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Grand Canyon Railway steam engine PICS & VID

bjoehandley said:
Hey Sonic, was that engine always diesel or heating oil fired or was it a converted Coal/Wood burner?
Click to expand...

It was originally coal from what I understand, and converted at some point to run diesel. I couldn't tell you when that conversion was made.

As for the train, of course its cool! IMO though if you want to do the train and see a lot of the Canyon, stay overnight at the Canyon for one night. On the train, you get about 3 hours between when we get there and when we leave, most people don't think its enough time. Staying overnight gives you more time in the evening and the following morning to see the Canyon, so you can see much more.

And if you ride the train, try to ask for Bobby as your Passenger Service Attendant (thats me :D).
 
xjtrailrider said:
Does it have a road name on it? Or a business name? That is most likely a SW1200 but it could be a lot of different switchers. If the exhaust stacks are not capped and the water was not drained from the block properly it is most likely frozen and or cracked and not rebuild able.....but with enough money anything can be fixed! It could be transported by truck, the Baldwins pictured were hauled by truck for about 5 miles through the city streets of Roanoke
Click to expand...
You're in luck! The exhaust stacks are capped with large tin cans, and guarded by nests of angry mud dauber wasps and european burrowing wasps. Ask me how I know... :wow:

The oil level is good (checked it, takes 165 gallons of lube), fuel tank is empty as far as I could tell, has a full load of sand, unsure of coolant condition. The air compressor and tanks appear in good condition, the brakes are in poor condition (missing shoes, missing linkages in some cases), some of the axle bearings are looking pretty rough but most are looking OK and still have grease in the pots. The control system has been pretty much trashed by vandals/thieves (probably a dozen or two relays and such are missing, though with a good working knowledge of the design and some spare parts it could easily be reconstructed.) The generator looked OK but I'm not sure. The batteries are all missing, I think they were removed when it was decommissioned because the cables are neatly placed in the tray instead of being cut off. The motors are disconnected as I think I said before, but that's as simple as figuring out which of the four wires go where and reconnecting the links, then clamping the insulators back on... they were not damaged as far as I can tell.

The rail line's logo looks like a vertically elongated B with something else crossing it at the center horizontally, I'm not sure what. It was painted over, I need to see if I can find the name of the owner of the tracks/former line name, it goes through Greenfield NH from Nashua NH.

EDIT: Looks like it might have been part of the Milford-Bennington Railroad, and/or Boston & Maine. The section of track it's on was bought by the state of NH to preserve it for future use back when it was abandoned, and was used from 2003 to 2005 as part of the Wilton Scenic Railroad, though the engine in question was not ever used for this venture.

EDIT2: The logo (painted over) is DEFINITELY the old B&M logo - vertically stretched B crossing a horizontally stretched M.

EDIT3: it was previously road number 1228, then became 1423. Neither is listed on http://www.northeast.railfan.net/bm.html

EDIT4: found it! search on page for 1423 http://home.comcast.net/~railimages/bmros2.htm - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_SW9
 
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I used to ride on the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad when I was younger. One of the best memories I have are riding that train in the winter time and seeing the HUGE billowing smoke coming from the Locomotive!
 
Whats the advantage of running on a steam powered engine? It seems it was built to run on diesel fuel, so why not just have a diesel engine?
Is it more efficient or powerful or is it used simply for nostalgic purposes?
Some cool stuff...
 
I remember doing that when I was a kid, fun trip.
 
I was hoping for some story about a speed run attempt and a stuck pressure relief valve, and this was the result.

m2-2.jpg
 
CherBear said:
Whats the advantage of running on a steam powered engine? It seems it was built to run on diesel fuel, so why not just have a diesel engine?
Is it more efficient or powerful or is it used simply for nostalgic purposes?
Some cool stuff...
Click to expand...

Mostly nostalgic purposes, but set up right they are very powerful and pretty fast for the technology!
 
bjoehandley said:
Mostly nostalgic purposes, but set up right they are very powerful and pretty fast for the technology!
Click to expand...

