Steam & Excursion > NYC excitement from 1949

Would have been well defined sphincter-marked seats for the engine crew.
Swipe from the Faceboox.

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Thanks for posting.  Looks like a 4-8-4 Niagara with the smoke deflectors.
jb

Dang!  B

1949 is pretty late for NYC steam. I wonder if that was this engine's nail in the coffin?

What a frightening scene!
Bob

I believe, on this section of the railroad, steam would still be around for for about three or four more years. But maybe NYC was already deferring mainttenance? I have heard that at the very end, much of the more modern big steam power was sidelined before the simpler antiques got laid up. The NYC last steam was in 1957 on the Big Four leased RR. But I uinderstand that the Big Four was an outlier. 

Victor Baird


CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> 1949 is pretty late for NYC steam. I wonder if
> that was this engine's nail in the coffin?

Reportedly, back in the old days, a side-rod on a 4-4-0 could become disconnected right under the cab! There is an interesting color photo in an all color Don Ball, Pennsylvania Railroad book. A decapod had suffered a similar incident as posted here and someone had chalked on the side of the steam chest, "Junk the Standard". And it had not moved from the location of the mishap yet! Of course, "standard" was in reference to the standard railroad of the world--the Pennsylvania.

Victor Baird

refarkas Wrote:
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> What a frightening scene!
> Bob



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/25 14:22 by wabash2800.

WoW !  Can you imagine what that sounded like ?   Nobody napping on the job after that.   A  similar incedent happened with one of the Milwaukee Road F7 #102 4-6-4 Hiawathas.  It threw a rod at 90 mph near Mayfair, North of Chicago.  That was the end of it's career too, in 1951.  Lucky for me, I got to go up in it's cab.  It was dead after they dragged it out to the Bennsenville yard but I was scared poopless anyhow.  I was only three, but i'll never forget.

Craig Hanson
Vay, Idaho

Hello,
If the rod broke enough distance away from the piston, the severed end of the rod would have come out of the cylinder, bound up in the packing box of the head and promptly destroyed the crosshead guide then….. it was a loose cannon. They are lucky it didn’t put the locomotive on the ground. Get the gas axe and cut off the pretzel!
Randy

Posted from iPhone

Those are Timken rods.  According to the following article, at least at one point in time, the piston rods (like the one that broke next to the piston) had 3/4" wall thickness.  Do any of you steam heads know how that compares with typical piston rods of the era?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmpullman/albums/72157673726478087/
 

A nasty mechanical failure.  I wonder if it was possible for a broken rod like that to actually puncture the boiler as it flailed around.  As bad as this incident is, a punctured boiler would have been catastrophic.

- Norm

I’ve heard of it happening.

Posted from iPhone

Wonder if the lubrication stopped to that cylinder and the piston eventually froze? Main rod probably did some ROW damage trying to pole vault its way along.  Could have been a lot worse. Add engine crew's laundry bill to the cost of it.

On of Jim Herron's N&W shows (Pocahontas Glory, Volume 7 at the 24:30 mark) has a scene where the crosshead fails on a Class A 2-6-6-4 and the front engine locks up in front of the camera.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Elesco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those are Timken rods.  According to the
> following article, at least at one point in time,
> the piston rods (like the one that broke next to
> the piston) had 3/4" wall thickness.  Do any of
> you steam heads know how that compares with
> typical piston rods of the era?
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmpullman/albums/721
> 57673726478087/
>  

Hello, I am still new to Trainorders. Why will Trainorders not allow the link to Flickr to open? Perhaps it’s my internet settings in my phone? Very odd.
Randy

Posted from iPhone

rmusselman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Elesco Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Those are Timken rods.  According to the
> > following article, at least at one point in
> time,
> > the piston rods (like the one that broke next
> to
> > the piston) had 3/4" wall thickness.  Do any
> of
> > you steam heads know how that compares with
> > typical piston rods of the era?
> >
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmpullman/albums/721
>
> > 57673726478087/
> >  
>
> Hello, I am still new to Trainorders. Why will
> Trainorders not allow the link to Flickr to open?
> Perhaps it’s my internet settings in my phone?
> Very odd.
> Randy
>
> Posted from iPhone


Go to the forum options and change, “Skip Link Warning Message” to Yes