Well, it seems that the August 20, 2012 operation westbound of the 765 steam locomotive was without assistance of the diesel locomotive. According to the November issue of Trains Magazine at page 80, "765's Glory Moment," reports that Norfolk Southern's Chairman, Wick Moorman was in the cab. The diesel was idling and the steam locomotive solely pulled the train using all its steam capacity to do so. The speed dropped to 10.9 miles per hour. The ES44AC diesel locomotive (Built at Erie, PA by GE) was used to assist the steam locomotive in reaching the curve from Altoona and then again after 765 had completed the westbound leg of the Horseshoe Curve. Going round the curve, steam energy did all the work.
I have to say, as dramatic as the transit was for the 765, I hope the Fort Wayne Historical Society, its owner, never puts such stress on the machine again. Perhaps it would have been more prudent to have used the extra power of the ES44AC on the curve.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The Kink or the Horseshoe Curve
On August 13, 2012 the Norfolk Southern Railroad operated a special
train with a steam locomotive westbound over the Horseshoe Curve. Here is a video of the Horseshoe Curve trip made
from an open door of a following baggage car. Here is the video link:
At 0:09 seconds the locomotive is above Bakers Run at milepost 241.7. This is a 9.0 degree curve with a 4 inch right rail elevation. The speed limit has changed from 35 mph to 30 mph for freight and 44 mph for passenger trains on the Horseshoe Curve. The degree of climb is 1.34.
At 0:33 seconds the curvature stiffens to 9.4 degrees at milepost 241.8. The degree of climb remains 1.34.
At 0:44 seconds the public observation area with many onlookers is seen. A PRR GP9 locomotive is on display representing the first fleet of diesel locomotives that replaced steam locomotives in the early 1950's.
At 1:47 the steam locomotive ahead is nearly at the end of the 9.4 degree curve. The degree of climb increases to 1.76.
The steam locomotive used by the Norfolk Southern Railroad to acknowledge its thirty year corporate existence is Number 765. It was built after WWII for the Nickle Plate Railroad, a predecessor component of today's Norfolk Southern Railroad. Number 765 was built by the Lima Company. Today it is preserved and operated by the Fort Wayne Historical Society. In addition, the steam locomotive was assisted by a new diesel locomotive painted in the colors used by the Nickle Plate Railroad when it dieselized in the mid 1950's. Assisted might be the wrong word as the diesel locomotive is an ES44AC model built by GE at Erie, PA. It has 4400 horsepower. In reality is it the steam locomotive that assists the diesel locomotive?
Then there was the sound. The locomotive had both its nickle plate whistle and a PRR whistle. The second sounding of the whistle as the train passed the observation area was the higher pitched scream of the PRR whistle. Add to the sound its amplification off the rock face to the right and the giant amphiteater that is the Horseshoe Curve was demonstrated.
What the sound of a steam locomotive working against a steep grade and severe curvature demonstrates is how the 1850's civil engineering of the Horseshoe curve is a kink in the Pittsburgh to Harrisburg line.
Compare photographs of a steam powered passenger train operated by Conrail in October of 1976 over the Horseshoe Curve. Conrail had been formed from bankrupt railroad companies in April of 1976. Its principle component was the Penn Central Railroad Company which had earlier been the product of a merger between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad.
The steam locomotive was a Reading Railroad T1 steam locomotive built after WWII assisted by a GP30 locomotive with 2250 horsepower. The T1 steam locomotive was owned by a group of persons at Akron, Ohio wanting to operate and maintain a steam locomotive.
Seen below and expressed by the large cloud of white steam is the point where the steam locomotive lost traction and wheels spun wildly as the engineer cut the throttle in order to regain traction. This is at about 0:25 on the video.
At 0:09 seconds the locomotive is above Bakers Run at milepost 241.7. This is a 9.0 degree curve with a 4 inch right rail elevation. The speed limit has changed from 35 mph to 30 mph for freight and 44 mph for passenger trains on the Horseshoe Curve. The degree of climb is 1.34.
At 0:33 seconds the curvature stiffens to 9.4 degrees at milepost 241.8. The degree of climb remains 1.34.
At 0:44 seconds the public observation area with many onlookers is seen. A PRR GP9 locomotive is on display representing the first fleet of diesel locomotives that replaced steam locomotives in the early 1950's.
At 1:47 the steam locomotive ahead is nearly at the end of the 9.4 degree curve. The degree of climb increases to 1.76.
