Steam & Excursion > Skookum at Niles

A couple more shots of the Skookum on the Niles Canyon Railroad today, Sunday.

1 - Amtrak CA #732, Eastbound (North at this point) Capitol passing Skookum at Niles, F59PHi 2010 pushing.

2 - Skookum wying (if that's how you spell that) also at Niles. Hadn't seen them use the wye before.

Jim B



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/19 08:59 by jimB.

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Wow, I'd love to see the Skookum and Little River 110 side by side but it'll never happen. 

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

Nice chase!
Norm O.

Lovely Skookum shot, Jim...a "skookum" Skookum shot, actually.

The PLA and Niles Canyon crews and volunteers did an outstanding job on the double-header; and I sure had a great time, and an excellent lunch under the big old avacado trees after we returned to Niles Yard. Double-headed logging mallets in this day and age...a real dream come true for me to say the least!

Clover Valley #4 had a nice well-used look to her, and the sights and sounds of the lokies working and whistling in the canyon was something to experience! And a very cool Brightside Yard tour to view all the equipment, too.

Hopefully more photos and videos will be posted, as I met several T.O. folks there scoring great shots at several neat locations. Lots of chasers and families out with the kids along the route, too.

THANK YOU to all who made this possible.

-Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/19 22:10 by Sasquatch.

That was a great locomotive to work on at OCSR with Martin's team he set up.

Posted from Android

A couple more...

- Crossing the Farwell Bridge in Niles Canyon

- Arriving at Sunol after passing the semaphores. Quite a photo line for this.

- After tieing onto its train at Sunol.

Jim
 

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LJohnson Wrote:
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> That was a great locomotive to work on at OCSR
> with Martin's team he set up.


I would definitely agree with you Luke. Martin and all you folks at OCSR and elsewhere worked miracles restoring Skookum back to operation; and in my opinion, she's one of the prettiest and most interesting lokies to see and hear I've yet experienced.

We were running a tad behind schedule on the way back to Niles and they got some speed on her as she trailed the train running backwards, and it was great fun to watch her rods fly and listen to her from the front open air car...awesome!

And of course, a huge THANKS to Chris Baldo for backing her return to the living. Skookum was really something to see on the OCSR AND NCRwy this summer!

- Tom

PS...Clover Valley #4 was equally amazing to experience, and in her own right, looked as if she had just returned from camp on a regular work day...like stepping back in time! And she had the coolest air pump "wheezing" sound like I've heard in SP Cab Forward videos; does anyone know if that's the same kind of air pump she had? It sure was cool to hear that off in the woods!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/19 09:32 by Sasquatch.

Incredible photos. Wish I could hav been there.

Where she should go next is to the Santa Cuz &Felton Railway, pulling the beach train. That would be cool...

Posted from iPhone

Those doubleheaders being run with Clover Valley 4 and Skookum are something I really wish I could have witnessed.  Glad you got to see them, Tom.

I was thinking of you while there Jim, knowing how much you would have loved it. Hopefully more shots like (the OP Jim) posted above, and videos too, will be posted to hold you until some steamy event closer to your home happens. Maybe we can talk Lori into getting you to that if it happens. Or I can just kidnap you...ha ha ha!

- Tom

Clover Valley Lumber Company #4 has a Westinghouse cross-compound air compressor.  S.P. Cab-Forwards had two of these.
- Doug Debs

Thank you for confirming that, Doug. It sure was a treat hearing a nostalgic sound like that.

- Tom

I was out at Niles Canyon on Sunday, and got to see both mallets chugging along.  It was great!

They mostly ran with one locomotive on each side of the passenger cars, with the trailing loco following light.  Upon reaching the terminus station at either end of the railroad, the head loco would cut off, and the trailing loco would tie on for the return trip.   On the last trip of the day, both the Skookum and Clover Valley ran double-headed from the wye near the depot/museum to Sunol.  They cut in a tank car between the locos.  Does anyone know why?  I thought it might be auxiliary fuel or water, but both locomotives had been running unassisted all weekend.  It wasn't on the train going west, from Sunol or from Brightside yard.  Also, why put it between the loco's?  Maybe just to keep it away from the passenger cars?

Whatever the case may be, they put on a great show!

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Nice catch!  Thanks for sharing.

- Tom

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/19 13:14 by Sasquatch.

Question, If I may..
Where is the Simpling Valve located on these locos?
On the boiler near the Steam Dome or down in the frame?

