My Permanent Questions Thread

[wholbr]

Just wondering, is everyone occuiped, busy, or is there something going on?

I only ask as I find no replies unusual, normally within a day or two, varying, I get a reply.

SuperSpeedMaglev, I believe that the reason that is so quiet on this forum would be that it has been twelve months now since T:ane was released. Therefore, all the regular forum members who were going to have purchased while others who have not have settled back into the version that suits them best. So, all the arguments have gone away and comparative peace resides in this forum,

It is also now summer in the Northern Hemisphere ( North America and Europe) where most of the Trainz enthusiasts seem to be based and therefore other activities take over from this hobby for many of us, as John Citroen pointed out.

For me being supposedly semi-retired, I have been involved on the safety side with the trials of the driverless trucks up on the M6 which has taken up a great deal of my time almost wiping away the semi retirement. However, at my age I find it a great privilege to be involved, and it certainly is very very interesting.

However, all the above most certainly comes to a very big full stop in a couple of weeks when the my wife and me with a group of lifelong football friends are to have the holiday of a lifetime. We are off to follow the England football team throughout France in the European Championships. Being booked in to Marseille, Lens and St Etienne we have then kept it open to spend more time there should we progress beyond the group stages ( which we most certainly will do).

Beyond the above, I have a very large garden which needs much attention at this time of the year, so that also keeps me away from Trainz and this hobby for much of the time.

So, SuperSpeedMaglev, like John it's summer and there is much else to take up forum members time other than being here.

Bill

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

I've got it, consider older members, or younger, consider occupations, consider the month as well as time zones and consider that there is more to do then simply browse the forums.

Also to consider members who may have the time to work on routes, may be working and focusing on those, rather than visting the forums, except for additions to the route, which they may not have.

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

-Addition from other thread-

----This Addition is From "Shay some light on this will you"-http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?111815-Shay-Some-Light-on-this-will-you-

Advantages

• The pistons are all on the one side ... and nothing on the other side

• ​Because you only need the gearing on the one side, unlike coupling rods which need to be on both sides to function correctly.
• Thus the gearing is on just one side, which is the same side as the cylinders.​

• Both sides are wheels. One side has gears, cogs as you call them.

• The cylinders are mounted next to the boiler on one side of the running plate, whilst the boiler itself is offset to the other side such that the whole thing balances out.

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

-Addition from other thread-

--This addition is from 'What exactly are these' http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?128903-What-exactly-are-these--

'Two Westinghouse double acting air pumps for the air brakes.'

Also featuring a fact-A Union Pacific 4-12-2, one of the only non-articulated locomotive classes to have 12 driving wheels, or 6 on each side.-

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

-Addition from other thread-

--This addition is from 'What are Shay's Exactly good for' http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?128938-What-are-Shays-exactly-for-good-for--

• Generally speaking geared locos can negotiate much sharper curves then all but the smallest of rod (non-geared) locos except for perhaps 0-4-0T's and 0-6-0T's. They also have the advantage of flexibility (you would not believe how rough track was on a lot of logging railroads). it was often literally "thrown" together. Grades boil down to the adhesion factor of steel wheels on steel track (not the best of combinations but not much choice in the matter unless the locos are fitted with something like Lionel's magnetraction, lol). Geared locos had the advantage of all wheels being driving wheels. If a geared loco did have a tender its wheels were powered too.
  
  A final factor might be maintenance. All the moving parts are quite easy to get to (a definite advantage way back in the boonies).

• Shays, like the Climax and Heisler, are low geared but powerful locomotives that can handle the steep inclines and uneven track of a typical logging operation. The conventional locomotive type is not flexible enough for those conditions and do not have the low-down slogging power of the Shay or others.
• Geared locomotives are meant for hauling heavy loads up steep grades around sharp turns on rough track at low speed. They use trucks like on a freight car, meaning they can go almost anywhere a freight car can.

Featuring a fact...

