The future has come! And then it was gone. Very cool catch, John. Thanks so much for sharing these rare gems!
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Just think how much things may have changed had the "Train of Tomorrow" actually been successful. Again thanks for sharing these gems, and keep them all coming.
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My mother (born and raised in Altoona) told me she saw this train - she definitely has a jealous son! The Altoona Works sign and the surounding nearby buildings are long since gone and a part of history. Thanks for sharing.
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Remarkably, the LWT-12 still exists at St. Louis. The power unit was a success, the rest of it, wasn't. As to the herald on the pilot, I doubt it lasted more than a few trips before being removed or painted over.
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| Posted by Jeric on July 26, 2012 | |
My dad took me on this around the same time this picture was taken...I remember it well!!...
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Sorry you guys....but that has got to be the ugliest looking loco ever!
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Once again in an old photo, I see what appears to be chains hanging down from a cable, running full width of the tracks. This consist is passing under them right now. Can someone explain what these hanging devices were used for?
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Straight out of a mid 50's martian flick!
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Those hanging strands are probably Teltails telling people riding on the tops of freight cars to duck before they hit an object!
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They look just like a series of telltails hanging across a cable to me as well.
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Aren't some of the "flop" railroading ideas also some of the most fascinating? (Thinking of the PRR's Baldwin DR-12-8-1500/2 "Centipede" locomotives, which lasted at best as long as these guys and were likewise relegated.) Someone said elsewhere (noting the comment that the PRR likely yanked their logo herald off the front of these as quickly and as surreptitiously as they could) management didn't like having something around that reminded them of their judgment failures, hence the fact that all "Centipedes" went to the torch with none preserved today. Like the boy-turned-man said at the end of Mel Gibson's movie "Road warrior": "He exists...only in my memories." Glad some of these LWT12s still are around today.
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