What's the deal with Cass and Diamond Stacks?

S

sawyer811

MKT Forever and always
Okay, i gotta ask, becuase this has been bugging me for years. Why does Cass Scenic insist on putting diamond stacks on all their engines? I've seen older shots where some of them (#2 comes to mind) don't have the stacks, but now they do. And they had to desecrate #11 when she came there and put one on her (and convert her to coal burning, too). Now, before you go and give the "they need them so they don't set the forest on fire," line, let me say this. If they need them for that reason, then why doesn't Big Six have one? and, unless there's some hidden spark arrestor i don't know about, she doesn't have the telltale elongated smokebox that usually hides one.

That was a little harsh, but i guess it just bugs me. To me, preservation means, "Keep the engine the way it was when it left service," but maybe that's just not how Cass operates. Maybe it's the whole coal-burning shay-operated railroad thing they're going for. I'm just curious, and if anyone knows, i'd love to hear from them. I'd just like to understand their thought process.
 
sawyer811: I have a train video about the Cass RR..It shows what happened to real(Original)sawmill..It was destroyed by fire..Now whether this had any thing to do with what your talking about??..Anyway I saw your post my 2 cents..
 
I've got a sneaky suspicion it's the state fish & Game (or whoever manages the forests for the state) that makes them put them on. I suspect Western Maryland 6 (Big Six) has some kind of internal spark arrestor, and that's why she doesn't need one. Not sure i can prove it though.
 
It's a logging railroad, and they like to keep a family appearance between locos. Big 6, no matter what, couldn't get that family appearance. Besides, there's more of us WM fans that it would tick off than you think :hehe: We're already pretty ticked about what they did to the whistle...
 
that makes sense. I guess it wouldn't make sense to have a bunch of different-looking engines hanging around Cass. and yeah, I'm no Western Maryland fan (though their 2-10-0s look beautiful...in that mean, "get the hell out of my way or i'll make you my pilot ornament" way:hehe:) but i'd be ticked if they put a daimond stack on her.


on a related note, what'd they do to her whistle?
 
They decided it was too low (duh, it's a WM loco), so they took a rare and expensive whistle, cut 4" out of it, and welded it back together. Needless to say, it sounded like crap. They tried to lengthen it again, which of course didn't work. They now use some ugly MD Whistle. I mean, at least use a Hancock 3-chime, then at least the bowl is right.

Also not too cool that Cumberland has finally basically pronounced their whistle dead by starting to use that B&O whistle. Don't get me wrong, it sounds pretty good, but it's wrong. Too bad that one will end up dead too because none of their engineers can actually blow a whistle. It's all that crap they do coming into the station.

At least 202's whistle will be taken care of when she runs.

<\rant>
 
simulatortrain said:
They decided it was too low (duh, it's a WM loco), so they took a rare and expensive whistle, cut 4" out of it, and welded it back together. Needless to say, it sounded like crap. They tried to lengthen it again, which of course didn't work. They now use some ugly MD Whistle. I mean, at least use a Hancock 3-chime, then at least the bowl is right.

Also not too cool that Cumberland has finally basically pronounced their whistle dead by starting to use that B&O whistle. Don't get me wrong, it sounds pretty good, but it's wrong. Too bad that one will end up dead too because none of their engineers can actually blow a whistle. It's all that crap they do coming into the station.

At least 202's whistle will be taken care of when she runs.

<\rant>
Click to expand...

and i thought i was the only one that did that:hehe:

Great news that 202 is going to steam again. I have my own gripes about the only steam engine running near me, AT&SF 4-6-2 3415. The Abilene & Smoky Valley (The railway) is a shoestring outfit to begin with, and the crews, while they're qualified and certified, couldn't fire an 0-4-0 on a fifty foot track, let alone their big 4-6-2 on 5 miles of line. First off, they keep slamming the throttle open and shut, jolting the train on track that's already FRA class one or worse. beleive me, it's bad. there's places where you can't see the the rails, let alone the ballast, if there is any. The last time i saw it running, they slipped the wheels while they where slowing down. They slipped with just the engine and tender! They all say "oh, well the 3400's were always slick footed," that may be, but an engine should at least be able to pull its own tender, right? then, when we get ready to board the train, the fireman (obviously on his first run) opened the oil valve (she's an oil burner) farther than it needed to be, and globs of oil came down on the ties and set them on fire. needless to say, they peeled out, there were sparks coming up from the wheels as they obviously slammed the throttle open all the way without sand (sometimes i wonder if they can even afford sand), total chaos.

