holy... (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads)
Work, Read, Wash: 1943
... wouldn't want to post them. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2016 - 8:13pm -

March 1943. Barstow, California. "Railroad worker in the washroom of the reading room in the Santa Fe yard." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. Santa Fe Depot and Reading RoomOh, the Santa Fe reading room. not the Reading Railroad reading room. The Santa Fe Reading Rooms were hotelish facilities for engineers and employees on break between runs. The Waynoka, Oklahoma, Depot and Reading Room: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/sfe.htm SpittoonThese had to be high on my list of disgusting things seen in my childhood. Never envied the people who had to clean them or around them. WaynokaI have never been to the Barstow area but I have been to the Waynoka Santa Fe depot. It was several years ago that my sister, a friend, and I , mainly, went to eat at the Harvey House Restaurant there. At the time, I had no idea that Waynoka had played such a role in the history of transportation. The restored depot and the restaurant were very interesting and well worth the trip if you are in the area. As an occasional home plumberI have to admire the sheer, brutal functionality of the plumbing; not only is it designed not to clog, but if it does clog it's designed to be unclogged easily. And you can get at the feed lines and cutoff valves, too. Mystery fixtureCan anyone identify the fluted ceramic column at far right, raised up off the floor? Pedestal sink, drinking fountain? Fluted ColumnI'll say that the fancy tile on the right is the edge of a floor length men's urinary convenience. The concrete step probably holds the shallow basin at its base. That mystery fixtureI encountered a row of these frightening floor length fixtures many years ago in a historic hotel, I believe in Wellsville W.Va, or thereabouts. Not just similar, but apparently identical. Each unit includes 1 column, and there is an extra column tacked on at the free end. There is a separate cap at the top. Our ancestors sure had a taste for the grandiose in bathroom fixtures. As for the sink, this "S Trap" drain configuration far below the sink is generally illegal now, as it can siphon the trap dry. The vent pipe connection must be only a foot or so below the sink, with the "J Trap" in between. We ate a fine lunch in the grand dining room, but did not stay. I looked on Google Earth and didn't find the hotel, may not have survived. At the time, it was in the guidebook of historic hotels, along with such places as the wonderful Lafayette in Marietta OH. I may have pix somewhere, but probably wouldn't want to post them. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Short Hills: 1901
... it does contain many "short" hills. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/09/2012 - 12:42pm -

Short Hills, New Jersey, circa 1901. "Short Hills Station -- Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R.R." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Short HillsShort Hills was developed in 1879 by Stewart Hartshorne, who made a fortune on window shade rollers. At first, the residents used the nearby Millburn depot, but after the DL&W promised to stop at least two trains here daily, Mr. Hartshorne donated the land and spent $2500 to build this station. He paid the agent's salary here and maintained the building at his own expense for a number of years. Eventually, this depot was deeded to the Lackawanna, and served the town until 1907, when it was demolished to make room for its replacement. [This information was lifted from "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in the Nineteenth Century" by Thomas Townsend Taber] There is a fence nowbetween the tracks. I'm pretty sure that this view is the same direction from about where the conductor is standing on the left. Pole lightsI have never seen the way the light shades on the poles are placed. It appears that they are upside down but I'm sure they are not. Beside that it looks like it is going to be a nice day as the men hang out watching the woman folk head out on the rear of the train, perhaps a shopping spree in NYC? Flat LandscapeLooks like they're about one hill short. Short Hills in 2007View from roughly the same angle, 106 years later: Looking west (young man) not eastJudging from the sun angle and the orientation of the tracks (basically NW-W to SE-E), I think the picture is looking west towards Summit, NJ, the next stop on the line and the highest point on the Morris and Essex Railroad (builder of this line and purchased by the DL&W prior to this photo). The excellent photo posted by swaool is looking eastward towards Millburn. If it is indeed looking west, it would make the station building on the westbound side of the tracks, which is a bit unusual since most passenger traffic waiting for a train was and is eastbound towards Hoboken/NYC. I lived in Short Hills for thirteen years, and took the train to points both east and west many, many times from this spot. 111 years later Short Hills is a bit more built up than seen here, but is still a very pleasant community to live, and yes, it does contain many "short" hills. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads)
R.R. Control Tower: 1940
... years ago. (Technology, The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/18/2018 - 12:48pm -

September 1940. "Mr. T.J. Long, president of the Tri-County Farmers Co-op Market in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, at his work in a railroad tower near Du Bois." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Re: Everything Old is New AgainI'm imagining that the pouch is divided; new fuses go in the left compartment, and old ones in the right. Question then is why don't the old ones just go in the trash? New and Old; and MoreOnce upon a time, fuses could be repaired. The case could be opened and the internal element (sometimes a thin wire, sometimes a stamped piece of metal) could be replaced. Thus, you would have to save the 'old' fuses. Interesting that there are two interlocking machines here. The obvious one in the foreground is a mechanical interlocking machine, where the switches and signals were mechanically connected to the levers. The power to operate the equipment was provided by the towerman's arms - hence the colloquial term "armstrong machine". The five levers leaning out (to the right) are lock levers, painted blue, which lock switches. Before throwing the switch, the lock lever has to be returned to the "normal" position, in line with the other levers. The other interlocking machine is just visible at the left, in the large wooden box. It is a General Railway Signal power machine, where the switches and signals are operated by electric motors (in this case). The levers are still mechanically locked between each other, but the use of external power made the levers much easier to operate. In a few instances, electric and mechanical machines were mechanically interconnected, but not in this case. Those Locked BoxesThose are electrical switches, actuated by the huge levers, used to control signals or other devices, but not the track switches. The levers to the right are used by the Operator (that's his job title) to set up or take down routes of trains though the Junction. One lever controls one track switch or signal. A system of sliding bars and levers under the floor interconnects these levers and prevents the operator from setting up conflicting routes through the junction, and only after setting up a clear route could the levers which controlled the signals for that route be actuated. A system of rods an levers, up to a mile long, connected to each track switch to one of the levers at the operators disposal. These required great force to be moved - more than available from the battery powered electric motors of the time. Signals didn't require so much power to operate, and could be battery powered, thus the locked boxes on the "locking frame" to control signals. The locks were removed only by maintainers, not by the operator. His Last SeptemberMr. Thomas Jackson Long, as of the 1940 census, was a 56-year-old railroad telegraph operator living in Sandy Township with his wife and two adult children. Sadly, he died three months after