Were they originally made to run on coal? I thought that was the prevailing fuel for steam engines. I would guess that they were retrofitted to run on diesel simply because it is easier to obtain and handle.
And since its a steam engine all the fuel has to do is boil water, so theoretically it could be made to be run on any sort of fuel as long as it burned hot enough right?
 
CherBear said:
Whats the advantage of running on a steam powered engine? It seems it was built to run on diesel fuel, so why not just have a diesel engine?
Is it more efficient or powerful or is it used simply for nostalgic purposes?
Some cool stuff...
Click to expand...

steam is an external combustion engine (our motors are internal combustion ie the "fire" or combustion occurs inside the engine). they are basically just a big boiler/steam generator. steam engines have the advantage of being able to utilize many different fuel sources- oil, diesel, coal, kero, wood, etc. the main advantage was that it was able to be used before refining became effective and efficient. coal was the big fuel used in steam IIRC. steam was far more powerful than gas or diesel engines of the era and was the go to method for anything that needed shear power
 
bjoehandley said:
Mostly nostalgic purposes, but set up right they are very powerful and pretty fast for the technology!
Click to expand...

Very true, the N&W Class "J" stream lined steam locomotive, which was of the most modern coal burners ever built (late 40's-early 50's), was recorded at over 100 mph through the long straight stretch of rail in the Dismal Swamps of VA. They could run all day long at close to 80 mph with no issues. The trick was balancing all of the rotating parts and using roller bearings instead of friction bearings. I can't imagine the feeling of holding onto the throttle of one of those beasts at that speed.
 
xjtrailrider said:
Very true, the N&W Class "J" stream lined steam locomotive, which was of the most modern coal burners ever built (late 40's-early 50's), was recorded at over 100 mph through the long straight stretch of rail in the Dismal Swamps of VA. They could run all day long at close to 80 mph with no issues. The trick was balancing all of the rotating parts and using roller bearings instead of friction bearings. I can't imagine the feeling of holding onto the throttle of one of those beasts at that speed.
Click to expand...

Sounds like Chicago & North Western's 400 route, could make a 400 mile run in 400 minutes while averaging 60mph including slowing down for road grade crossings and stopping to pick up passengers! When Dad started there in '66 some of the old timers told him about those locomotives and that the drivers on them were an honest 7ft tall:wow:
 
Lots of my family goes to the lake every year the weekend before Halloween for trick or treating. Some guys set up a haunted house and they had a real train whistle. I want one. Where do I get one?
 
itbrokeagain - it looks like the idea is a non starter... I haven't the first clue of how to find out who actually owns the thing, and it's looking like while the diesel engine itself is in excellent shape (no rust on the piston skirts I could see through the exhaust ports, only very minor orange spot surface rust on the roller cams etc) the electronics are in miserable shape. I'd have to find somewhere to park the darn thing, too :D

Basically, unless a lot more people want to get involved, and we can find who actually owns it and either convince them to donate it for restoration purposes or buy it for scrap price, the entire plan is pretty much nonexistent.
 
Any idea how to find the owners? I see that as the real big hurdle since the rest can be solved at worst with money (though I have almost none to throw around.) Just reading up on the sequence of company breakups, recombinations, and renamings that happened to B&M made my head spin, I have not the first clue of how to figure out the paper trail on where the title (do locomotives have titles) resides now.

EDIT: just found specs on the motor (EMD 567B) - 567ci displacement... per cylinder :scared: with 12 cylinders, that's an awful lot of displacement.
 
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itbrokeagain said:
Lots of my family goes to the lake every year the weekend before Halloween for trick or treating. Some guys set up a haunted house and they had a real train whistle. I want one. Where do I get one?
Click to expand...

My friend has one on his Dodge Cummins. It is intense. The real deal on train horns are called "Nathan Air Chimes". These can be had for over 500 bucks easily.
But much cheaper versions exist that are still 10x louder than your common car horn.

I think some other poeple on here run train horns on their rigs... They could point you in the right direction.
 
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