It's just terrible. this engine was built for 90mph speeds, not to tow its train home at 5mph tender first. they need to open the line all the way to Pearl and get the track rebuilt so they can open her up. I know L&N 152 at the Kentucky Railway Museum gets up to 45mph or something like that.

<\rant> (again)
 
You guys have got to admit they are unique in there own world..I wish I could say that they are relatives, but there not..
 
Ya know - it might be a spark preventative thing. When I rode the Durango & Silverton behind K-36 number 481 they ran a boxcar right behind the tender with a 500 gal water tank inside which was connected to a system that sprayed a mist of water over the top of the stack. I found out about this because our system didn't work and we almost had to go back and get a different engine (hopefully one was available). Fortunately they got it to work. Each train also has a speeder with 1 or 2 guys with portable water spray rigs following about a half mile behind just in case a little fire does start. Wouldn't be much of a "scenic" railroad with everything burnt to the ground.

Ben
 
The East Broad Top RR had a track fire with a tie that smoldered for an hour, and pretty soon it started blazing pretty darn good. I was all the way across the field @1/2 mile away, with a 2 barbed wire fences ... and my little ol' personal fire truck was plumb outa' water. A bunch of us joked that we should go down there, trespass and comunally all "put it out". One guy drove away and soon a train came along and stopped short, and the conductor walked ahead and doused it with a gallon of water ... wouldn't ya know it ... it started flaming back up again later in the day !

Ever notice it takes a entire box, of 20 packs of matches, and some Boyscout Fluid, just to start a campfire going ... but one stray spark will cause a horendous forest fire in a jiffy !
 
As long as they don't do anything to that Three Chime Lunkenhimer, i won't say anything. But as for the other crap they've done........i just have to laugh, because they should of had more common sense on cutting a whistle.

Rock On!
Dusten
 
You guys have to remember, this is run by the state..Therefore you will not get a Railroad person to run the show..So things are not going to be Railroady..
 
very very true...that's why i think we need all need to start the railroad rebellion and take over steamtown. Finally get something DONE there.
 
sawyer811 said:
very very true...that's why i think we need all need to start the railroad rebellion and take over steamtown. Finally get something DONE there.
Click to expand...


Like look at it and say everyday, we are building prr 1361:) . Five years later still have done nothing to it lets face it, when you out of money you just can't do anything but just watch in horror as it rusts away:( .

If I was rich I would give the money needed to rebuild 1361 because I totaly love her whistle its so special to the prr steamers.
 
amen to that. When F. Nelson Blount owned the place, they at least got things done and had american engines running (759, i think 2124, plus 89, 47, and that pacific that they sold to Gettysburg...which they then proceeded to blow up:eek:).

Steamtown=fail.
 
Cass' tradition has always just been diamond stacks. That's why they put those on every engine. Big Six doesn't have one because it was originally built with the shotgun barrel stack, obviously and since it is on lease, they won't put a diamond stack on it. Besides, it would be way too tall.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Trouble with route design/ready to make scenes but don't know the altitude
Replies
18
Views
2K
BraselC5048
B
R
Trainz 19 makes computer sad face and restart
Replies
4
Views
1K
autodctr
A
L
Three Questions regarding Trainz 2022
Replies
7
Views
1K
Driver_Col
D
J
Hard drive crash problem.. TRAINZ files lost..need help !
2 3
Replies
54
Views
6K
JimDep
J
H
Tunnels And Tracks Question
Replies
10
Views
2K
Forester1
F
Back
Top