Nostalgia & History > Turbo Tuesday

Every generation seems to develop a different idea for how turbines could be applied to railroading.  In the late 1930s and 1940s it was the C&O, N&W and UP with steam turbines - some for passenger, and some for freight.  In the 1950s it was the UP with gas turbines for freight, and then in the late 60s/early 70s it was gas turbines for passenger service - both the United Aircraft Turbos developed for Penn Central and CN and the ANF French and ANF-licensed Rohr turbos adapted for the US market for Amtrak.  I'll leave the technical analysis to others on how successful or unsuccessful they were - but they were cool to photograph!

1) CN/VIA UA Turbotrain westbound at Belleville ONT on 8/24/77.
2) CN/VIA UA Turbotrain westbound at Toronto ONT on 8/25/77.
3) Amtrak French ANF turbo northbound on Milwaukee Road to Milwaukee at Mayfair Tower, Chicago in Sept 1977.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/20 19:53 by dwatry.

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4)  Southbound Rohr Turbo along the Hudson at Bear Mountain in August 1977.
5)  Northbound Rohr Turbo along the Hudson at Storm King in August 1977.  Structure in the distance was a New York Central pump house for track pans for water for steam locomotives.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/20 19:55 by dwatry.

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First-rate set of photos. Your last two are scenic beauties.
Bob

Picture 1: Is that brake shoe smoke?

It would be fun to ride the UA turbo one more time. Thanks for sharing.

PHall - not sure at this point if that was brakeshoe smoke or just lineside dust kicked up because he was moving so fast.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/20 21:39 by dwatry.

There's a few locomotives that are pretty unique ...
thanks for the history lessons and look back into
the past ...

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO

That was my first thought, too. Sort of looks bluish so I think it may be....

PHall Wrote:
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> Picture 1: Is that brake shoe smoke?

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Great stuff Duncan, I love those Rohr turboliners. I took this in October 1988 at Cold Spring, NY

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