this photo was taken, shot in a hunting accident. Dust and Old PaintI'm old enough to remember workplaces like this when I was a kid and tagged along with my dad. Those windows in Winter let in cold air like you would not believe, but couldn't have shades as that obstructed the view. The tower I remember was on stilts to facilitate looking way up and down the tracks, and seeing the color of the track signals. Wind whistled around its uninsulated walls. There was a pot-bellied stove that burned coal. The place was swept sometimes but still had decades of accumulated dust. Paint was a yellow-brown color made browner by dirt. In other offices the paint was battleship grey. The fellow who sat in the observation office most often was peculiar and I wasn't supposed to be left alone with him. When I was told that it terrified me and I avoided looking at him. Maybe that's why I remember it so well. New Fuses for old circuitsThe old fuses were to fit the old fuseholders, which are the porcelain blocks just to the right of the "New Old Fuses" container. The fuses are the long slender porcelain tubes, two of which are clipped into each block. I remember seeing these on old telephone lightning arrestors. Conspicuous by their absence are the spares; there are none in the box. Everything Old is New AgainThe pouch on the wall labeled "New Old Fuses" is intriguing. One wonders if there is a similar one out of frame labeled "Old New Fuses". B&O facilitiesDuBois was a significant maintenance point for the Baltimore & Ohio (ex-Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh), with a roundhouse, engine repair shop capable of heavy overhauls, and car repair shop. The town also served as a division point, as well as a connection to the New York Central & Hudson River. Quiet PleaseKeep it down out there! Our Block Operator may be copying an important message from up or down the line. By the look of things with six telegraph sounders at his desk, a phone and "patch" panels and one lone telegraph key, at times Mr. Long can be a busy man. Renewable FusesNot all fuses are one use only. Some are cylinders that can be opened, and a new fusible link or wire installed, inside the original unit. I would suggest that is a possible explanation for the "new and old" fuse container. There were probably a few blown fuses in the old section ready for renewing. You can read about it here. If you remember the Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-four", one of the lyrics is: "I could be handy mending a fuse when your lights have gone." England and Australia used renewable porcelain fuses in older homes, and they could be "mended" by threading the correct amperage fuse wire through them. New Old FusesThe fusible links in some barrel type fuses can be replaced by unscrewing the end caps, removing the blown parts, putting in a new link, and replacing the end caps. This may be the situation here. Old fuses could be new again.The cartridge fuses like those to the left of the clock were not disposable. The end caps where removable to facilitate replacing the fusible link inside. I've seen really big ones that would take two hands to pick up. LocksWonder why those boxes on the left are locked? Does he have to unlock them to switch the switches each time? Some things old can be renewedThose "old" fuses may have renewable links. I remember seeing some of those years ago. Restoration & RepurposingIt's nice to see some effort to preserve railroad towers. I'll have to swing by North Judson to see if their efforts were realized. http://www.grassellitower.com/towers.htm Then, if I ever get back to Milwaukee, I'd like to take a look at this sturdy "tiny house" conversion: https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2017/08/24/house-confidential-tiny-railroad-t... Locked BoxesThe boxes on the left house electric locks. They mechanically lock the levers depending on electrical circuits, such as track circuits used to detect the presence of a train. These locks are safety critical, and so must be kept secure from unauthorized access -- hence the locks. Only signal maintainers would have a key; the towerman would not be able to release the locks and cause an unsafe condition. Restricted AccessThe padlocks on the the switch machine ensure that only authorized switch and signal maintainers have access to the internal mechanism for maintenance purposes. Note that there also "car seals" applied in addition to the padlocks. This is an additional "tamper-evident" security measure. Yes, this compartmentalization is something on a par with ballistic missile systems. These switch control mechanisms are that important. Lightning arrester Surge protectors were also referred to as lightning arresters. That's what I see under the two bells behind him. I also think the two glass covers in the left of the photo are some sort of protection as well. I picked several porcelain GE ones while insulator hunting in Kansas several years ago. (Technology, The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Five Across: 1910
... here . (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Found Photos, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/26/2014 - 7:31pm -

1910. "Grade separation under construction, probably upstate New York." Bring the family, and hold onto Junior! Maybe the rail historians out there can pinpoint where we are. 5x7 glass negative, photographer unknown. View full size. The overpass that "weren't"We are near Prattsville, NY, looking at the new Schenectady & Margaretville RR overpass over Johnson Hollow Road. The logs seen here support narrow gauge construction tracks for carrying fill dirt. The S&M failed after the bank financing it closed. The S&M, intending to link the Pennsylvania anthracite fields with New England via Albany, was never finished. This overpass survived as seen here for decades before being removed as a traffic hazard in recent years. The only part of the scheme described above to actually see trains was the Delaware & Northern RR (Arkville to East Branch, NY), which folded in 1942. Anyone wanting to know more can find "Rails Along the East Branch: The Delaware & Northern Railroad" by John Ham and Robert Bucenec (Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Press, 2006) or "Delaware & Northern and the Towns It Served" by Gertrude Fitch Horton (Purple Mountain Press, 1989). BeautifulThat view through the archway is like a painting. Dept. of Grave MisgivingsHigh anxiety. What am I looking at?Whoa, before location, can a rail historian please tell me what I'm looking at in the upper right area? I see logs instead of railway ties, all in the air, with rails banking like a roller coaster instead of a train. [In the caption, note the crucial words "under construction." - Dave] I still don't get it. Is this a rough draft? Why not wait till they have the landscaping done till they rough out the tracks? Or is it possible this was a temporary track actually used by real trains? Stir gently till all the lumps are gone.I think they needed to mix their Concrete a little better. They needed a pokerThe problem with the concrete is simply, in my opinion, they did not have (1910 after all) or did not use properly, a vibrating poker when they poured the concrete in to the formwork. A poker settles the liquid concrete down by removing trapped air that is inevitably poured with the concrete. Thus they had air trapped inside that created the ugly and weakening pockets we see. There are probably others within. The structure may well have been weaker than planned due to this. More overpasshistory can be found here. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Found Photos, Railroads)
Third Avenue El: 1942
... the running rails. (The Gallery, Marjory Collins, NYC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/19/2013 - 4:10pm -

