From the archives #98 (Administration Building NYC 20th Century Limited)

[BobPalma]

Thanks much, John; interesting.

I was today watching The History Channel account of the Labor Day 1935 Hurricane that wiped out much of the Florida keys. One problem rescuing the people was the fact that a crew had to be located in Miami FL over the Labor Day weekend and an engine readied for the five-hour trip to The Florida Keys to pick up the people. They pointed out that getting a period steam engine from cold to moving wasn't exactly a 3-minute, turn-key operation.

Coupled with delays in getting approval to do all that, the train wound up stranded in the Hurricane when the wall of water knocked all but the engine off the tracks.

(Wanna' buy all my Lionel train stuff from the 1950s? <GGG>) BP

[PlainBrownR2]

Not a problem Bob. Yeah, steam engines are described as the one of the closest things to resembling a human body. They were also labor intensive machines when it came to operation and maintenance, and required some time when starting them cold. That's what I loved about Norfolk and Western's steam program, because at the end of the program prior to dieselization, they had perfected their maintenance program to an assembly line procedure. They didn't use track pans, rather, they utilized water towers and auxiliary tenders(converted tenders) as "water canteens" on extended runs, to extend the range of the locomotives. Anyway, getting back to the track pans, the track pans cut out one more stop on the mainline, where instead of engines stopping to water, they could pick it up on the fly . The locomotives were beautiful to look at, but alot of work to start and keep running, which is what made diesels much more appealing when the railroads dieselized.

I'll keep the Lionels in mind Bob, but I'm a diehard HO guy myself. There's some money in some of those Lionels though ......

[Studedude1961]

That old station has been closed for decades. The new one is out west of town.

Thanks Richard. I had hoped the South Bend station would be located next to the old depot like our generic Amtrak station is here in Omaha. We came through South Bend at night anyway so there wouldn't have been much to see.

[Skip Lackie]

Dick-
Thanks for using the correct term Grand Central TERMINAL. (Using the term "station" is proof of sloppy research.) GCT (built by the New York Central) is a terminal because all tracks terminate there. There are no through tracks. Pennsylvania Station, the other major station in New York (built by the Pennsylvania RR) is a station because trains can pass through it on the Washington (and south) to Boston (and north) route.

Some may think me petty, but it's the approximate equivalent of the difference between sedan and hardtop.

[BobPalma]

Dick-
Thanks for using the correct term Grand Central TERMINAL. (Using the term "station" is proof of sloppy research.) GCT (built by the New York Central) is a terminal because all tracks terminate there. There are no through tracks. Pennsylvania Station, the other major station in New York (built by the Pennsylvania RR) is a station because trains can pass through it on the Washington (and south) to Boston (and north) route.

Some may think me petty, but it's the approximate equivalent of the difference between sedan and hardtop.

As a wordsmith of sorts, Skip, I appreciate the distinction.

Thanks for the clarification.

Not at all petty; indeed, appropriate. BP

[comatus]

The Limited hit the pans at Deshler, Ohio. I never saw them in use myself, but I had a couple of old obsolete friends in the old obsolete Post Office who'd been around the old obsolete things. The usual comment ranged only from "You had to see it" (well I couldn't, you see) to "Damnedest thing you ever saw" (but, again, I didn't).

Typical speed was 60-65, and even when everything was just right, water flew a hundred yards in every direction. The whistle note changed, and the engine slowed down, and then it was gone.

While she was researching her big novel about a railroad, the Russian novelist Alissa Rosenbaum drove the diesel Limited.

[556063]

Here's a link to the current South Bend Station, which is located close to the former Bendix (Honeywell, Bosch) complex on Washington Street west of downtown. The current South Bend Amtrak station also served as the South Shore commuter rail station until the South Shore was moved out to the South Bend Regional Airport about ten years ago:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...=1229726268061

My property 25 miles south of South Bend adjoins the former Pennsylvania RR Mainline, which is now the CF&E Railroad. The Chrysler Dealer I worked for years ago was a retired Erie Railroad man. He told me the stretch of the PRR I live on was the longest stretch of straight railroad in the Eastern US. I can imagine the PRR Broadway Limited, which still ran behind our house 22 years ago, would try to regularly set speed records on the stretch through Northern Indiana. I can imagine it would blow past the 20th Century Limited on the first leg of the trip from Chicago. as it didn't have to slow down and make the bend through South Bend on the first part of the journey.

The line through South Bend proved more financially durable over the years, as the former PRR was reduced from double to single track in the 80's, and virtually abandoned at one point after Amtrak rerouted the Broadway in the 1990's. Rail America (CF&E) ended up with the old PRR mainline after Norfolk Southern and CSX both owned it over the past couple decades:

http://www.railamerica.com/RailServices/CFER.aspx

I reminisce about the days the Lowey designed trains would have barreled behind my house!

[Studebaker Wheel]

Thanks for posting this Dick!

Also, I've taken my framed copy (c/o you) down from the wall, and I see that I was mistaken about "Otto."
I was thinking of Carl Thompson's letter to the TW that identified the photographer as Carl Tuveson of the Studebaker Printing, Photographic and Mailing Division.

Thanks again, Gary

Gary; Thanks for the input. I most certainly should have credited Carl Tuveson for the photo. I knew Carl personally and in fact he is the person most responsible for getting me involved in collecting Studebaker (and Packard) photos. If I recall Carl began his career at Studebaker in 1936 when they first started doing their own photography. Prior to that it was done by outside contractors. He was still there in 1963. He took home a lot of his best work and am glad he did! I bought his entire collection of Studebaker photos plus a few hundred Packard 8 X 10 negatives (1902-1956). I still have all of them. He passed away in the early 1970s. Wish I would have asked more questions. I will post a humorous photo of him later.

[clonelark]

Found a couple of pictures of the track pans and another of the train using one. Not for the train mentioned above, but you get the idea.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rgvrrm/3206567151/

http://www.aamrc.org/hvrrhs/trackpans

[PlainBrownR2]

Perfect! To add to the photos I've found an NYC track pan in use by one of the regular Hudsons. If you can't wait to see it in the video, it's at the 16:46 mark for the 18 minute video. The scoop to bring in the water is on the right side(from the rear of the locomotive), and is the square looking device centered in the middle of the tender between the two pairs of six wheeled trucks. Believe it or not, this is an identifying characteristic on the NYC engines, since they relied on the track pans on the railroad. The video shows how they bring in, recondition, turn around, and send out the steam engines back out again on the NYC system. It's a rather informative piece, and now I know why the diesels took over when they did, because there is ALOT of work to do to maintain those beautiful and impressive beasts .

Here's the link to the video:
http://youtu.be/OVXgSn86Y1c

[556063]

In the fifth picture on the page at this link, there is a picture of a crew removing ice in the 20's or 30's from the track pans on the PRR, which were located about 12 miles west of my house:

http://www.hoosiervalley.org/photos/...photos/page-5/

[JRoberts]

What interesting stuff! Thanks to all who are contributing to this thread.

[BobPalma]

What Joe Roberts said. Great stuff. Thanks for the research and posting, everyone. BP

[kurtruk]

In the fifth picture on the page at this link, there is a picture of a crew removing ice in the 20's or 30's from the track pans on the PRR, which were located about 12 miles west of my house:

http://www.hoosiervalley.org/photos/...photos/page-5/

Could have been a nifty ice-skating track!

[SN-60]

Studebaker really got it right with their script design. And Packard wasn't far behind!