The "cog" at the font is the end cover for a "jack shaft" which is gear driven by the turbine.
A nice bit of "photoshopping" was done to isolate the loco and plant it into a new background.

Steam turbines run best at constant speed, and for use in a loco that would imply long haul and the States have plenty of long routes for a loco to run at constant speed. It would nice to see that loco brought back to life.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

A nice bit of "photoshopping" was done to isolate the loco and plant it into a new background.

Not sure if you mean my "atomic loco", if so no "photoshopping" was done as it is a model for the game "Fallout 4" and that is a straight screen grab from the game.

What you see is how it appears in the game. Five so far in different locations.

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So back to the slightly more serious side!!

I haven't seen a lot of notable traffic lately till the 23rd when this passed Chesterton



SOO 6026, a SOO Line (now of course CP) SD60's. These are now included in Heritage Units roster.

This one had me puzzled for a while yesterday



A blue CN Dash 8!!(apparently called the Blue Devil).

Seems it started life in 1994 as Loco Management Services LMSX 739, then moved to the Illinois Central as IC 2466 hence the "IC" below the number, CN took control of IC in 1998 so if you look up either IC 2466 or CN 2466 you get the same info.

On the Chicago front not much new to report, of course if you were wondering what to do with yourself on the 26th, then you could have been the engineer on UP7818



I was recording 126 arriving on the 390 from Carbondale, but notice that 7818 was there, which is where it sat for over and hour!

Today it is snowing in Chesterton IN, Chicago IL, Coal City IL, Rochelle IL, and Grand Island NE!

So here is a bit of snow with a quite rare sighting genset 582 with Northern Sky's Northern Dreams



And finally a littler puzzle that has been bugging me.

The California Zephyr 6 and Southwest Chief 4 are scheduled to arrive at Chicago at 2.50pm and 3.15pm CT respectively.

Normally they both use this track that the 4 was on last night.



The speed is quite fast and the track curves left under the bridge towards the station, this means they need to be turned on the wye later ready for the next day.

However for the last couple of weeks the California Zephyr 6 has been arriving on this track.



Which is the wye track, it seems to have a speed limit as the CZ passes at little more than walking speed, it then branches to the right under the bridge and I assume reverses into the station as it does not turn on the wye later.

This manoeuvre occurs even when, as a few days ago, the CZ was quite late, it still crawled down the wye track!!

So what is the reason, something different about the station or the yard.

I have no idea.

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Impressive detail in those game images.

That's not snow in Chicago today, it's sleet. I had a good 3" of it piled against my back door. [edit] (See the pics I posted in the weather thread.) [/edit]

I also have no idea why 6 is backing in, but I'll see what I can find out.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/28/eight-injured-after-slow-moving-train-crashes-during-california-redwoods-tour.html

FELTON, Calif. – A fire official says a slow-moving historic train carrying visitors through redwood forests in Northern California crashed against a hillside, injuring eight people.

Felton Fire Chief Ron Rickabaugh tells KSBW-TV four people were taken to a hospital and four others had minor injuries after the Roaring Camp Railroads train jerked to a stop Monday near Felton.

Rickabaugh says some people fell from the steam train, and their injuries are not life-threatening. Others had injuries that included whiplash.

He says the train was going between 5 and 10 mph when the conductor tried to stop and the throttle stuck. The train then struck a hillside and jerked.

Rickabaugh says Roaring Camp Railroads will remain closed while officials investigate what went wrong.

According to its website, Roaring Camp Railroads take tourists through redwood groves on historic steam engines as their conductors describe the area's history.

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I actualy liked seeing how a steam engine could be imagined in the future.
An atomic powerd one was one idea I had never thought of.
really dont think steam power was developed 100%. The diesel engine killed it off before it was fully done.
I wonder what some modern computer simulations and some realy savy design enginers could do with steam nowadays?

There was a design in the 1980s for a modern steam locomotive called ACE 3000 that would be more economical to operate than a diesel, until the price of oil dropped. It was backed by Ross Rowland.

Patent

More interesting reading.

Steam locomotive overview.

Thanks for the links David. Very interesting. So it seems that steam for motive effort still might end up being practical someday.
@ Bernie Thanks for posting those gamer pics. I do believe onf of those game designers is a steam enthusiast.