September 1942. "New York. Looking north from the Ninth Street station on the Third Avenue elevated railway as a train leaves on the local track." Medium format negative by Marjory Collins, Office of War Information. View full size. Third Avenue Railway SystemTo relieve San Diego's war-time urban overcrowding, our city acquired some ancient streetcars from the TARS in the mid 1940s. They were largely of wood construction and after nearly forty years of heavy NYC service they were fairly ramshackle. Local rail men said that they noticeably flexed while going around corners, but they faithfully served here until the last streetcars were taken out of service in 1949 when the city discontinued light rail service. Socony-MobilThe 3rd Avenue El had to go, it was a relic of an earlier time. Before it was torn down in Manhattan, (It remained active in the Bronx for many more years), Third Avenue was mostly a slum.One of the the last segments to come down was in 1952 at the behest of the builders of 150 East 42nd Street who were not about to start building with the El there almost abutting the buildings on Third Avenue. The new structure was named for its major tenant, Socony-Mobil. There was a saying that the best view of the Mobil Building was from the inside, so that you couldn't see it's dimpled aluminum skin. Its still there and doesn't look any better. Am I wrongI thought the term "El" was used only in Chicago, did not New Yorkers refer to it by another name? [You can use the term anywhere you want, but in Chicago the elevated line is generally called the "L"; in New York it's the El. - Dave] An eternal source of shameThe city demolished the old but perfectly serviceable Third Avenue El in the mid-1950s, as it would soon be replaced by a snazzy new subway one block away on Second Avenue. No one seemed to care that the Second Avenue Subway had been in the planning stage since the early 1920's with no work having ever been done. The years went by with no construction on Second Avenue, with the entire East Side being dependent on the overcrowded Lexington Avenue line. In the early 1970s federal transit money became available and would cover most of the cost of the Second Avenue line, but the city took advantage of a legal loophole to skim off the federal money to stave off a five-cent increase in the transit fare (which happened anyhow). Nothing got built under Second Avenue except for a few useless unconnected tunnel segments. Finally, generations after the first plans, there is some actual construction underway on the Second Avenue line. It's only going to cover half the planned distance. Completion is scheduled for 2016, maybe. In the meantime, had it not been thoughtlessly demolished the Third Avenue El would still be providing vitally needed transit service. Also in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia's Market-Frankford Line is usually referred to by locals as the "Market-Frankford El" though parts of it do run underground. Shoe polishI am a little surprised given all the power pickup shoes on the El's haven't polished the third rail any more than is what is seen here on both sets of tracks. I would have expected to see the third rail as close to as bright as the running rails, although a little brighter than the guard rails. The Fat Men's ShopAll the way to the left of the shot you can just see Sig Klein's once-well-known Fat Men's Shop. It can be more clearly seen in this Ben Shahn photo: Lasted until 1955It seems the Third Ave El in Manhattan closed on 12 May 1955 (the part south of Chatham Square had closed a few years earlier). ..but not forgottenI have dim memories of my father taking me on the El during its final throes. I would probably have been 5 or so at the time. I left NY for good in 1970 and had not yet felt its loss in terms of overcrowding on the Lex. Ave IRT. In any case, I haven't seen reference made to the film "3rd Ave. El." Shy Shine@HenkB: Thanks for the video link! @MrK: The third rail isn't actually visible in this photo. It is has a safety "roof" which covers it with a slat of wood (nowadays being replaced by plastic). If you could see the third rail, it would be as shiny as the running rails. (The Gallery, Marjory Collins, NYC, Railroads)
Rail Disaster: 1933
... of the journey. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/02/2014 - 8:18pm -

GRAVE OF MUD         WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 1933 -- While thousands worked to overcome the havoc wreaked by the storm in the Capital, 300 trainmen struggled with the wreck of the Crescent Limited. The crack extra-fare express was hurtled yesterday from the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad when flood waters undermined the central abutment of the bridge over the Eastern Branch [Anacostia River], just inside the District. All day and all night the crews of railroad men worked, first with acetylene torches to clear debris from the approaches to the bridge, and then with three cranes to lift aside the wrecked cars. Late in the evening a derrick lifting the crushed engine from a grave of mud uncovered the body of the engineer, Arthur H. Bryde, of Washington. The body of J.H. Faye, the fireman, of Havre de Grace, was recovered earlier in the day. It had been ground into the mud of the embankment by a coach. August 1933. Washington, D.C. "Crescent Limited train wreck." Another look at this wreck. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Men dead; locomotive saved.It's a K-4 Pacific type, seen many times on this site. Don't know what number it is, but it was definitely rebuilt. The first K-4 to be scrapped was #8309 in 1938, after a different wreck which occurred in Pittsburg when it plummeted off a high fill and then dropped another fifty feet over a concrete retaining wall into one of the city streets. The leading truck of the K-4 seen above is sunk in the mud dead-center of the photo. Wrong truckOn a railroad, a truck is the assembly of wheels, springs, brakes, and centering devices which ride on the rails, supporting and guiding the car or locomotive it supports. The engine is unmistakably, as pointed out, a Pennsylvania Railroad K-4 class 4-6-2 Pacific. But, neither of the two trucks visible near the center of the photo came from that engine. K-4 pilot trucks were inside bearing. Perhaps, these were from under the tender, or from one of the passenger cars. Re: Wrong TruckI stand corrected; how I missed them being outside bearing I have no idea. They probably are from beneath the tender, as the lead truck there is missing. Doubt they're from a car, as those appear to be all heavyweight equipment with six-wheel trucks. LocomotivesWasn't the "Crescent" usually pulled by a Southern RR locomotive? PRRA Southern 4-6-2 would pull it south of Washington. Guess this wreck must have been at the PRR bridge at 38.917N 76.9435W, where a PRR engine would pull the train. Re: Re: Wrong truckThey are definitely Tender trucks. PRR Class 2D-T4 to be precise. Crescent Question"Wasn't the "Crescent" usually pulled by a Southern RR locomotive?" The Crescent Limited operated from New York to Washington on the Pennsylvania Railroad, on the Southern Railway from Washington to Atlanta, on the Atlanta & West Point / Western Railway of Alabama from Atlanta to Montgomery, AL, and on the Louisville & Nashville from Montgomery to New Orleans. This particular train would have originated in Penn Station behind an electric locomotive (probably a PRR P5). PRR steam replaced the electric in Wilmington, DE; a Southern Railway Ps4 would take over in Washington (there may also have been an engine swap midway to Atlanta in Salisbury, NC). In Atlanta, WofA 190 or A&WP 290 (which were purchased specifically to haul this train) would take over, and an L&N locomotive would the train on the final leg of the journey. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Railroads)
The Carbon Kid: 1938
... wise ;-)] (The Gallery, Kids, M.P. Wolcott, Mining, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/14/2015 - 1:34pm -