The steam locomotive used by the Norfolk Southern Railroad to acknowledge its thirty year corporate existence is Number 765. It was built after WWII for the Nickle Plate Railroad, a predecessor component of today's Norfolk Southern Railroad. Number 765 was built by the Lima Company. Today it is preserved and operated by the Fort Wayne Historical Society. In addition, the steam locomotive was assisted by a new diesel locomotive painted in the colors used by the Nickle Plate Railroad when it dieselized in the mid 1950's. Assisted might be the wrong word as the diesel locomotive is an ES44AC model built by GE at Erie, PA. It has 4400 horsepower. In reality is it the steam locomotive that assists the diesel locomotive?
Then there was the sound. The locomotive had both its nickle plate whistle and a PRR whistle. The second sounding of the whistle as the train passed the observation area was the higher pitched scream of the PRR whistle. Add to the sound its amplification off the rock face to the right and the giant amphiteater that is the Horseshoe Curve was demonstrated.
What the sound of a steam locomotive working against a steep grade and severe curvature demonstrates is how the 1850's civil engineering of the Horseshoe curve is a kink in the Pittsburgh to Harrisburg line.
Compare photographs of a steam powered passenger train operated by Conrail in October of 1976 over the Horseshoe Curve. Conrail had been formed from bankrupt railroad companies in April of 1976. Its principle component was the Penn Central Railroad Company which had earlier been the product of a merger between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad.
The steam locomotive was a Reading Railroad T1 steam locomotive built after WWII assisted by a GP30 locomotive with 2250 horsepower. The T1 steam locomotive was owned by a group of persons at Akron, Ohio wanting to operate and maintain a steam locomotive.
Seen below and expressed by the large cloud of white steam is the point where the steam locomotive lost traction and wheels spun wildly as the engineer cut the throttle in order to regain traction. This is at about 0:25 on the video.
This photograph portrays the position of the train in the video at 0:33.
In 1957 the steam locomotive to the left was put on static display. It was a PRR steam locomotive built at Altoona's Juniata Shops. It was part of the 435 K4 type passenger locomotives built. The K4 was removed from static display in 1986 and returned to operating status in 1987 for a brief period of time. It is now located at the Railroaders Memorial Museum at Altoona, PA.
The location of the locomotive in the photograph below is at 1:38 in the video. The steam locomotive has again lost its footing and the enigneer is in the process of regaining traction. The lazy plume of smoke is indicative of the slow speed near a walk as the smoke plume is being blown forward.
Note that in 1976 there were four tracks over the Horseshoe Curve. The track second from left was lifted by Conrail and the materials recycled for use elsewhere. The ballast is fouled and the ties are covered with stone. That was the result of deferred maintenance. The blackened area on the stone ballast shows the result of friction wheel bearings. In 1976 a substantial portion of the freight car fleet had wheel sets with friction bearings. The axle ends rested in an enclosure with a pool of oil. The decades long conversion of the freight car fleet to roller bearings was just beginning.
Here the photograph is at 1:38 in the video. The 1976 trip was a struggle for the steam locomotive and diesel used then. The operation shown in the video was anything like that in 1976.
It was a kink in 1976. The Horseshoe Curve is a kink today.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
"Railway Age" Comments 8th World Conference HSR Philladelphia 7/10-13/12
Comments in the trade journal, "Railway Age" about the 8th World Conference on High Speed Rail held in Philadelphia 7/10-13/12 can be found on page 30 of the August issue. Go to www.Railwayage.com. In the upper right corner click on "digital edition." The next page will show three issues of the magazine. The left image is for the August 2012 issue. Click on the August issue and go to page 30.
For the 6/27/12 comments about the conference from an international perspective, see "International Railway Journal" at http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/blogs/david-briginshaw/when-will-the-usa-join-the-high-speed-rail-club.html?channel=#.UDrDS0Qri39
For the 6/27/12 comments about the conference from an international perspective, see "International Railway Journal" at http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/blogs/david-briginshaw/when-will-the-usa-join-the-high-speed-rail-club.html?channel=#.UDrDS0Qri39
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Comments New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago Route
What is most interesting about the proposed route for the New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago route is that its location had such favorable grades and its location was direct. While the line's curves were not to exceed 4 degrees, that degree curvature is too severe for Higher Speed Rail (HrSR). So, the proposed location needs today to be looked at from the standpoint of location with 2 degree or less for curves. If the location were considered for high speed rail (HSR) curves should be 1 degree or less
Recently sketches of the map for the proposed NYPC RR with grade profile have been provided to this testplant blog from the Interstate Commerce Commission, Finance Docket 4,741, February 27, 1930. It is noteworthy that closer examination finds that at its crossing of the Allegheny Frontal would be a grade of 1.337% for a distance of 7 miles. The line was to use a 1560 foot tunnel. A longer tunnel and / or combination of using the face of the Allegheny frontal to ascend could have lessened the grade. In fact, a five mile long tunnel was also proposed that lessened the grade to .03 per cent.
