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Steam & Excursion > When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engine!Date: 10/13/17 02:54 When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engine! Author: LoggerHogger Not all railroads were created equal, by a long shot! Some were built with gentle grades along slow moving streams and rivers while others were built to conquer steep mountains to reach their intended destinations. This called for a variety of steam motive power to be designed to meet each application.
The steep and winding 3-foot gauge Uintah Railway of Mack, Colorado certainly tested the limits of more than one locomotive manufacturer as we see in this photo. Here we see a July 4th train in 1911 approaching a very tight curve at McAndrews on the Uintah. With track curving as sharply as we see here, the use of Shay geared locomotives should surprise no one. In her early days of operation, the Uintah relied on a fleet of 2-truck Shays for this stretch of the line along with a pair of Baldwin 0-6-2T saddle tank rod engines for short passenger trains of one or 2 cars. Finally in the early 1920's Uintah returned to Baldwin to see if larger rod power could be designed for this steep and twisting railroad. The answer was the 2 articulated 2-6-6-2T's that the line became famous for. As for this train, the Shay seems to have it under control despite the curves ahead. Martin Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/17 04:25 by LoggerHogger.  Date: 10/13/17 08:14 Re: When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engin Author: BAB Like the group on the speeder trailer............never today but back then fun.
Date: 10/13/17 14:59 Re: When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engin Author: Margaret_SP_fan That railroad was amazing!! Hairpin turns and
unbelievable grades -- with rod engines! Talk about doing the impossible! Thanks for the reminder of this great little railroad and for the great photo! For those who are interested in the Uintah Railway and want to learn more ab out it, Henry Bender, who is in the NRHS and is a superb historian, wrote an excellent book on this railroad, "Uintah Railway: The Gilsonite Route", first published in 1965, It is around 240 pages, depending on the edition. I found it fascinating. https://www.amazon.com/Uintah-Railway-Gilsonite-Henry-Bender/dp/0911581367 "Gilsonite" is, I learned from this great book, a naturally-occurring form of asphalt, and was first gotten to market by mules or donkeys, then later in trains. One curve on this standard-gauge railroad was 66 degrees, and the maximum grade topped out at 7-1/2 percent! The Uintah Railway ran from 1904 to 1939. Date: 10/13/17 15:28 Re: When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engin Author: PlyWoody That one curve was even greater when built. "One curve on this standard [NARROW]-gauge railroad was 66 degrees, and the maximum grade topped out at 7-1/2 percent!" When the Baldwin 2-6-6-2T was ordered, that curve was a 88 degree curve but the railroad in prep for this engine rebuilt it to 66 degrees, but the grade stayed the same. Gage was 36 inches.
The grade was a real problem on frosty conditions. In 1920, the Uintah bought a new Shay (a Second #6 but that is another story) and in the initial tests of this new engine, it happened that in order to return to Atchee Shop they had to leave the summit on a frosty morning with no cars attached to the engine. Not a good idea! A short distance from the summit the locomotive began to slide down the 7.5% grade and nothing can stop a slide once it begins. The crew jumped free and the locomotive was a new project for the shop and Lima filled the order book for repair parts. It was that engineers second run away on the grade so he left for the flatlands and never ran on the Uintah again. Can anyone explain why the Lima Service department records show the railroad owned 6 Shays when it also had only 5 Baldwin locomotives? POORS MANUAL and the counts given to the ICC was eleven engines before the 6th Baldwin was obtained. Sundance Publication, Ltd also published two hard cover books by Rodger Polley on this private ng railroad. Date: 10/13/17 21:39 Re: When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engin Author: TonyJ Also available is a wonderful video containing lots of film footage of the 2-6-6-2s and other locomotives.
Date: 10/14/17 02:02 Re: When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engin Author: Margaret_SP_fan So sorry for the error about the gauge.
The Uintah was a NARROW-gauge RR. Thanks for the fascinating info! Date: 10/14/17 07:10 Re: When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engin Author: doge_of_pocopson For a really interesting modern tour of the Uintah, see BoilingMan's "Necrophoamin' the Uintah" series here from a few months ago. Awesome. B
Date: 10/14/17 08:16 Re: When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engin Author: kilroydiver That looks like some very creative model railroading, not something you'd see on a real railroad! I can say that I have never seen anything like that before.
Dave Date: 10/14/17 13:54 Re: When Your Track Looks Like This - You Need This Kind Of Engin Author: Margaret_SP_fan Here are the links to BoilingMan's 6 excellent photo
essays on the Uintah Railway, titled "Necrophoamin the Uintah": #1: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4348335,4348336#msg-4348336 #2: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4348437,4348441#msg-4348441 #3: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4348886,4348886#msg-4348886 #4: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4349331,4349403#msg-4349403 #5: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4349527,4349527#msg-4349527 #6: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4349894,4349894#msg-4349894 |