September 1938. "Coal miner's child breaking up large pieces of coal to take home. Pursglove, Scott's Run, West Virginia." Photo by Marion Post Wolcott for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Coal miners' kidsThis was apparently very common in coal country in the early 20th century and before. My mom was a coal miner's daughter born in 1910 in Bradenville, Pa. where her father worked the mines and she and her three brothers were often told to take burlap bags to the railroad tracks and pick up as much coal as possible that had fallen off the train cars as they rattled along. They used it to heat their homes in the frigid Pa. winters and her mom would cook with it. When I was very young and went there to my grandma's funeral, I well remember the miles and miles of the most train tracks I've ever seen and coal scattered everywhere. We who are living today have no real idea of how very hard life was in earlier times. He's going to look sharp in dress bluesWe grew up hearing the family was so poor that Grandfather would pick up coal off of the train tracks. Fast-forward 85 years, through the wonders of newspaper archives digitization: a 15-year-old Grandfather is arrested for picking up coal in the rail yard after he pushed it off of a rail car. The following month, Grandfather's name appears on a U.S.Marine Corps muster sheet at Marine Barracks Port Royal, South Carolina (now Parris Island). The beginning of the Sergeant Major's 40-year adventure. Fred FlintstoneThe early years. They almost arrested himthen they found out he had squatter's rights. ShortsI had an outfit like that as a child. Get up, get in and that's it! Coal cars rumblin past my door...Both of my parents grew up poor in western PA "coal patch" towns. Every time I hear the song "The L&N don't stop here any more" I think of the wonderful stories of the hard luck years they endured. How I would give anything to be standing along the "sulfur crick" with rusty old Pennsy H21 and GLa hopper cars of coal (like those in the W Va picture) rumbling by. "I was born and raised in the mouth of the hazard holler... Coal cars rumblin past my door.. Now they're standin in an empty row all rusty And the L&N dont stop here anymore" Not Only CoalIn the post-war 40's my brand new parents lived in a little rental house on a 15 MPH curve of the local highway. Hundreds of produce trucks would make that turn every day - most at speeds exceeding the recommended 15 MPH limit. This usually caused anything loaded above the top of the truck bed to roll off and into our yard. Late afternoon would my folks and most others from the neighborhood gleaning the assorted veggies FOB. Thrown in jailMy father got thrown in jail for picking coal off the tracks, Easter Sunday 1928. He was 15 - Delano, Pennsylvania. Not just yesteryearSpringfield, Missouri has a coal fired plant and it is illegal to pick up coal along the tracks. Seems they had a problem with people getting too close to the trains. Marion Post WolcottMarion Post Wolcott never seems to disappoint. She really had a great eye and fabulous technique. Not just "roadkill"It was (and probably still is in the dirt-poor parts of the world) common to glean traffic lanes for "roadkill", so to say. The even harder version is people going though mine tailings for tidbits of coal, ore, or whatever may be useful. My dad recalls gleaning fields for wheat, rye, whatever ears the farmers' workers had lost or missed during harvest. [edit: not my best day, spelling wise ;-)] (The Gallery, Kids, M.P. Wolcott, Mining, Railroads)
Glazier Stove Works: 1901
... Robert Teed. (The Gallery, DPC, Glazier Stove Works, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/20/2012 - 10:49am -

Chelsea, Michigan, circa 1901. "Brass foundry, Glazier Stove Co." Shorpy makes an exciting visit to the stove factory. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Elevated tracksI can picture some type of push car like railroad workers used running back and forth between the buildings hauling heavy iron parts. On the weekends could see Mr. Glazier's children and grandchildren playing or begging to ride on those cars. Wonder if it ever happened. Citizen FrankFrank Glazier was an old-school entrepreneur who combined philanthropy with self-interest, and much of the Chelsea, Michigan he built survives. He got 5 to 10 in Jackson Prison when a 1908 bankruptcy hearing found that his wife had destroyed all his financial records "because they upset" her husband. He was pardoned in 1912 and died in 1922. Look, Ma -- no air!That Michigan Central Railroad flatcar is not equipped with automatic air brakes as per the 1893 railroad safety appliance act. It may be restricted to service only within Michigan or could have become a car owned by the Glazier Stove and just used on their private sidings. From the looks of how the load is secured on the deck-I'd say the car is restricted to intra factory use. Brick by Brick.The brickwork in the arch around the large door is amazing! also are the eight brick 'chimneys' on the structure to the left of the flat car. Bricks built the modern world in the Victorian Era. Note the narrow-gauge plant railway on the trestle work. The Steam Railway flat car from the Michigan Central is of an older pattern, not having air brakes, and is constructed almost all of wood. The truss rods beneath the car can be tightened with the eye shown to keep the car deck level and straight. Altho' a poor place to ride on a freight car, this is where a hobo might ride when 'riding the rods', adding scrap lumber to make a platform of sorts. Vertical 'stake pockets' are mounted along the side of the car to take wooden stakes shimmed in with wedges to hold the load on the car. Often the tops of the stakes would be tied together across the load with wire for extra strength. The shaft of the hand brake wheel is bent. On later flat cars the wheel could be lowered into a round recessed into the timbers in the car deck by moving a U-shaped swivel at the bottom of the shaft. A Trainman was wise to stand back from the end of a car when being pushed by a locomotive, as a sudden jolt from slack in the car couplings could knock him off balance and down between the rails in front of the car to then get run over. The temptation to stand on the very front and 'show off' is very great, especially when passing a station with patrons out front. On this car the brake beams and their shoes are outside the trucks, the coupler knuckle has a slot in it to accommodate an adapter link which would allow the car to be coupled to older cars still using link and pin couplings. The knuckle has a vertical hole thru it for a pin, and the hole is still found on modern cars 100 years later, but, the slot is not. A red flag on a round wooden staff would be inserted into this hole to signify the car was the end of a train where corner brackets for coal oil marker lamps were not applied. Don't overlook the weathervane. Thank You. Some StreetlightWow: what an unusual bulb in the street light. [The "bulb" is the globe of a carbon arc lamp. - Dave] Brightest & Best Sights and Scenes Along the Michigan Central Line Chicago Photo-Engraving Company, 1895 The Glazier Stove Company Manufacturers of the "Brightest and Best" oil and gas stoves, dealers in coal, lumber and builders' supplies. This concern is the largest manufacturing establishment in this vicinity, and one of the largest in State, The business was commenced in a small way by the present proprietor, Mr. Frank P. Glazier, in 1890, and has gradually grown, through careful management, energy and progressive ability until it has assumed its present large proportions, ranking with some of the best manufacturing enterprises of the country. The growth has not been uninterrupted, however, neither has there been any lack of competition to retard its development, but by close attention to business, producing high grade goods and keeping their product and its merits constantly before the public, they have succeeded in not only building up a large trade, but through their own success have contributed to the material welfare of Chelsea. In March, 1895, the entire plant, with the exception of the offices. storage building, and power house, was destroyed by fire. Not disheartened, however, they immediately set to planning for a more extensive and better equipped plant, with its capacity largely increased by modern machinery of the finest quality, and every labor-saving device imaginable for producing better work and more of it than ever attempted before, They employ 120 men nine months in the year, and have facilities for the manufacturing of 300 oil and gas stoves a day. Their B. & B. trade mark brand, which stands for"Brightest and Best," is considered by the trade to be better in style, quality. finish and durability than any other stoves in the market. Right at this point, we desire to give special recognition to Mr. Glazier. He is a born business man, and is possessed of more than ordinary executive ability, thoroughly reliable in all respects, prompt and honorable in his relations with mankind, affable, enterprising and liberal, and