The steep grade was to have been from Houtzdale to a place about 5 miles northeast of Tyrone, PA using Emigh's Gap.
The Pennsylvania Railroad in an apparent competitive contingency to the NYPC RR planned a shorter low grade line across Pennsylvania that today's historians name the "Sam Rea" line after the PRR president who's name is on it. It crossed the Allegheny frontal between Tyrone and a place south of there that was north of Bellwood, PA. It did so with a longer tunnel and but heavier grade proposed by the NYPC RR yet remaining less than 1%.
Both The NYPC RR and "Sam Rea" line would have used dramatic viaducts likely rivaling the one built across the Tunkhannock creek known as the Nicholson Viaduct 1912 - 1915 by the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad.
If the rough location of the NYPC RR were followed across Pennsylvania for a new high speed rail (HSR) line, structures like this one in Germany would be built. A viaduct on this magnitude together with a longer tunnel at the proposed NYPC RR (Emigh's Gap) route over and through the Allegheny frontal would result in a lesser grade.
Recently sketches of the map for the proposed NYPC RR with grade profile have been provided to this testplant blog from the Interstate Commerce Commission, Finance Docket 4,741, February 27, 1930. It is noteworthy that closer examination finds that at its crossing of the Allegheny Frontal would be a grade of 1.337% for a distance of 7 miles. The line was to use a 1560 foot tunnel. A longer tunnel and / or combination of using the face of the Allegheny frontal to ascend could have lessened the grade. In fact, a five mile long tunnel was also proposed that lessened the grade to .03 per cent.
The steep grade was to have been from Houtzdale to a place about 5 miles northeast of Tyrone, PA using Emigh's Gap.
 |
| Thomas Moran woodcut looking east from Emigh's Gap, published "Pennsylvania Railroad Historical and Descriptive" 1875. |
Both The NYPC RR and "Sam Rea" line would have used dramatic viaducts likely rivaling the one built across the Tunkhannock creek known as the Nicholson Viaduct 1912 - 1915 by the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad.
See http://www.historicbridges.org/pennsylvania/tunkhannock/photos.htm to learn about the construction of the viaduct with the tools available in 1912.
If the rough location of the NYPC RR were followed across Pennsylvania for a new high speed rail (HSR) line, structures like this one in Germany would be built. A viaduct on this magnitude together with a longer tunnel at the proposed NYPC RR (Emigh's Gap) route over and through the Allegheny frontal would result in a lesser grade.
Check out http://1x1.fi/9130 for more photographs of German high speed rail (HSR) construction in topography similar to Pennsylvania's.
The NYPC RR would have required 19 bridges / viaducts and 35 tunnels. Today, the number would be different due to the ability to create cuts and fills with diesel powered hydraulic construction equipment not possible with woven wire propelled steam shovels, pneumatic drills, dynamite, temporary narrow haul spoil haulage trains, and towers supporting buckets of concrete on woven steel wires.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Low Grade Survey Mid Pennsylvania 1906
From the New York Times archives, August 14, 1906. The article reports that the President of the Wabash Railroad, Joseph Ramsey, Jr. had made a survey to cross Pennsylvania for a proposed New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago Railroad. It was to gain access to Pittsburgh via the railroad on the west bank of the Allegheny River. At Freeport, PA northeast a new railroad was to be built east to Easton, PA.
George Gould had aspirations to create a transcontinental railroad. He controlled the Wabash Railroad. By 1906 he had assembled from east to west, the Western Maryland Railroad, (There was a gap from Connellsville, PA to Pittsburgh.), Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway, Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad, Wabash Railroad, Missouri Pacific Railway, Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, Rio Grande Western Railway, Western Pacific Railway.