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[/quote]

Old James

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/28/eight-injured-after-slow-moving-train-crashes-during-california-redwoods-tour.html

FELTON, Calif. – A fire official says a slow-moving historic train carrying visitors through redwood forests in Northern California crashed against a hillside, injuring eight people.

Felton Fire Chief Ron Rickabaugh tells KSBW-TV four people were taken to a hospital and four others had minor injuries after the Roaring Camp Railroads train jerked to a stop Monday near Felton.

Rickabaugh says some people fell from the steam train, and their injuries are not life-threatening. Others had injuries that included whiplash.

He says the train was going between 5 and 10 mph when the conductor tried to stop and the throttle stuck. The train then struck a hillside and jerked.

Rickabaugh says Roaring Camp Railroads will remain closed while officials investigate what went wrong.

According to its website, Roaring Camp Railroads take tourists through redwood groves on historic steam engines as their conductors describe the area's history.

NOT EVERYBODY WORKING ON THE TRAIN IS A CONDUCTOR!!! THERE IS ONLY ONE CONDUCTOR! The person running the engine is the engineer, and on steam there is a fireman with him. The conductor is in charge. Everybody else on an operation like that is either a trainman or just a car host.

Rant over. But I really wish reporters would get things right.

Whiplash seems a bit severe for a 5-10 MPH crash. Makes me wonder if one of the passengers was a lawyer.

I'm left with a lot of technical questions about this too.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Whiplash seems a bit severe for a 5-10 MPH crash. Makes me wonder if one of the passengers was a lawyer.

I'm left with a lot of technical questions about this too.

This link seems to have a better description http://www.ksbw.com/news/roaring-camp-railroads-train-passengers-injured/37163206

Sounds like they ran it into the brick wall, er mountain side, at the end of the track. Also sounds a bit more like a theme park railroad than a real railroad.

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Whiplash seems a bit severe for a 5-10 MPH crash. Makes me wonder if one of the passengers was a lawyer.

I'm left with a lot of technical questions about this too.

This link seems to have a better description http://www.ksbw.com/news/roaring-camp-railroads-train-passengers-injured/37163206

Sounds like they ran it into the brick wall, er mountain side, at the end of the track. Also sounds a bit more like a theme park railroad than a real railroad.

It looks like trains.com took the time to clean up some of the details in the wire story before they posted it. (Some of us tend to criticize them for not doing that all the time.)

FELTON, Calif. — Six passengers suffered minor injuries Monday when a Roaring Camp Railroad tourist train made an abrupt stop halfway along its three-mile route. The railroad summoned emergency responders to the site, with three passengers taken to a hospital with minor whiplash injuries. All the passengers were standing in an open car when the incident occurred.

Media reports say the abrupt stop was due to a mechanical malfunction. Felton Fire Chief Ron Rickabaugh tells ABC News in San Francisco the engineer was attempting to come to a stop during a point of the trip near Bear Mountain where trains switch to head back in reverse. The engine’s throttle became stuck and the engineer was unable to slow the train down before it struck a dirt hillside at the end of track, Rickabaugh says. The railroad said further investigation of the equipment is underway.

Immediately following the incident the railroad was inspected and cleared to operate, and the 2 p.m. train ran without incident.

“Passenger safety is our top priority and despite an exemplary safety and maintenance record, we regret today’s incident occurred” Roaring Camp CEO Melani Clark said in a news release. “Our sincerest apologies to all of our passengers, and especially those who were affected. In the meantime, all of us at the railroad are grateful for the outpouring of concern we have received from the public.”

The 3-foot gauge line through the redwood forests of Santa Cruz County began operation in 1963 as the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Railroad.

Wikipedia page about Roaring Camp & Big Trees.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Here is the first of three drone videos I'm uploading. These are practice flights. In this one, I'm at the west end of Eola Yard, following a Metra train as it slows down to turn down the lead to the Aurora station.

These are set to unlisted. I'm posting the links here for you, but please don't repost them all over social media.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Here is the first of three drone videos I'm uploading. These are practice flights. In this one, I'm at the west end of Eola Yard, following a Metra train as it slows down to turn down the lead to the Aurora station.