his present prosperous business is a fitting monument to his industry, honesty and integrity. He is prominent in every movement conducive to the welfare and prosperity. Two years laterFrank Glazier began a downward spiral. Sad ending for a man who did a lot of good. Detroit, Stove City!In 1880, Detroit was the recognized center of the stove-making industry. But by 1902 the growth of other industries had relegated stove-making to sixth place in Detroit. An industry boom pushed stove-making back into second place by 1922. In 1860, Jeremiah Dwyer and his brother James started the city's first stove factory at the foot of Mt. Elliott on the near east side, where they prospered and expanded. The stoves could burn wood, coal or coke. Their success attracted others to the area. Gas ranges also became more popular and later replaced the old style stoves. By 1922 Detroit makers built 400,000 stoves worth $10 million in one year. The industry was dominated in the city by five major firms: The Michigan Stove Company, The Detroit Stove Works, The Penninsular Stove Company, the Art Stove Company, and the Detroit Vapor Stove Company. In later years the Welbilt Company emerged as the last surviving stove company and inherited the giant stove. From The Detroit News: http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=198#ixzz0uMQIVV8C TramwayGreat picture. There's an elevated tramway at left, and it looks like it has wooden rails. Carbon Arc LampsI have read about these in my 1917 Hawkins Electrical manuals. They usually operated at 50 volts with a draw of 15 amperes or so. A real heat producer! The carbons had to be changed regularly, that is why there is such a long drop wire going to the lamp. You can also see the pullies and cord used to lower the fixture, so that it can be lowered for servicing. Plant ExpansionBuilding 12 looks brand-new, possibly still under construction. Doesn't look like there's any stove work going on inside. A different tradeHow much more appropriate if Mr. Glazier had taken up a different line of work. Say, in the manufacture of windowpanes. Glazier Stove 2003Here is a photo of an Amtrak train passing the Glazier Stove Company in 2003. Photo by Robert Teed. (The Gallery, DPC, Glazier Stove Works, Railroads)
Going Nowhere: 1930
... the trail . (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 6:43pm -

"Car interior. Washington & Old Dominion R.R." Our third and final look at Pennsy car 4928 on the tracks of the W. & O.D., whose right-of-way is now plied by commuters taking I-66 into Washington. 8x10 glass negative. View full size. Next stop, Willoughby!It looks like the old railroad car in that "Twilight Zone" episode. Is ComfyIt IS more comfy than a modern jetliner. I volunteer at a railroad museum where we refurbish and display old RR cars and have sat in many of these. The seats are like your couch at home; there is more than ample room to cross your legs and the passenger next to you can still get up and leave his seat without tripping over your legs. Some of the newer (1920s-30s) ones have pivoting seats that let the whole bench swivel toward the aisle. Like so many modern things, the "good" has been engineered out of it. We used to get things such as durability and ruggedness for free, but now it's all designed out as unnecessary, as exemplified by the sardine-can seating of modern airliners. [I'll bet airplane seats are pretty durable. And of course there's a reason airline seats are closer together. The per-mile cost of moving a pound of passenger through the air is much higher than it is on the ground. - Dave] ContrastWhile a bit seedy and mussed up, the interior of Old 4928 looks fairly decent. Like an old dowager queen waiting for a rescuer, hoping for salvation. But, alas, it probably never came and we are the worse off for that. The W&OD lives, sortaThe Washington & Old Dominion ran from Alexandria out to Purcellville in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Today, its right-of-way is a much-used bike path that stretches from the west end of Alexandria west, passing through wooded areas, suburban sprawl, and eventually rural stretches as it gets outside the Washington Beltway. It's a wonderful trail to ride. Most folks don't realize that one small (maybe a mile or two) of the RR still is in daily use: the stub that goes from the former Potomac Yard (and Conrail/Amtrak mainline) east into Old Town Alexandria, dead-ending as siding at the warehouses on the banks of the river. On a daily basis, two- and even three-engine trains of boxcars and coal hoppers pass by my office window, servicing the coal-fired Mirant power plant and the riverfront warehouses. With Old Town becoming increasingly an upscale tourist destination, it's nice to have reminders that it's still a working port! W&ODI-66 does not follow the W&OD Railroad. The W&OD's right of way is instead now a trail, from Shirlington to Purcellville. The right-of-way west of Purcellville was sold before the rest of it, so it will likely never extend further west than that. [I-66 uses two stretches of W&OD right-of-way through Arlington. - Dave] Looks ComfyThis car looks about 1000 times more comfortable than the coach seats in a modern jetliner (and the TGV trains in Europe for that matter). Doesn't look comfortableHard wooden armrests, scratchy fabric, no headrests, and no lumbar support all add up to uncomfortable in my book. All Aboard...When I was a child, and the Pennsylvania Railroad had not yet become Penn Central, there were still 1910-1938 era cars in use similar to this one. Far from being uncomfortable, they had soft mohair seats with very plush and pliable springs, and those seatbacks could be shifted to the front or back of each bench, allowing one to ride facing forward, back, or to create two adjacent seats that faced each other for a cozy group alcove. None I ever rode on had carpet runners like this one. They had linoleum or tile. The thing you cannot see in the picture is how noisy those very oldest cars were to ride in. The windows, when they were wood, banged, and the tracks were not yet welded into a seamless beam (done for the Metroliner in the 1970's), so at every segment of rail the windows rattled and the train went clack-clack-clack. The silversides of today are quiet and smooth riding, but they have none of the art deco and pre-WWI charm of these cars. Each train ride was an excursion into art history. You never knew in advance what art era you would be studying. W&OD TrailHere's a map showing the trail. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Railroads)
The Detroit: 1905
... (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 3:27pm -

The Detroit River circa 1905. "Transfer steamer Detroit." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Exceptional Ice Breaker Bulletin of the International Railway Congress Volume 19, 1905. Car-ferry steamer "Detroit": Michigan Central Railway A four-screw car-ferry steamer of exceptional size and power, designed to serve as an ice-breaker and maintain communication through the heaviest ice, has been built for the Detroit River service of the Michigan Central Railway (between Detroit, Mich., and Windsor, Ont.). The railway company has four car-ferry steamers, and all but the new one are propelled by side wheels. The distance across the river is half a mile, and the time allowed for crossing is ten to twelve minutes, including landing. The new steamer has been in service through the latter part of the winter, and in January performed successful work in contending with very heavy ice and ice jams. The Detroit is 308 feet long, 64 feet beam of hull, and 76 feet beam over the guards, with a molded depth of 19 ft. 6 in. and a displacement of 3,850 tons. Its average speed is 18 miles an hour. The draft is 10 feet light and 14 feet loaded. The engines and boilers are placed below the deck, from which rise four smokestacks. On each side is a deck house about 90 feet long, with accommodation for the officers and crew (34 in summer and 55 in winter), and for the American and Canadian customs officers, as well as special quarters for the superintendent and superintending engineer of the railway company's marine department. The top of each deck house forms a promenade deck. There are three tracks, the two outer tracks being spread so as to clear the