| Posted by on June 11, 2009 | |
What a find! Never knew this existed.
|
There it is - why can't I use all capitals to show my excitement? An unbelievably rare image captured so perfectly, in color no less. It's unimaginable that this unique and futuristic Baldwin survived into the 70's and was still scrapped. This is one of only a few examples where the railroads of the US were making a last ditch effort to revive the passenger hauling part of their business by using lightweight (1/3rd the weight), efficient and attractive consists. This train was the brainchild of Robert R. Young, former chairman of the C&O railroad who took the project with him to the New York Central. Like the modern day Talgos that Amtrak uses, these too, leaned into curves and were articulated. Imagine where we may have been now had they succeeded then. Thanks for sharing, Tom!
|
There were two Train X consists built, the second was for the New Haven Railroad, which used two locomotives, one at each end, m.u.ed through the train. This locomotive is actually one of the New Haven units, as the New York Central's example had a more angular nose, somewhat like Baldwin's famous Sharknosed units, and a circular headlight casing. The locomotives were diesel-hydraulics, with the oil engine was mounted directly on a long wheel-based truck, so the entire propulsion system was unitized. New Haven's duo was also were equipped with traction motors on the rear truck for operation on third rail to enable access to New York's City's Grand Central Terminal. Pickens acquired both train sets, and all three locomotives. The Pickens paint scheme for all three, shown here, was derived from the NYC blue and yellow scheme (what's blue here was yellow, and what is silver was blue), which probably accounts for the confusion.
|
This locomotive belonged to the owner of the Pickens railroad, however, in this photo it is on the Greenville & Northern railroad near Travelers Rest.
|
What a SHAME they were NOT PRESERVED ! In the overall scheme of things, HOW LITTLE would it have COST at that time ? It would seem they could have been made "reliable enough" for an occasional fan trip. Even sitting "cold iron" in a museum would have been better. Oh well,
|
Ok,Ok, I have seen this mystical consist forever, Why did it fail? mechanical issues? what is the story?
|
|