These are set to unlisted. I'm posting the links here for you, but please don't repost them all over social media.

That is slightly unreal it is so steady that at fist it looks like you are on a bridge, then when it moves!!

Once again today I witness the strange compulsion to "beat the train"

Having watch the Chesterton crossing for a while now, you get to know how long it takes from when the bells start to when a train arrives, also listening to the horn you can tend to judge the speed of the train. So when I saw this, 12 seconds after the barriers had descended I was expecting the worst.,



For those in the UK he is on the wrong side of the road!

I assume a glimpse to his right must have allowed the fact that a train was approaching at speed finally sink in!!



I have to say it was a heart stopping moment!!

Oh did someone mention it was snowing in Illinois?? :-)

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If I squint just a bit, that train almost looks like something out of the age of steam, almost. Nice pics Bernie.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Here is the first of three drone videos I'm uploading. These are practice flights. In this one, I'm at the west end of Eola Yard, following a Metra train as it slows down to turn down the lead to the Aurora station.

These are set to unlisted. I'm posting the links here for you, but please don't repost them all over social media.

Here's the third video (Youtube processed it before the second). I'm now west of the Naperville station. You see an eastbound oil train approaching with NS, CSX, and BNSF power, but a westbound Metra train enters and slightly blocks it. Working on my angle flying and camera tilting techniques. This will probably be the last time I let it run all the way to landing (I also did it in the second video, which you haven't seen yet).

Yes, it's really impressive how steady the video is, although this one has some minor movements I don't think I made; thinking the wind blew it around a bit.

All of these were done on Christmas Eve, by the way.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Well with that second (or third) one my vertigo definitely came into play.

It was fine while fairly still, but when you turned to follow 5854, there was a moment of feeling "no floor under my feet" :-0

Very impressed with the quality.

Gives a whole new angle on railfanning!!

Also not seen many SD40-3's and CSX 4068 looks quite "new"

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I would have thought an oil train that long was unsafe, buy hey this is America, anything goes ... Impressive video though.

I didn't count the cars, but it looks fairly typical.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Here is the first of three drone videos I'm uploading. These are practice flights. In this one, I'm at the west end of Eola Yard, following a Metra train as it slows down to turn down the lead to the Aurora station.

These are set to unlisted. I'm posting the links here for you, but please don't repost them all over social media.

Here's the third video (Youtube processed it before the second). I'm now west of the Naperville station. You see an eastbound oil train approaching with NS, CSX, and BNSF power, but a westbound Metra train enters and slightly blocks it. Working on my angle flying and camera tilting techniques. This will probably be the last time I let it run all the way to landing (I also did it in the second video, which you haven't seen yet).

Yes, it's really impressive how steady the video is, although this one has some minor movements I don't think I made; thinking the wind blew it around a bit.

All of these were done on Christmas Eve, by the way.

Very nice videos, does the drone have an audio function? Just curious, oh and I saw you Amtrak 3 rescued video too. And yeah, that was a Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong train.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Well with that second (or third) one my vertigo definitely came into play.

It was fine while fairly still, but when you turned to follow 5854, there was a moment of feeling "no floor under my feet" :-0

Very impressed with the quality.

Gives a whole new angle on railfanning!!

Also not seen many SD40-3's and CSX 4068 looks quite "new"

Yes, I wish I had turned sooner to keep that in view longer.

Here's #2, finally. The upload stalled and after a couple hours I aborted and restarted it. I launched from the same place as #1 but headed east for a quick look around the yard. In this case, I was flying fairly low, so when I activated the automatic return to home, it first rose to 90'.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Very nice videos, does the drone have an audio function? Just curious, oh and I saw you Amtrak 3 rescued video too. And yeah, that was a Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong train.

No, the drone has no audio pickup. All it would pick up is the buzzing whine of the propellers. I believe the company offers some free music with their editing software, or we have sources at work. I've been thinking I might also use a camera on the ground and edit them together, using its audio throughout.

There is another video of the Amtrak rescue taken a few miles further east by MP36er; it's better because it has more light.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

David your drone is so cool, that's a real nice toy.

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The video quality is excellent! What model of drone is it? I might have to get a New Years present...

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A Living example of Artificial Intelligence.