smokestacks, and the vessel can carry 24 freight cars or 12 Pullman cars. The cars are secured to the tracks with clamps and chains. The vessel had rudders and screws at both ends, for use in manoeuvring, but it is not double-ended; one end is normally the bow and has a high steel bridge spanning the tracks and carrying the pilot house. At each side of the river the boat is run with its bow against a pier or slip having three tracks. There are four compound engines of the marine type, with cylinders 24 X 33 and 48 X 33 inches. The crank shafts arc 10 3/4 inches diameter, of the built-up type and with counterbalanced cranks. There are two twin vertical compound air pumps, and duplicate compound boiler-feed pumps. As the vessel may stay in the slip for several hours, and the hot-well supply is then cut off by the stoppage of the air pumps, a special feed system is used. Two of the air pumps discharge into the bottom of a large feed tank, from which the water is pumped into an open Cochrane heater connected to the suction pipes of the feed pumps. The tank pump and feed pumps are fitted with pressure governors, and the feed-water supply is controlled entirely by the feed valves at the boilers. When the feed pumps are stopped, the water rises in the heater and by means of a float closes a valve in the delivery pipe of the tank pump, which pump is then shut down by its governor. The exhaust steam from the engines of the pumps, dynamos, fans and steering gear is passed through a separator and thence to the feed-water heater. Two direct connected dynamos supply current for the lighting system, including a large searchlight. Steam is supplied by four Scotch boilers; they are built for 150 lb. pressure, but except when the vessel is working in the ice the working pressure is 100 lb. Forced draft on the closed ash pit system is provided in case of necessity. There are four oblong smokestacks rising 35 feet above the deck and surrounded to a height of 14 feet by casings which serve as ventilating trunks for the fire rooms. The bunkers carry 300 tons of coal and are supplied by hopper bottom cars standing on the outer tracks over deck openings 40 feet long. The steel hull is very heavily built, but the keel is straight from end to end instead of being curved upward as in most ice-breaking steamers. The vessel is therefore designed to cut and drive a way through the ice instead of riding upon it and breaking it by the weight of the vessel. In 1910, the Michigan Central Railway completed a tunnel under the Detroit River and no longer needed use of transfer ferries. The Detroit was sold to the Wabash Railroad in 1912 (along with two other ferries: Transfer and Transport). She served the Wabash line until the 1960s. The above photo appeared in a 1905 news article in the Bulletin of the International Railway Congress. It was one of two included figures. The other figure is shown below. Detroit dispositionThe most recent info I could find on the Detroit. It was converted to a barge around 1970. Prolific GLEWCarferry Detroit was built by Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, in 1904. Converted from 3 tracks (24 cars) to 4 tracks (32 cars) in 1927. Reduced to car float at Detroit, summer 1969. -- Bowling Green State U. A Brief Trip to the SouthwestThis book has an account of a man traveling by train which was transported across the Detroit River From Canada to the US by the Transfer Ship Detroit in the late 1800s. Our trip in Canada terminates at Windsor Here we are confronted by the Detroit river about a mile in width which flows between Canada and the State of Michigan. To continue on our way we must pass this barrier This is successfully accomplished by means of an immense ferry boat Our lengthy train made up mostly of sleepers is broken into three sections placed on board of the boat and firmly secured Thus we are ferried over to the American shore The trip across this river is most interesting Steam and sailing craft plying in either direction are numerous while the shores on sides representing as they do the two foremost nations the world as well as the rippling sparkling water of the river charm and hold the eye with constant delight. From the ferry we are landed at Detroit Michigan. Pinch Points Old and NewWon't see any pinch point warning signs on the bow of this ferry. Nice pair of capstans to snug the ferry to the dock. Hope for the crew's sake they are steam powered and the holes for the capstan-bars at the top are for emergency backup purposes only. Tunnels under the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers now handle the rail traffic while the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan and the the Ambassador Bridge near downtown Detroit, Michigan handle the truck traffic. The steady increase in traffic flow at these border pinch points over the years, together with the wear and tear of decades of use has Michigan and Ontario governments scrambling to fund the billions it will cost to replace them. Real Example of ForeshorteningAt least I think that is the correct term, the head on shot makes it look much shorter than the side shot! The Detroit may still exist!After seeing this photo I remembered that I had seen something similar in a Bing aerial view -- sure enough, there it was. Its very reasonable to assume that the Detroit, with its very sturdy icebreaker hull, would have been converted from a steamer to a barge at some point in its life (probably right after WWII), and had additional track laid to carry more cars once the funnels were gone. The outline, size, and general arrangement, particularly the long deckhouses on each side, convinces me that this is the old Detroit. Bing aerials are usually 2 to 3 years behind, so I'm sure its gone by now. The location is in Ecorse, on the Detroit River, south of the city itself. Recent ViewHere is a recent view just off the Detroit River in Ecorse. It is still there, but not floating. Train ferry Detroit and its rare 2 pairs of propellersMost people comment about the large size of this ferry, its fortress, its resistance to the ice, its operative life for nearly 60 years, but nobody use to comment that this train ferry was one of the few (or maybe the only one) to have a double pair of propellers to navigate. It is rare and their function would surely be to facilitate the "go and return" with the trains, avoiding the need to make the turn to direct the bow to the destination pier and then to turn the ferry again to put the bow back toward the first dock. All with the trains over the deck. Of course, it is a rare mechanism, that of having two quiet propellers in the bow which would mean to have a small brake and resistance to the free slip of the ferry over the water. And in addition, also to have a double rudder system, one at each end. What a problem should have been driving this ship, my God!! I can´t upload a picture because it was not taken by me, (and this is not allowed in this site) but I may send pictures to the person who is interested on this point. OLIVERIO // oliverio.1@g.m.a.i.l.com (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC, Railroads)
Playtime Under the El: 1941
... has been removed. (The Gallery, Chicago, Kids, Railroads, Russell Lee) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/20/2018 - 12:35pm -

