By Dion Pears (British 1929-1985)
Sunday, June 30, 2024
1957 Fuji Heavy Industries 'bonnet bus'
A Nissan G690 model, perhaps Fuji made the engine. In Japan the term 'bonnet bus' meant one which had an engine out front with a bonnet (hood) over it rather than the cab over the engine; underfloor engines have been pretty standard elsewhere. One of the Fukushima city's trams is also in view which has quite a narrow body.
Zandvoort race prize, Netherlands, 1939 poster
The Koninklijke Nederlandsche Automobile Club has existed since 1898.
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Friday, June 28, 2024
Thursday, June 27, 2024
from Paris to Le Mans in 2 hours with a 2D2 electric locomotive
From 1937, issued by the Chemins de fer de l'Etat, which was absorbed into the SNCF the following year. See earlier posts.
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
SP SD40T-2 heads a branch line train in Utah, 1995
The road number 5399 was earlier used for an SP SD9 which appeared in Black Widow livery. This scene was after the SP takeover of Denver & Rio Grande Western.
Seaboard Air Line mixed passenger and freight car model
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Monday, June 24, 2024
GE U30B locomotive
Sunday, June 23, 2024
SNCB class 11 Bo-Bo type electric locomotive
Numbering 12 units, Class 11 was part of a large 1980s family of 144 electric locomotives, made up of Classes 11 (12), 12 (12), 21 (60) and 27 (60). Classes 11, 12 and 21 were nearly twice as powerful as Classes 22, 23 and 25 while Class 27 was more than twice as powerful as these 1950s locomotives. This family was heavily influenced by the Class 20² from the mid-1970s. They were very reliable because of the trial and error development of their predecessor. This family came into service with M4 and M5 coaching stock and the AM 80 and AM 86 series of EMUs. This generation was a major modernization of the NMBS/SNCB even if the older M2 coaching stock remained active for more than a decade before being replaced. The only real difference between a Class 11 and a Class 21 was the Class 11 had a transformer inside to allow working under both 3000 V DC in Belgium and 1500 V DC plus Dutch signalling and train protection for working in Holland. Externally they were identical to Classes 12 and 21 aside from the livery and a few minor details.
The Class 11 locomotives were built in the 1980s for hauling the Benelux trains between Brussels, Belgium, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They operated in the push pull mode - remotely controlled from a leading driving trailer when at the rear of the train. They were numbered 1181-1192 to avoid confusion with NS Class 1100 locos that were still in use at that time. The Dutch Class 11 was originally numbered from 1101 to 1160. In 2009 they were replaced on the Benelux trains by Bombardier TRAXX locomotives which had been leased from Angel (now Alpha) Trains. When Class 11 locomotives were replaced on international services they were moved to peak hour services within Belgium for the rest of their working lives before retirement. They are painted to match the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) coaching stock they used to work with.
Due to their limited number and intensive use at speeds up to 140 km/h (87 mph), these locomotives aged rapidly after 25 years of service and became subject to frequent failures. Naturally, that led to frequent service disruptions and many passenger complaints. All Class 11s were stored inside at the dêpot of Stockem, near Arlon, upon withdrawal late in 2012. In mid-2014, similar loco 1203 was intensively tested in the Czech Republic at Velim under 25,000 Volt overhead and did very well. It was then sold to open access operator XTR-System Development in the Czech Republic with an option to buy the entire class. The option was taken and the remaining Class 11 locos were transferred to their new operator early in 2016. The same operator also agreed to buy 11 (of the SNCB 12 Class 11 locomotives at the same time, but the deal never went through and the locos have been sitting outside at Stockem ever since. Unit 1187 was/is preserved by the SNCB Historical Patrimonium.
'20th Century Limited' steam art
Saturday, June 22, 2024
A British Railways 2-6-4T on the Manningham Shed turntable, England, 1967
Friday, June 21, 2024
Thursday, June 20, 2024
OBB (Austrian Federal Railways) poster, 1950s
It looks like it's based on the line from Mittenwald on the German/Austrian border to Innsbruck. Probably a class 1100 Co-Co electric loco is depicted.
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Santa Fe 2900 Baldwin-built class 4-8-4 from 1944
Number 2928 is seen as a passenger train helper over Cajon Pass in October 1952.
From SteamLocomotive.com :-
These 30 engines were built to the #3765 design (Locobase 236), but because of wartime restrictions some of the parts were heavier to offset the lack of high-tensile alloys. As a result of the substitutions, these locomotives became the heaviest passenger locomotives ever built. Wartime exigencies required that they haul freight until the war ended; then they were assigned to the Scout and the Grand Canyon Limited.
AT&SF drawings show slightly different EHS (5319 sq ft), weight on drivers (295,000 lb) and total engine weight (510,000 lb).
25 were scrapped in 1959. Six--2903, 2912-2913, 2925-2926--were saved for display (five) or "future use" (2925). In the last year of the 20th Century, 2926 would begin a long-delayed second career after standing as a static display in Albuquerque, New Mexico's Coronado Park since 1956. The New Mexico Steam Locomotive and Railroad Historical Society, which had bought the 2926 in July 1999. began its restoration in 2000.
Over the next two decades and more, the NMSL&RS volunteers labored over the 2926, to expending more than 200,000 hours to restore the engine to operating condition. Hopes for 20-21 March 2020 "steam up and movement under power" collapsed as COVID 19-related restrictions shut down the effort for most of the year.
Read morean NSW 38 class at Aberdeen station with a passenger train in steam days
Likely to have originated in Newcastle NSW, taken from a nearby road bridge. Obviously a more important train is coming through at the platform. A new station, albeit a small one, has been built here recently. No other information.