The proposed New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago Railroad would have had a ruling grade not exceeding .04 per cent. And, the railroad was to have been electrified. In 1906 no long distance AC railroad electrification existed. However, the electrical engineering capacity to have built such a system was then on the drawing boards ready to be applied in the real world. The Western Maryland gave George Gould access to Baltimore, MD. The New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago would have had access to Philadelphia through connections with the Reading Railroad.
This has significance for High Speed Railroad purposes toady as it identified a route across Pennsylvania that is direct and had low grades.
Closer Look 1907 "High Line"
In 1907 the PRR considered construction of additional capacity from Petersburg, PA to Rockville, PA. Here is a closer look:
The "High Line" began where the mainline (yellow) met the
branch line (dotted yellow) from Hollidaysburg to the west.
The red line on the blue prints of the PRR map is as drawn.
The "High Line" began where the mainline (yellow) met the
branch line (dotted yellow) from Hollidaysburg to the west.
The red line on the blue prints of the PRR map is as drawn.
The red line for the proposed "High Line" is approximate on the
following Google images.
 |
| PennDOT Photograph of a portion of the talus rock formation along the Lewistown Narrows or Jack's Narrows on Shade Mountain. Construction across the talus fields would have posed significant problems. |
California High Speed Rail and WHY It's Important for the Nation
The "Sacramento Bee" newspaper on 8/13/12 reported about a podcast addressing the importance of high speed rail. See the link below to access the podcast. Set aside an hour for the podcast. It is worth the time.
"California High-Speed Rail and Why It's Important for the Nation"
presented by Rod Diridon, Sr.
By Mineta Transportation Institute
Published: Monday, Aug. 13, 2012 - 11:53 am
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) will present a free podcast on Wednesday, August 15, as part of its monthly Transportation Innovation Series. The program will feature Rod Diridon, Sr., presenting a series of slides on "California High-Speed Rail and Why It's Important for the Nation." The free program will be podcast from 1-2pm Eastern, and 10-11am Pacific. Access at http://mediasite.yorkcast.com/webcast/Viewer/?peid=7b7cc7961ffc4fa9bdbf47f6c530578f1d
Mr. Diridon is executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) at San Jose (Calif.) State University. MTI is the lead organization for the Mineta National Transit Research Consortium (MNTRC), a collaboration of nine university transportation centers across the U.S.
His presentation will explain why California's high-speed rail will benefit the U.S. and our environment, and why the state's $68 billion project is an important part of the national plan.
In mid-July, California's legislature gave final approval to sell the Proposition 1A high-speed rail bonds, and it approved the revised business plan. Mr. Diridon will explain the schedule for the first $6 billion in contracts and the related Requests for Proposals (RFPs) now in circulation. He also will explain the differences between true high-speed rail and the incremental upgrades, how HSR will integrate with feeder systems, and how it will create long-term economic benefits..
DISCLAIMER: The views of the presenter do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
ABOUT ROD DIRIDON, SR.
Rod Diridon, Sr., has served as executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) since 1995, four years after its creation by Congress. Mr. Diridon has chaired more than 100 international, national, state and local programs, most related to transit and the environment. He frequently provides legislative testimony on sustainable transportation issues and is regarded by many as the "father" of modern transit service in Silicon Valley. He was appointed by Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger, in 2001 and 2006, respectively, to the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board, of which he is chair emeritus. He helped found, and is chair emeritus of, the High-Speed and Intercity Rail Committee and the National High-Speed Rail Corridors Coalition of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). He also served as president of the national Council of University Transportation Centers.
ABOUT RITA The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) coordinates the U.S. Department of Transportation's research and education programs, and is working to bring advanced technologies into the transportation system. RITA also offers vital transportation statistics and analysis, and supports national efforts to improve education and training in transportation-related fields. RITA works to ensure that the nation's transportation research investments produce results for the American people. Visit www.rita.dot.gov
ABOUT THE MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) conducts research, education, and information and technology transfer, focusing on multimodal surface transportation policy and management issues, especially as they relate to transit. MTI was established by Congress in 1991 as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and was reauthorized under TEA-21 and again under SAFETEA-LU. The Institute has been funded by Congress through the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration, by the California Legislature through the Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and by other public and private grants and donations, including grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DOT selected MTI as a National Center of Excellence following competitions in 2002 and 2006. The internationally respected members of the MTI Board of Trustees represent all major surface transportation modes. MTI's focus on policy and management resulted from the Board's assessment of the transportation industry's unmet needs. That led directly to choosing the San Jose State University College of Business as the Institute's home. Visit transweb.sjsu.edu
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