My railroad adventures-

[srmitchell]

Hey dudes!

Not xj related, but I've been dedicating a lot of time to a local organization up here called The Timber Heritage Association, we're trying to create a museum telling the stories of loggers, and railroaders of the past, our local Northwestern Pacific rail service ended in 1997, due to severe washouts in the Eel River Canyon.

The main goal is getting a fully operation tourist train running around the Eureka Bay, from Samoa to Eureka. The line is in disrepair, but there's a new community effort to restore the tracks, and build a walking path next to it as well. No trains have run around here in 15 years.

We have 7 passenger cars, 3 of which are heavyweight pullman cars, (including a 1916 diner car- 80 tons!) We hope to pull these around the bay for tourists and rail fans alike.

Anyway- Today, we moved our 1950, GE, 44 ton switching locomotive from a storage facility, to our main roundhouse buildings in Samoa. Hell of a day. The trailer broke at one point, due to scraping on the ground, because of the 44 ton weight. :shhh: This engine is fully functional, it is getting new paint too, and it will be our primary motive power. We have a few steam engines awaiting restoration too. (We own a total of 6 steam engines at our roundhouse complex.)

In this last pic- you can see where the trailer failed. The construction company who moved it for us was responsible, as I think they loaded the engine too far forward. They fixed it and moved it to our facility with no drama.

Check us out on our facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Timber-Heritage-Association/163746017004201

 

[Alex E]

Haha, thats pretty cool. I feel bad for the lowboy.

 

[crazymoose1990]

More pictures please, I really want to see the steam engines.

 

[srmitchell]

Ex-BNSF Hirail

Crew speeders

Interior of our diner car

Diner car

1890's Bear Harbor #1 under steam

Falk #1

Hammond Lumber #15, a 2-8-2.

I have more, I'll post them tomorrow!

 

[blondejoncherokee]

diner car is awesome. makes me think of darjeeling limited. great movie. 44 tons is nuts. you need a dinosaur to pull that thing.

 

[srmitchell]

The last loco I posted- The Hammond 15, right around 90 tons.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

what the heck do you use to tow 90 tons?

a blue whale rigged up to work on land?

 

[srmitchell]

Haha for the #15, the running gear was removed from the boiler, and they were trucked separately.

 

[#S194]

Awesome project dude. The dining car looks awesome. Nice work restoring the interior.

 

[souske]

Sweet!

 

[Boatwrench]

I thought the '44 tons' on the GE 44T was the draw bar pull or tractive effort rating?

 

[srmitchell]

Nope, the 44 tonner was designed at that weight to avoid the FRA requirement of having an engineer and fireman. It is light enough that one person can operate it.

"The GE 44-ton switcher is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric between 1940 and 1956. It was designed for industrial and light switching duties, often replacing steam locomotives that had previously been assigned these chores. This locomotive's specific 44-short ton weight was directly related to one of the efficiencies the new diesel locomotives offered compared to their steam counterparts: reduced labour intensity. In the 1940s, the steam to diesel transition was in its infancy in North America, and railroad unions were trying to protect the locomotive fireman jobs that were redundant with diesel units. One measure taken to this end was a stipulation that locomotives weighing 90,000 pounds (41,000 kg) or more required a fireman in addition to an engineer. The 44-ton locomotive was born to skirt this requirement by one ton. Other manufacturers also built 44-ton switchers of center-cab configuration. 348 examples of this locomotive were built for North American railroads. Many remain, in service and in museums."

 

[Mike1331]

awesome thanks for sharing.

 

[foxwar71]

those old steamers are badass!! that track looks like its gunna be a project and a half. good luck and great pics!

 

[blondejoncherokee]

pretty neat stuff man.

 

[srmitchell]

Thanks for interest guys.

Here's more.

Cool shot of the drive wheels on the Hammond 15.

The Pacific Lumber Company #29, a 2-6-2 Baldwin Loco, 1916.

Valve gear- These wheels are huge, and allows for a higher top speed than most locos

Small panoramic I took of the roundhouse- You can see our 55 ton Shay loco too.

Our Speeder in Loleta CA, a section of the Northwestern Pacific line, about 15 miles south of Eureka. The tracks go through the downtown area, through the forest, and then below highway 101, in a 1900 foot long tunnel. I have hi-railed through the tunnel, it is in great shape. However, for passengers, we can only drive speeder UP to the south portal of the tunnel.

Inspecting the tunnel- Remember, no rail service for 15 years up here, so this was historic.

 

[american_zero]

Really cool! What an interesting thing to get to work on while going to school.