Steam & Excursion > Steam Railroading Could Be, At Times, All A Matter Of Balance!

Some of the risks involved in the operation of steam locomotives were quite obvious to all who ran these engines. Other risks were less apparent but, nonetheless, were still present.

The date is December 2, 1933 and Northwestern Pacific 4-4-0 #23 has been pulled onto the wooden turntable at Ignacio, California so she could be turned before her next run. Unfortunately, for her crew, she has been backed too far onto the turntable and she has gone past the center point of balance for the turntable with this dramatic result.

Hopefully this mess can be corrected by simply attaching a cable to the front of #23 and pulling her out of her predicament. Needless to say the turntable and it's wooden walkway will need some attention before being put back into service.

Again, it is all about balance.


Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/17 04:50 by LoggerHogger.

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A nasty little trick a steam engine will pull on you when trying to inch ahead just a few inches, such as balancing on a turntable, spotting under smoke jack in roundhouse, or closing up to a bumper. The hostler rocks his throttle in an effort to draw just a small amount of steam, and she suddenly lifts water which flashes into a too large volume of steam in the dry pipe, and she jackrabbits. I suspect we are looking at the result of one such event for the surprised hostler.

DON'T rock the throttle if your water's high.

-Larry Doyle



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/17 06:15 by LarryDoyle.

Opps!

AW CRAP

Interesting pic!
Presumably the turntable end must be supported when the table end is aligned with the lead track(s). Seems surprising they could not at least build some support for the other end of the table.

hotrail Wrote:
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> Interesting pic!
> Presumably the turntable end must be supported
> when the table end is aligned with the lead
> track(s).

This table doesn't appear to have ring rail and 3 point suspension. Just the center pivot, like on a swing bridge.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/17 09:56 by CPR_4000.

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> This table doesn't appear to have ring rail and 3
> point suspension. Just the center pivot, like on a
> swing bridge.


"A frame" (also gallows) turntables were always single point balanced suspension. They may have a ring rail with or without wheels, or rarely a ring of wooden blocks, or only wooden blocks aligned at each approach track. Never two point suspension or three point suspension.

-LD

You can see the ring of bearings near the center of the turntable.

Martin

Per Fred Stindt, the Ignacio turntable was dismantled in 1934 so I would not be surprised if the "Jack Rabbit"(the NWP's rails' name for #23 ) mishap was last service for this turning facility.

WP-M2051 Wrote:
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> Per Fred Stindt, the Ignacio turntable was
> dismantled in 1934 so I would not be surprised if
> the "Jack Rabbit"(the NWP's rails' name for #23 )
> mishap was last service for this turning facility.


I was wondering if the turntable was even rebuilt, that looks like a lot of work to rebuild.