Weekend Photos - November 2026

[webenda]

November Has Begun

Good morning to y'all, a new month has begun,
May the sun shine on your face with joy and fun.
Now leave all your worries from yesterday behind,
Embrace this new start and watch what you can find.

Poem by Catherine Pulsifer (modified for this thread).
https://www.stresslesscountry.com/awakeup/

I found this custom-made track-cleaning car on eBay years ago. Lynnette just found it again in one of the many boxes from my July 2020 move from Tucson.

Custom Track Cleaning Car image by Wayne Benda, on Flickr

Reference: https://www.ebay.com/itm/147157262904?_ ... R6S0_r-3aA

[webenda]

When I click on this image, it opens on Flickr as a video. The video shows the weird lights coming from the nuclear reactor.

OakPoint by Wayne Benda, on Flickr

[healey36]

Given the family involvement with the nuclear industry, it would be fun to have something on the train table. That Menard's version looks pretty neat, Wayne, especially as it includes the cooling tower. I looked at the Lionel reactor, but it's a bit more fantastical and I've read it can be problematic. The workbench is already stacked to the ceiling...no need to clutter it up with fuel-rod issues

I came home from York with a couple hundred bucks in my pocket (very unusual); the Vienna Station train list hit the inbox the next day. This Lionel 97E set from 1928-1929 made quick work of the surplus:



Haven't had it on the track yet, but the 251E looks good. Re-wheeled and new pick-ups, I'm hopeful the pendulum reverse-unit works as it should. Everything needs a good cleaning, but otherwise pretty good. Lots of scratches and a few dents from trips into and out of the attic or hall closet, I suspect.

[webenda]

Nice looking set, Healey, scratches and all. No dents? I kinda like the way used equipment looks when it is not "like new." It wears its history.

I have always wondered what those things that look like tiny pantographs were used for.

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylva ... _(electric)#/media/File:PRR_BB2_3914_3915.jpg
Public Domain

I know that the B1s with tiny pantographs were used in yards with an outside third rail (no overhead wire).

[healey36]

Oh, there are a few dents in the roof of each, some worse than others. I skillfully photographed them so they're not too obvious These are definitely well loved, but then they are 98 years old, so one might expect a bit of wear and tear, if only for the annual packing/unpacking ritual. The handrails atop the motor are pretty tarnished...I'm hoping a cloth and a bit of Brasso will clean them up.

It's always fun to try and pick out what prototype might have influenced the Lionel designers...I always thought the 251 looked a bit like the NYC's T-motor (sort of):



But who knows...artistic license and all that.

As far as those mini pantographs go, the NYC S motors had them as well, and a number of toy trains were modelled after those. As to how they worked, not a clue. Wasn't the GG1 set up for third-rail as well? I think I read that somewhere, but may be balled up on that.

[healey36]

Nope, a bit of reading says the GG1 was exclusively designed for overhead catenary operation...

[webenda]

As far as those mini pantographs go, the NYC S motors had them as well...

Your hint is how I found the answer.

"There were still gaps, however, in the electricity at slip switches and crossovers. To remedy this issue, the NYC employed short sections of overhead catenary where appropriate, and the locomotives featured small rooftop pantographs to capture this 'juice.'"

Reference: https://www.american-rails.com/nycs1.html

I love it when teamwork leads to fixing a problem or finding an answer that stumps everyone.

[healey36]

Good research, Wayne; that clears up a number of questions I've had regarding the mini-pantographs on these locomotives. The catenary must have been pretty low-hanging (as compared to that out on the mainline).

I'm generally unfamiliar with electric operations. With the exception of the Pennsy equipment running through Baltimore on their Northeast Corridor line, there were precious few electrics running local to me near Baltimore. The B&O ran electrics through their tunnel for many years, dragging steam power through end-to-end, presumably to avoid asphyxiating the crew and any paying customers. I'm not sure when that practice ended, but CSX runs diesel equipment through there now.

[webenda]

Wikipedia says, "Objections to use of steam led, in 1895, to the first main line electrification in North America. Trains in one direction were pulled through the tunnel, by a series of electric locomotives that lasted until the end of steam; in the other direction, the train simply drifted down the slope. Dieselization made the electrification unnecessary and it was discontinued in 1952."
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore ... 0in%201952.

[webenda]

Some EMD FL9's had little pantographs.

Another interesting feature of the first thirty FL9s was their small pantograph. As Mr. Solomon's book explains the intricate web of trackage in New York City, particularly near Grand Central Terminal, often resulted in gaps in the third rail at crossovers, slip switches, and other locations. To maintain electrical contact the engineer could raise a small roof-mounted pantograph via a foot pedal. It was only briefly needed when encountering these areas that lacked third rail.
Reference: https://www.american-rails.com/fl9.html

Short sections of overhead catenary (provided in the form of overhead mounted third rail) were placed within the terminal trackage by the New York Central in case locomotives stalled out in a gap or had issues with their contact shoes, so that locomotive power could be restored by raising a pantograph.[29][30] This system was disliked and not used by most engineers, and there were multiple incidents where the pantograph was extended too soon, struck the overhead third rail and dislodged it from the ceiling; "the resulting fireworks caused considerable damage". The pantographs were deleted from the second locomotive order as a result.[30]
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_FL9
[30] Cavanaugh, H.F. (1980). Diesel Locomotives of the New Haven Railroad. Hicksville, New York: N.J. International, Inc. ISBN 0934088-06-3.