April 1941. "Children playing under the elevated on the southside of Chicago." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the FSA. View full size. "The baddest part of town"According to the late Jim Croce. My guess is that everything in this photo is long gone, due to urban renewal. XX64 S. WabashThe columns on the elevated match the design of the South Side L, today's Green Line. The Green Line runs mid-block between S. Wabash, out of sight on the right, and S. State Street, which is off-image to the left, where the front door of the building would be. S & L Auto Co. had an office or showroom at XX64 S. Wabash. If you've got a subscription to the Chicago Herald Archives, you can see their advertisement from Nov. 30, 1941, p. 74, here and pull the exact address. It would have to be north of 40th Street, given the route of the L. And yeah, most everything there has been knocked down and rebuilt since 1940. S & L auto seems to have had other locations including on one South Michigan Avenue, but the street and L don't line up right. Blues BrothersJake: "How often does that go by?" Elwood: "So often you won't even notice it" S & L Autoapparently extended from Michigan and across Wabash then, with its address as 3840 South Michigan. Here is what the area looks like today, part of the Bronzeville neighborhood. The Lee photograph was probably taken close to the corner of Wabash and Pershing Road, now the site of a much newer apartment building shown in the lower left. Not Everything GoneThe "L" (elevated) tracks are mostly still there. The South Side Rapid Transit (also known as the "Alley L" because it mostly ran over alleys) used this type of construction between about Roosevelt Road (12th St.) and about 42nd Street. Note the two lefthand columns in the picture are of one design, while the right hand is different. A third track was added fairly early in the SSRT's life. A few sections have been replaced (notably over the Stevenson Expressway), but much of the "L" structure still looks the same. The center track (which was reversible) has been removed. (The Gallery, Chicago, Kids, Railroads, Russell Lee)
Speed Limit 18
... (The Gallery, Eateries & Bars, John Vachon, Omaha, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/10/2017 - 1:16pm -

November 1938. "Saloon near railroad yards. Omaha, Nebraska." Our favorite thing here is the signage: Speed Limit 18 Miles, followed closely by Cleo Cola. Photo by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Trimble BrothersGreat story about their operation in Google Books. It's good to knowI can get cigarettes with my lunch, always a worry. The freight depot in the backgroundWas renovated into the Harriman Dispatch Center for the UP Railroad several years ago. Quite a dramatic change from its old job description to the current state of the art facility! This freight depot was in the background of the recent Vachon shot of the Gross Box Factory showing several dilapidated houses, and one large turkey! The photo was taken at the intersection of 10th and Jackson Streets, looking east and a bit south. Now you would see a parking lot for an Embassy Suites hotel. To the right is the northbound part of the 10th Street viaduct - also replaced by a modern structure, but with period railings and lamp posts. At the top of the viaduct is the old Union Station, which was donated to the city by the railroad in the early 70's and is now completely restored as the Durham Western Heritage Museum. Even though Jobber's Canyon is no more, many sister buildings still survive in the Old Market - behind Vachon's position as he took the photograph. Knobless obligeYou've got to love the old door blocking the (open) upstairs window. [J'adore! - Dave] Jobber's CanyonTheodore's Place was located at 601 South 10th Street. Trimble Brothers, in the background, was a fruit and vegetable company. This area, known as Jobber's Canyon, was all torn down to make room for the ConAgra campus in a controversial move that destroyed buildings on the historical register. Metz BrothersThe "MB" in the architectural decoration is for "Metz Brothers," a prominent Omaha brewer. They received a permit in 1897 to construct a two story building at 601 South Tenth Street. Named after a cigarIn 1935, the Whistle Cola Company introduced Cleo Cola, named after the owner's favorite cigar and featured Cleopatra as a trademark. Cleo Cola advertising is classic soda pop memorabilia and is very sought after by collectors. Make that 13Just a small detail, but there is not even a shadow of left side loops on the second numeral. But there are three definite beginnings of the points of a 3. Either way, 13 or 18, it's a strange speed limit. [You may need a new monitor or screen. -tterrace] Yes Termite, your new 3x5 clip clearly shows 18. But with the original Jumbo-Tron photo, it was clearly an unclear Thirteen! :>) Wormy [It's not a "new clip;" it's cropped from a direct, unaltered screenshot of the "View full size" that's been there since the initial posting. -tterrace] A very belated apology. I never really thought that you would alter an image. Best regards T.T. Wormy (The Gallery, Eateries & Bars, John Vachon, Omaha, Railroads)
The Pool Board: 1943
... There must have been a written code somewhere that all railroads subscribed to regarding yard office ambience. They were all the same ... make this...] (Technology, The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/29/2013 - 11:41am -

January 1943. "Freight operations on the Indiana Harbor Belt railroad between Chicago and Hammond, Indiana. The engine crew, engineer and fireman report at the roundhouse office to be assigned their engine and given orders for the day. The cylinder at the left is the pool board; it lists the names of the men and the order and shift in which they will work." Photo by Jack Delano. View full size. Wooden box with crankAnyone know what the wooden box with a crank handle is on the side of the desk over the trashcan? Being over the trash suggests some sort of shredder, but it's hard to imagine what they would have that needs shredding. A little cranky?@Carey - that is a telephone ringer. Inside the box is a magneto which generates a voltage so the operator knows there is an outgoing call. I used to have one just like this, which had bells on it like the one on the desk laying horizontally. They put out a good kick if you wanted to play a joke on someone. One long waitThe crank is almost certainly a ringer for the phone system.The wooden box is in character for the elderly, in-house phone set ups. In the early 70's, B&O trackside phones in places had a crank on a wooden box with a mouthpiece from a Laurel and Hardy flick. Penciled inside the cabinet were the different rings, for example "HB Tower:2 short; A Yard:1 long,3 short; HX Tower:1 long, to which a wiseguy added, "...and one long wait!" To use the phone, first you'd pick it up and make sure it isn't in use, then ring the call for your party,the other end would answer with a short ring and then you talk by pressing a button. [this was to prevent background chatter; it was one big party line...] All of this was made antique collectibles by the radio, even to the removal of the phone lines themselves. With the callboard nearby, someone in this office is a crewcaller, so the in-house phone line is for talking to the dispatcher, the trainmaster, the engine facility, etc. There also is a phone line to the outside, and if a crewman was within a certain distance from this office, callboys would go out and call at their doors. My name was on a similar board back in the "analog era". I wish I'd saved my peg. State-of-the-Art CommunicationsThat box with the crank is a magneto generator that produces ringing current of about 108 v.a.c. It's matched up with the three oak ringers (one on the desk, two on the wall above the window), and the oak 3-hole jack box behind the archboard on the desk. These also work with the three selector boxes between the ringers on the wall. Apparently he has 3 phone circuits. He chooses the one he wants to use with the jack box. To make an outgoing call, he cranks the magneto. Incoming calls are announced by the ringers, and the selectors control when the ringers announce an incoming call for this office. Information about railroad telephone equipment of this era, including links to archived user's manuals, can be found here. If you see oneyou’ve seen 'em all. There must have been a written code somewhere that all railroads subscribed to regarding yard office ambience. They were all the same until recently. Wires and bells and speakers everywhere. Wooden floors, bare bulbs, block phones, doors that closed somewhat tightly, and restroom facilities that challenged the dignity of anyone other than a rail. (The old Humboldt Yard Office of the Milwaukee Road had a urinal that consisted of a large sheet of tin fixed to the wall that one [there were no women in those days] would pee against, and the urine would run down the tin into a horizontal length of rain gutter.) Although I can’t be certain, I’m going to guess the featured picture was taken at the IHB Blue Island yard. The two guys in the window are in their locker room, apparently waiting for a clearance and orders, or getting ready to tie up. Carbide lampThe bright image in the lower window appears to be a carbide lamp probably an oxweld