Nostalgia & History > Nevada Copper Belt # 21 "A Favorite Excursion Car"

Well-- here I am sitting home recovering from "open heart surgery" .. But I can't be held back forever by this nagging chest pain, so thought I would surprise you guys and post a picture.
Nevada Copper Belt # 21 (a gas-mechanical car built by Hallscott--Berkeley, CA) was a fun car to ride in either as a single unit or pulling a trailer such as 751. It was operated on a variety of railroads. I rode it several times on the Sacramento Northern with Jim "Bugs" Bruggere as the Motorman. Probably one of the only guys around who knows how to run the car.
Here in the photo we see # 21 at ELVAS on the SP in September-1978. Cool, huh ??

Please see more background on the car here:\
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1430712

I would love to see CSRM return this car to BAERA from whence it came and operate once again on the Sacramento Northern--Western Railway Museum trackage for the public to enjoy!

Cheers.

KRK

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Nice to see you back, Ken! Be sure to get that rest. For some reason, bodies don't react well to being hacked open and it tends to make one quite tired.

Cool car. I have to admit, I've wondered what it would look like on the new V&T extension. Or out on the Mina Branch.

Z

Good to hear you are doing well. Nice shot at Elvas.

That thing is NOISY inside for the engineer!

Imagine sitting next to the loud, hot engine as it works. The railroaders who ran them
for real, back in their day, were tough!

The radio chatter was classic as it passed Elvas.

"Hey, look! Here comes a cable car!!!"

ES Bugs was one of the few people that could run #21 although he taught me some of fundamentals of double clutching (the clutch looked much like a drum brake on an auto) and making it run well. The car always ran hot so its years on the Sierra were in storage. When "we" were putting things back together to run it in 1977 Bugs discovered that one of the timing gears on the front of the engine has slipped a tooth or two (or maybe the woodruff key slipped, I just don't remember) making the engine run way too "retarded" and making it heat up easily. He straightened out that problem and as I remember the trip was very successful to BAERA. The engine was loud but quieter than a sh!t wagon F-40 or even PLA's M-200. Bugs is an absolute marvel with all of this old passenger car and engine stuff - he taught me plenty about Waukesha generators and ice engines.

Welcome back Ken! B

Glad you are back, Ken. Heres wishing you a speedy recovery!!

>(or maybe the woodruff key slipped, I just don't remember)

Doubtful because keyed items don't slip unless the key fractures, which is rare. Being off "a tooth" is entirely likely. The other thing which was causing the overheating was that there had been only three radiator units until the fourth was installed just before this trip.

The car was never green on the NCB; it was "Chinese red".

Ken,

Glad you are back and on the mend! Keep getting better and keep the great photos coming.

I thought I would post a view taken by Wil Whihttaker of Nevada Copper Belt #22, the stablemate to #22. Wil caught her on October 12, 1946 in Wilson Canyon.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/12 13:57 by LoggerHogger.

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I too have ridden the #21 at Rio Vista Jct. back in the 1960s.
I remember Bugs Bruggere having to leave the motorman's seat to change the gears at the rear of the engine and then returning to the 'Throttle"

--Jim Baker

Get well Ken! Good to see you back.

KRK,
Good to hear from you!
Gonut