Steam & Excursion > Pennsylvania Horse Shoe Curve steam helper action c. 1950

Here is another photo from what I think is Horse Shoe curve around 1950, I don't know a lot about PRR steam, but I don't understand the photographers not taking pics. Must have been in a film saving mode or bored or ???

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Yes, they are pushing west. Some people with no real interest in trains go just to see the curve. It's billed as a world famous tourist attraction and national landmark.

Posted from Android

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

There were lots of trains up and downhill, all day long and all night long ....

It was the PARADE that was the spectacle, not the individual locos...
Why take redundant pics?
There’ll be another train coming up hill, double headed & with a couple of pushers. —- coming next, in under ten minutes!!!

As well as, down hill traffic: passengers, freight, and returning pushers...to Altoona ...

“The Glory Days” were between 1945 & 1955....

W.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/18 11:09 by wcamp1472.

The dude in the left may have already taken the photo he wanted by the time the locomotives came into view. As for the guys in the right, perhaps the one gal is more interesting than the helper locomotives.

Historical note..

Since 1970, there’s only been one steamer that’s conquered that Hill, unassisted by ANY dismal helpers
And only one engineer to do it ...2 TIMES...

“Often imitated, never duplicated...”

W.

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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> Historical note..
>
> Since 1970, there’s only been one steamer
> that’s conquered that Hill, unassisted by ANY
> dismal helpers
> And only one engineer to do it ...2 TIMES...
>
> “Often imitated, never duplicated...”
>
> W.
Please don't keep us in the dark, tell us who and what locomotive? Also, how many cars was the engine pulling? Thanks Wes.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wcamp1472 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Historical note..
> >
> > Since 1970, there’s only been one steamer
> > that’s conquered that Hill, unassisted by ANY
> > dismal helpers
> > And only one engineer to do it ...2 TIMES...
> >
> > “Often imitated, never duplicated...”
> >
> > W.
> Please don't keep us in the dark, tell us who and
> what locomotive? Also, how many cars was the
> engine pulling? Thanks Wes.
> John in White Marsh, Maryland


Good grief! I though that ANYBODY and EVERYBODY even remotely knowledgeable about main line steam operations throughout the U.S. knew/knows about the famous NKP 759 trips on Horseshoe Curve.

John,

If I’ve ever seen a slow pitch, THAT WAS IT!
I was tempted to “knock it out of the park!!”, but modesty restrained me...
( But, thanks for chance to swing at it...few folks of your stature and experience, can get away with trying to make a credible inquiry...).

Thanks for the memory, others have the stats...

W.

Oh, and by the way... the pushers have nice “clean” stacks, to boot!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/18 11:18 by wcamp1472.

"Horseshoe Curve"?? All that stuff is sooo "Eastern".

Out

Could very well be 2 class M-1's on that shove.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

RNinRVR Wrote:
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> Could very well be 2 class M-1's on that shove.


No, they're both 2-10-0s. The M1's were 4-8-2s.

Well played, Mr. Camp! Well played...

G.F.Payne
B'more, MD

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> And the engineer was RR?

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/18 10:42 by wabash2800.

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HotWater Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > And the engineer was RR?
>
> Victor A. Baird
> http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

MISS-QUOTE! I did NOT type that>

I'd bet $1000 that an NKP Berk couldn't pull 15 cars up Horseshoe and for sure not with the pops lifting !

Can you imagine the sound?

I would guess that a few more trains and engines would have been on the hill at the same time.

The original poster provided an interesting image. It's a shame that the thread has been hijacked to a mostly unrelated topic.

train1275 Wrote:
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> I'd bet $1000 that an NKP Berk couldn't pull 15
> cars up Horseshoe and for sure not with the pops
> lifting !


I did my best with two lifted.

And the 765 may have had diesels in the consist for any number of those Horseshoe Curve trips, but I challenge the notion they were doing work on each of those trips...

Sixchime...
Do you carry a big heel in the back, the corners and a ‘wall’ around the th MB stoker pot?

The NKP boys (that fired on our trips), ALL carried a big heel, of green coal in the back ....
Their hint was to build your bed that resembles the coal scoop : Big, rounded back corners, tapering along the sidesheets, and a pile surrounding the stoker pot,
where the handle of the scoop attaches....
The ‘wall’ wants to block any air coming around the stoker pot, build it right up to the top of the firing table...
The rest of the bed is thin and flat...the hottest fire covers 85% to 90% of the grate

Keep the back corners filled in, well and often....you can even build them up with wet coal...cold air coming in at the back kills the heat of the fire...
For a little added boost on a good long, hard pull was to add a little of the overfire jets...they add oxygen & make it easy to get all three up...

ALWAYS KEEP THE BACK WELL BUILT UP WITH GREEN COAL.

In 1969, starting out of Cleveland Union Terminal, early AM , Goldenspike Centennial Limited, —- it is a BRUTAL 2%-3% Grade up a Bridge over the Cuyahoga....
The Nickel Plate Fireman, looked at my nice, flat fire, kicked me out of the seat, and went to work on building those rear corners, DEEP...he used the scoop and full jets, to deflect the coal coming out of the stoker pot, way back and into the rear corners.

We only had a couple of minutes to get ready. The signal came, the engineer did a check-in with his fireman, they agreed, he sat down and away we went...there’s movies of that climb, and recordings...about two train lengths out , mid-grade, and the safeties went up...we whistled, a big river boat answered with a THUNDEROUS huge whistle blast that rattled all of Cleveland’s Windows...
That was a brutal start...but I learned so much...

The other NKP firemen all built their fires the same, identical way.. Teach your crews the same way...light trains or heavy trains.
The hidden advantage is that when the thin fire goes out!!!, you can use the fire hook, and break up that glowing, red-hot ‘bank’ and push it over the cold ashes, add a thin layer of stoker coal—- in 2 minutes you’ll have a 100% FIRE... When it recover,s, be sure to rebuild your rear corners and the stoker pot surround..

We call that ‘having money in the bank’. The biggest advantage is it saves the firebox back and side sheets from the ruinous effects of cold air up the side sheets, which also kills your firebox temps.. NKP-style of firing keeps the firebox temperatures much more even, in temp swings...the side sheets, staybolts
and corners all last longer..rather than constantly shrinking and expanding... be kind to you Boiler and firebox...


W.

May be somebody will post Doug Brown’s LP recording...of the battle over the Cuyahoga. ...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/18 09:09 by wcamp1472.

Ok, so who was the engineer on the 759 trip around horseshoe curve?

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com