So are these officially in revenue service, or just for excursions?
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nice cab shot Mitch
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Rail Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, PA. purchased the locomotives for operation and resale in the U.S. Their debut in the US was during Quad Cities RiverWay 2006 celebration. They are now stored in Newton, IA looking for a new home.
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| Posted by on September 24, 2006 | |
Are those teakettles above the firebox door? I wouldn't mind having a quick cuppa in the cab...
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Nice shot Mitch!
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Thanks for making the reporting mark "official." It's been bugging me that people were calling them "QJ 6988" and "QJ 7081." QJ is not the reporting mark, it's the class, like 261 is an S-3 (I think) and SP 4449 is a GS-4.
As for the teakettles, my guess would be that they are lube oil for the various bearings all over the big beastie. (Keeping them there probably keeps the oil fluid enough to flow in the winter.)
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| Posted by Jonathan Schoen on September 25, 2006 | |
Interesting to note than the engineer's and fireman's sides are reversed when compared to American locomotives. Are there any plans to make the switch? If not, these could very well be the only steamers in the US where the engineer sits on the left.
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The oil cans above the firebox doors are there to keep the oil warm as stated above. Neat cab. I hope someone buys these things and runs them on a mainline where they belong.
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| Posted by BNP&RT01 on September 27, 2006 | |
What is the gaint red piece of metal above the and to the left of the Firebox???
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| Posted by steve ex East Lancs steam dept on October 7, 2006 | |
The big red lump of metal is what makes it go, it's the steam regulator handle, some you may have seen are on the back of the boiler barrel but these are mounted here with a linkage going forwards, the other very prominent red parts (X2) on the boiler are lights to illuminate the water gauges at night, the red bits are shields to keep the light out of the eye of the driver/engineer. The large red handle at center above the fire hole door is the opening lever for the fire box doors. And the lever on the far left by the window is the reversing lever connected to the valve gear. As stated the two "Tea pots" are for gear oil and cylinder oil, if you ever tried pouring cylinder oil in -15 degrees you will appreciate why they are over the firehole door
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