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You signal aspect debaters are missing the point. Does anyone really think that the railroads would be required to install colored light signals at every curve where there's a permanent speed restriction? Right after requiring the billions spent on PTC? Speed signs (or speed signals) can be be any f...

Bunker C was a very common grade for locomotive use and is very dense, requiring a good amount of heat to make it useable. It is residual oil and usually much cheaper than higher refined oils, hence the attraction to the RR's motive power departments. As for water in winter - while some steam locomo...

T - There were several schemes for heating tenders, but in general the most common was a closed loop of pipe in the tank fed by steam and regulated by a steam trap and/or valve at the discharge end of the pipe. You don't want to put steam directly into the oil as the steam condenses to water and con...

I think there's a little confusion starting regarding controlled sidings. Ironman is correct about the track layout and switches, however a signaled siding is a controlled siding but a controlled siding is not necessarily a signaled siding. The confusion seems to stem (and I've heard it way too many...

Cori - If you're asking about working a train or series of trains from Pittsburgh to LA, no, they wouldn't have done that as MBTA said, however things were booming in the 20s with jobs at most RRs readily available for skilled RRers as railroading was at a high point then. Growth in LA was a big dra...

I'm not that familiar with truck brakes, but if brake fade does in fact represent a loss of friction, then it's not something that locomotive engineers deal with much. Modern rail equipment, both cars and locomotives (for the most part) uses HF Comp (HIgh Friction Composition) brake shoes that are d...

Gents - A couple of points - First - the 3rd pic in the OP appears to be nothing more than your standard RBM frog. Nothing fancy, although those look like some new-fangled guard rails. Second, for FarmallBob, a jump (or lift, or flange-bearing, whatever CSX refers to them as) frog is still a frog, a...

Screenings would be small cleaned crushed stone of, as the drawing states, 1/8" to 1/2" diameter. The color would depend on where it was obtained. When this drawing was made, NYC probably sourced from smaller local quarries, and I doubt the type of stone was specified beyond something like...

Here you go Otto (if I did it right). Up to date as of 12/5/1910. There is no plan for just cinder platforms in the book. There are, however, drawings of standard crossings, fences, tunnels, turnstiles, manholes, cattle guards, roads, turntables, etc, along with the regular track drawings.

Definitely not Niagara Branch. Two or three arm pole line back then and double track in that section. The single track north of CP17 is not an industrial area.

G.

The B&M roundhouse was and still is located adjacent to Middleburgh St. between 7th and 8th Streets. Now owned by Troy Boiler Works and used (I think) for storage.

Matt/Charlie et al - There are several reasons why a train runs a specific route where alternatives are available. I can't speak for other RRs, but CR had multiple schedules for many trains. OIEL/ELOI, the TV20x series and others had alternate schedules for running Penn route, Tier, or Water Level, ...

Charlie & Noel - I qualified on the Hornell to Olean run in 90 just before it was taken OOS. There were indeed slow orders, and if you got called for a trip to Olean you had to be ready for a full day's trip. I might have a bulletin order somewhere, but IIRC (memory's getting foggy), there was a...

ddk - 1. They certainly did in the ALTA Planning Rail-with-Trail Feasibility Study, but that was closer to 9/11 and the trail lobby is very persistent ..... 2. Simple. Write to Mike Hein, the county legislators, the Governor and Senator Schumer and tell them that you're an Ulster taxpayer and you wa...

Scot - Two corrections to your 'gone' list. #13 - There were two diamond locations originally at BD/Liberty Street for D&H to cross the Erie, to get to DL&W toward the east and west. Also, #18 - Erie/DL&W did not cross with diamonds at Chemung. DL&W went up and over the Erie on a thr...