they were extremely common for that time. Pool boardHow does the pool board work? Is it meant to be rotated when there's a shift change, so that the current shift is visible and the off-duty shift is on the "dark side"? What information is being represented? Why are the tags in pairs - is it driver/conductor teams? Does the column of tags with labels represent assignments to trains? Is the Pool In/Pool Out like the bench? Merch, baby!The Shorpy Store (TM) doesn't seem to stock that attractive Shorpy(R) brand wastebasket... that's a missed revenue opportunity! The tags.As this photo was taken in a roundhouse/engine terminal office, they'd be paired for an locomotive engineer and fireman. IHB in those days was a terminal/switching road, so the assignments would most likely be for switching jobs or transfer runs. Pool Board quick [?]On B&O at least, the engineers' pool and conductors' pools were separate. Since one pool had a few more crews than the other, this was necessary. Engineers pools included a fireman, and later, a trainee, while the conductors turns showed the head brakeman,flagman, and in 1943, maybe a swingman. If a position was vacant, no peg was there. Bulletins were issued weekly advertising vacancies on regular jobs/pool crew and new jobs. If you look to the right side of that board, those tags seem to show regular train or probably yard assignments; these would show the engineer, fireman, conductor [yard foreman on B&O] and the switchmen. In practice, if a man was off, i.e. sick or vacation, etc., his tag was removed from his regular assignment and shown in what ever status. Somewhere on that board are extra boards for engineers, road conductors, brakemen, etc. As these extra men are called, their pegs are placed on the appropriate job with its regular men; when their trip is over, they are marked back up on the extra list at the bottom. Note there is a window behind the board; this way a man can look at the board to see where he "stands" as he marks up, and see where everyone else is too. (The crews were kept on the other side of the window. Time slips, orders, etc. were handed through the "dutch window" above the caller's head.An experienced man could look this board over and tell you what job he's working tomorrow, and what job you're working too.[Sorry, Dave. This is about as quick as I could make this...] (Technology, The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Steel Wheels: 1942
... few standard wheelset sizes for freight cars, so a lot of railroads keep a supply of new or rebuilt wheelsets (the assembly of two wheels ... flange profile. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/28/2013 - 11:31am -

November 1942. "Chicago. In the locomotive repair shops at an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. wheel shopThis is not a locomotive shop. It is a wheel shop and there are wheels from freight and passenger cars present. The wheelset under the hoist is a passenger car set. The gearbox between the wheels drives a generator which charges batteries for the car electric system. Wheels need to be reprofiled due to wear or flat spots. Industrial atmosphereJD was really a master at composing gorgeous photographs of quotidian subjects and this is no exception. What serendipity to have an arrow on the floor. be sure you are SAFE, then go ahead with your jobThese look like freight car wheels, or non-powered locomotive wheels... they don't have the gear or traction motor that powered wheels would have. (Yes, there were diesel-electric locomotives in and before WWII. Just not very many.) The wheelset to the right of the man standing, with the gearbox-looking thing in the middle of the axle and a pile of small parts on the floor in front of it, might be designed to drive an under-car generator. Before locomotives provided electricity to the train, some passenger cars were lit by generators turned by their own wheels - sort of like a giant bicycle headlight. Each car would have its own generator, and batteries for use while in the station. I think the big machine with the electric motor on top is a wheel lathe. Railroad wheels are made with a certain taper to the "tread"; this makes the train car center itself between the rails and go around curves smoothly. After a while, the wheels wear down, and the train car will track badly; one fix is to re-machine the tread back to the proper taper, which is what a wheel lathe is for. There are a few standard wheelset sizes for freight cars, so a lot of railroads keep a supply of new or rebuilt wheelsets (the assembly of two wheels and an axle) at big freight yards. If a car needs new wheels, they hoist it up with jacks or a crane and swap the wheelsets - the old wheelsets go on top of a flat car. When the flat car is full, it goes to a shop like this, so all the wheelsets can be inspected for cracks and re-machined in batches. Cracked wheels and axles, and wheels that have worn so much that they can't be re-machined, are sold for scrap; often they are melted down and cast back into new railroad wheels. Powered axles have a traction motor in the middle. Sometimes these are swapped out complete just like non-powered axles, but sometimes the wheels are re-machined on the car. There are wheel lathes that sit in a pit under the tracks; the train car is driven over the pit, a small section of the track is removed, and the lathe can machine the wheels while they are still installed. The trolley crane, with exposed conductor rails, is a nice touch. These days, there would probably be a long insulated cable feeding this crane. Really big cranes (enough to lift an entire locomotive with) still have busbars like this, but they're buried under a lot of insulation. Train Wheels.While visiting the U.P. Yard in Cheyenne I spied a flat car, tarp covered, with a huge load upon it as the car was bent under the weight. The worker told me it was a wheel lathe as this rail road maintains gorgeous steam 2-6-6-2's that are used. The wheels on the engines and cars are of cast iron to which a steel "tire" with flange must be shrunk fitted. Can you imagine turning an 80" locomotive wheel so it is within .001" round? When the wheel is finished a steel "tire" is then fitted by heating the steel disk so it expands over the wheel and locks solid when cool... a very hard and precise job indeed! One of Jack Delano's photos show a roaring hot tire just fitted.... take a look by searching for: "Wheel of Fire". Spicer driveThe name of this drive that powered the generators off the wheel axle is known as a Spicer drive. It used generally two universal joints, a drive shaft, and a large generator to charge the onboard batteries, normally 32V. The Spicer drive only effectively charged the batteries at road speed. According to Amtrak's Standard Maintenance Procedure or SMP revised 3-4-2011, "Effective January 1, 2015, use of an axle drive for a generator system (either Spicer or belt) is prohibited at the time of the car's next PC-1 annual inspection, and the drive apparatus must be removed from the axle by that time." So if you see one, get a photo of it as they will become more rare to see in operation! Lathes, wheels, tyresAs an apprentice I spent some time in the wheel shop. I can't be absolutely certain, but that machine in the centre of the photo looks like a tread grinding machine - used to re-profile the treads of chilled cast iron wheels - rather than a wheel lathe. Wheel lathes typically have large headstocks and large diameter faceplates at both ends. As for loco driving wheels, by the 1940s US practice favoured the use of cast steel wheel centres. The preserved UP locos referred to have steel Boxpok wheels. The locos I work on have 69" diameter Boxpoks, which we re-tyred some back in 2003-4. On most locos I've worked on the tyres are not just retained simply by shrink fitting. Older locos with cast iron wheel centres have studs through the wheel rim, and more modern locos with steel wheels use a Gibson ring. The car wheels in this photo appear to be multiple-wear wrought steel wheels, which were in very widespread use on passenger by 1942. These were one-piece wheels with no separate tyre. They could be machined when worn to restore the tread and flange profile. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
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