On an interesting note some shays were outfitted to run on thrown together log rails.

The wheels have an inner and outer flange - like a large car rim!

The weight of the locomotive sets the logs in the ground and the slow speed of the locomotive means that there's not too much danger if the logs shift - and the drive going to all wheels means that a small derailment is a bit easier to recover from!
Log rails did not have switches and some had a 9 foot gauge.
If you wanted to go in a different direction you re-laid the track.

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

-Addition from other thread-

-Another Addition.. from the same Shay thread as above-
Not all railways ran steel rails. One of the first railways in NZ ran on wooden rails. Nor did this have flanged wheels, it had smooth driving wheels but had some angled wheels holding it into the wood.

Above is an original photo of it in the early 1860's. Below is a photo showing the guide wheels (they have built a static replica of it which is on display where it used to run). As you can see it is also broad gauge.

It must have been hell on rainy days as it wouldn't have had much tractive effort.

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

Look who's back.

I was going to make a thread in prototype talk for this, then I remembered I had this thread I haven't used for ages..

The question is..

Why are the Steam Deflectors kept on the Flying Scotsman? For appeal? To make her look nicer?

Will they ever be temporarily removed?

 

[edh6]

They're kept on because the driver wouldn't be able to see where they were going with out them. The double chimney exhaust is softer than that from the single chimney so smoke gets sucked into the drivers view by the airflows around the boiler.

They might be taken off one day for display purposes or if it ever gets the single chimney back, but for now they will be kept on.

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

Edh! You strike again... thanks.. :hehe::wave:

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

On a scale of... let's say... 1 to 10... how loud is a steam train?
(Also, this is just so I can really come to grips with it, give me an example of what it's as loud as, besides the rating, for example, 10, as loud as a jet engine..)

I did a basic quickie search and all I got(from searching how loud is a steam train) videos of loud steam trains, which doesn't help as, well you know, it's not real, I can turn the volume up and down.

There was also a few articles, but they were about what MAKES either diesel or steam so loud, or why steam engines are so loud..

By the way, for the record, I am referring more to.. the big/medium tender engines. But if you want, give me a comparison between smaller engines and large if you want.

 

[BLACKWATCH]

Your best bet would be to visit one of the UK's many preserved railways & listen for yourself.
It is impossible to say on a basis of 1 - 10, because it depends on what the loco is doing at any given
time, plus like diesel & electric loco's each loco has it's own persona.

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

I see.. ....

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

Did Siphon G GWR Milk Trains have brake vans at the rear of the train?
Just a curious question for realism..

 

[edh6]

Milk trains were expresses due to the perishable nature of the cargo. Before 1959 milk was often transported by attaching 6-wheel tankers or siphon vans to the backs of passenger trains as well as in special trains. After 1959 the tankers were banned from passenger trains so all milk ran in special trains. Because they were express trains the guards vans were normally passenger guards vans. These were normally full brake vehicles and could be either 4 wheeled or bogie vehicles. A typical milk train would be mostly 6-wheel tankers with one or two siphons and a brake van. On the mainline these trains could grow quite long by joining branch trains together and could feature express passenger locomotives such as Castles or Kings.

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

Thanks for that knowledge Ed!

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

-Please Blank This Post-

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

Rather a basic question, but I've COMPLETY forgotten(How is beyond me) what the name of the bridge you use to cross over at some (UK) stations is called..

 

[kenneth18278]

Footbridge or Walkover.

 

[SuperSpeedMaglev]

(Aplogizes if images seem rather large)

Featured is a photograph of Wellington(Salop, as it was called then) Station in Shropshire as well as a model of it. The photograph dates from the mid or early 1960s, the model, I would assume the 50s or 60s.

As I have highlighted on the model, what is this object? I believe this is the first time I've seen such an object.. (Either that or I've not been paying enough attention in photographs).. :hehe:

Describe it if you want but all I really care about is what the thing is called....

 

[paulhobbs]

That object is the coaling stage.

Paul