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

jimB Wrote:
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> A couple more...
>
> - Crossing the Farwell Bridge in Niles Canyon
>
> - Arriving at Sunol after passing the semaphores.
> Quite a photo line for this.
>
> - After tieing onto its train at Sunol.
>
> Jim

Thanks Jim for the report and the great photos! Nice to see the wye being used, at last.

I was aware of this event thanks to FiveChime giving us a heads up, but I had already made plans to be out of town. 

The ‘simpling valve’...

On articulateds, it is typically a two-position, air operated ( from the engineer’s position) , change-over valve, which includes
a pressure limiting valve, factory set,  to limit receiver pipe pressure.
It’s main purpose is to deliver live steam to the massive LP pistons.

When staring in ‘compound’, the rear cykinders have to make several revolutions to generate enough pressure in the
“receiver pipe”  to power-effectively the  LP pistons of the front engine.  When starting in compound, an 2-6-6-2 loco only
has the power of an 0-6-0, (;or if an eight-coupled engine: 0-8-0)—- until the rear engine exhausts enough steam to pressurize
the front pistons...maybe it takes two or three engine-lengths to get the front cylinders actually doing some work.
Sometimes the train is heavy enough that it becomes impossible to start the train—- if starting in compound,  like an 0-6-0...

In ‘simple’,If full BP was admitted to those much larger pistons, violent & uncontrolled front engine driver-slipping would be the result.   In COMPOUND  operation, typical (LP) receiver pressure [exhaust from rear cykinders] is about 40% of BP., thus, the pistons of the front engines generate tractive force which is approximately equal to the force generated by the rear engine...

BUT, remember, that the 40%  “back-pressure” on the HP pistons ( in compound) subtracts from the main-engine’s tractive Power.
Also, remember that when starting ‘simple’,  the HP pistons exhaust directly to atmosphere, thus, producing greater tractive power from the rear engine [NO 40% back-pressure acting against the full BP, live steam] , as well as the help from the, now, direct-fed LP pistons. all of which helps to accelerate the train at a faster rate).

Another function of the simpling valve is to redirect the HP cylinders’  exhaust steam-flow to an annular ring ( with a central slot at the top) at the tip of the smoke box’s main exhaust,  blast pipe.  That way there are two exhaust nozzles that add to the draft up the stack, but the two streams do not interfere with each other.   Thus, you can distinctly hear the two sets of exhaust beats ( chuggs) at the stack.   However, the fireman has to be ready for the increased draft though the coal firebed, (or the oil burner’s damper-controlled draft  through the firepan).

The simpling valve’s  body is typically located in the front wall of the rear cylinder saddle, down near the front engine’s pivot joint, most likely on the enginer’s side of the cylinder saddle, between  the frames.  It’s location, though cramped, allows replacement of the simpling valve a much quicker job.
 Experienced mechanics always have a functional ‘spare’ change-over valve, cleaned & ready....it comes out as a complete assembly..

Hope this helps..

​W.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/19 10:32 by wcamp1472.

Thank you Wes,  ...for the story on the Simpling Valve.
Very much appreciated.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

I’d bet that the Clover Valley engine is superheated.
A superheated compound articulated is always way much better than a compound ‘soaker’.....because there’s plenty of
superheated steam In the receiver pipe still available to power the LP cylinders...makes all the difference in the performance.
Ask the N&W & their Y-class compounds....

I’d guess the Clover Valley engine comes from the early-1930’s;  whereas, Skookum ( soaker) comes from the early 1900s.,.
brfore the perfection of the Schmidt-Type superheaters.

​W.

glengui4294 Wrote:

> They cut in a tank car between the
> locos.  Does anyone know why?  I thought it
> might be auxiliary fuel or water, but both
> locomotives had been running unassisted all
> weekend.  It wasn't on the train going west, from
> Sunol or from Brightside yard.  Also, why put it
> between the loco's?  Maybe just to keep it away
> from the passenger cars?

I don't have any inside information, but just from my own observation on that day, Skookum had been taking water from that tank car at Niles fairly regularly after it cut off from a westbound trip.  I suspect the engine on the east end of a train (i.e. CVL 4) has access to water at Sunol, but an engine on the west end does not, hence the tank car at Niles.  The tank probably needed to go back to Brightside at the end of the day, and it was simpler and safer to just tie Skookum onto it and pull it forward to the front of the train rather than run Skookum to the point light and then try to shove the whole train down to couple the tank on the end.