historical railroads

[GeneralIndustries]

let's talk about historical railroads so post the name of your famous railroad in your area

[Jancsika]

This is a picture of a narrow gauge (70 cm.) locomotive that used to carry my father to school around the turn of the century (Not this; in 1900 hundreds.) He was telling stories, that sometimes the passengers had to get out and push uphill, there were no toilets, etc.
By my time they changed to diesel, but the steam locomotives were still around pulling freight. WW II ended most of it. Some bridges were blown up, but a spur is still in working condition, hauling passengers and freight.
Jancsika

[GeneralIndustries]

I have set up this forum as a place to discuss historical and famous railroads
so be truthful and what is the big deal about narrow gauge railroads I have alway wanted to know.

[snoopy55]

Narrow guage railways had many good things about them. If you were running one up a mountain, you didn't have to blast as much mountainside out as you would with standard guage. In England you didn't take up as much right-of-way as a standard gauge would. I know Chicago used a narrow guage under the city to deliver goods and coal to bussinesses. Other cities may have also. Mineing companies used them in the mines, and eventually outside of the mine as it became obvious that it was cheaper and easier to deliver that way.
Engines and cars were smaller, so smaller track and ties were needed, so money was saved all around. They were mainly short things, you didn't travel halfway accross the country on one. Up until WW2, a very high percentage of lines were narrow gauge in Europe. Heavier loads and the need for heavier engines at higher speeds required wider spacing and heavier gauge track.

When the first engines and cars were built, no one sat down and decided what the didtance between tracks was to be, so it was whatever the designer wanted it to be.

If you want to see an interesting way of mixing guages, look at this site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85U8xxTgjPI&NR=1

If I could find the site, I could point you to one where two guages come together and instead of transfering goods or doing like that scene, they just raised the cars, pulled the trucks of one gauge and replaced them with trucks of the other gauge.

[keotaman]

They even change from one gauge to another "on the fly" with Talgo equipment: http://www.talgo.com/htm/English/Produc ... ncho01.htm

[GeneralIndustries]

i live in San Clemente on the track of the surf liner a picture static.flickr.com

[snoopy55]

went there and only got "photocache11.flickr.re2". You sure you got the full web address?

[Warll]

went there and only got "photocache11.flickr.re2". You sure you got the full web address?

Of course its not, static.flickr.com is a sub domain (Or ther maybe some other name for it) of the very popular site flickr.com. That said URL leads to his photo would be very very surprising.
Note: No offense was intended in the writing of this post.

[GeneralIndustries]

http://picasaweb.google.com/WhoozOn1st/ ... 6476398610

[GeneralIndustries]

here's another http://marcel-marchon.com/p--191200337- ... geles.html

[Jancsika]

I live in Howard County Maryland; the county seat is Ellicott City. The site of the first railroad in America.
The original building still stands. It is a museum now.
http://www.ecborail.org/historic-site.shtml

The B&O Railroad has a museum in nearby Baltimore,
http://www.borail.org/collections-locomotives.shtml

And this is an illustration of the famous contest between a horse drawn carriage and Tom Thumb the first succesful locomotive in America
Jancsika

[Moschops]

Opening the mountains of NC to the rest of the world, whether they wanted it or not!

"Tweetsie's history dates back to 1866, when the Tennessee legislature granted the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad Company permission for the construction of a railroad. At the outset, the ET&WNC line (which mountain humorists dubbed the "Eat Taters & Wear No Clothes" Railroad) was to operate from Johnson City, Tennessee to the iron mines just over the state line at Cranberry, North Carolina"

from the web page:
http://www.tweetsie.com/about_us/history.html

[keotaman]

I live in Howard County Maryland; the county seat is Ellicott City. The site of the first railroad in America. ...

March news: http://www.mcall.com/travel/all-ellicot ... 2755.story
"The Ellicott City program focuses on the ''Battle that Saved Washington.''
also:
" terminus of the first 13 miles of commercial railroad in the country,"

"The Ellicott City Station, administered by the B&O Railroad Museum is a full affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution"

Pretty good credentials, I'd say.

[keotaman]

1828 Railroad
http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/artic ... /568566763
Excerpt:
It’s a little know fact that 180 years ago, the U.S. Army created and built this nation’s first railroads.
In 1828, three years after inventor John Stevens ran a steam-powered locomotive around a New Jersey test track, Pres. John Quincy Adams ordered the Army to design and develop the country’s first railroads “as a national importance in a commercial and military point of view.â€

[Jancsika]

Talking about John Quincy Adams, here is cartoon from to morrows (March 23) Washington Post and the B&O railroad. (I wonder Who is on First)
Jancsika