Steam & Excursion > Reliance Road Souderton, Pa Before Diesels

Three scenes on the Reading Company Bethlehem Branch at Reliance Road crossing in Souderton, Pa.
Note the Pacific on an iron ore freight train. These locomotives had cab signals and so were often leaders on the branch which was equipped with a cab signal system.

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That camelback on a passenger train is a surprise. That was such dangerous, uncomfortable work for the fireman!
Bob
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/17 18:10 by refarkas.

refarkas Wrote:
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> That camelback on a passenger train is a surprise.
> That was such dangerous, uncomfortable work for
> the fireman!
> Bob

Why "dangerous, uncomfortable"?   The Engineer was in far more potential "danger", since he was directly over the rods/running gear.  

HotWater Wrote:
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> refarkas Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That camelback on a passenger train is a
> surprise.
> > That was such dangerous, uncomfortable work for
> > the fireman!
> > Bob
>
> Why "dangerous, uncomfortable"?   The Engineer
> was in far more potential "danger", since he was
> directly over the rods/running gear.  

That's exactly why that design went on to be prohibited.
Great photos!!!!

Anyone else notice the freshly oiled joint bars in the first pic?

TG

Yes.

TrackGuy Wrote:
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> Anyone else notice the freshly oiled joint bars in
> the first pic?
>
> TG

I don't think anybody had a very good place to ride on a camelback. There is a small cab on the fireman's side, but I doubt he ever got a chance to ride there. And how did you board that thing with your grip anyway? No place to set it, and really no room in the cab on either side for a normal size human. I don't even want to know about bathroom breaks.

TrackGuy Wrote:
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> Anyone else notice the freshly oiled joint bars in
> the first pic?
>
> TG

What is the reason behind doing this?

Anthracite coal burned slower than bituminous and so it needed a wider firebox, the cab couldn't fit over it so it was moved forward to stradle the boiler.

Although by the time of these photos, the Reading used very little anthracite as locomotive fuel.  My late friend, Charlie Kachel who hired on with the Reading in 1941, related to me that passenger engines in fact got 100% soft coal to ensure keeping on schedule. Freight engines typically got less than 10% hard coal mixed in with the soft coal. He also mentioned that there were some crafty freight engineers who would slip the hostle a few bucks for a load of the passnenger coal! Based on the smoke plumes, not much anthracite burning going on here.

Chris Bost
Leesport, PA

The joints were oiled so they could expand and contract, rail control technology had'nt yet emerged to prevent rail 's lengthwise expansion like used today on string rail.
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