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How to unload a "Best Friend"
https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11511		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Joshua K. Blay [ Mon Nov 29, 2004 2:45 pm ]
Post subject:  How to unload a "Best Friend"
Interesting.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=86188

Joshua
Author:  Dave [ Mon Nov 29, 2004 7:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How to unload a "Best Friend"
1. Rename it "Phoenix" and drop in a new boiler.
2. Cut the price, offer a dealer incentive, low financing, and a cash rebate.
3. Use a lot of fine print in the warranty so nobody really knows what is covered.

dave
Author:  scrmcurator [ Tue Nov 30, 2004 10:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How to unload a "Best Friend"
Dave wrote:
1. Rename it "Phoenix" and drop in a new boiler.
2. Cut the price, offer a dealer incentive, low financing, and a cash rebate.
3. Use a lot of fine print in the warranty so nobody really knows what is covered.

dave


And the bill of sale should specify that it be melted down and made into a cannon when obsolete.

The Friend pictured is now in Charleston. NS 49 and 50, the two freight cars carrying the train, are at SCRM. We've got our two BFOC coaches (built for Wings & Wheels) stored in the boxcar and some parts for our #44 in the house on the flatcar.

I remember one day shortly after we got the transport cars when we were putting a coach away after using it in a parade. John Parker decided to see if he could drive a motor car up that ramp. He got the thing up, but it wasn't pretty.
Author:  Joshua K. Blay [ Tue Nov 30, 2004 11:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How to unload a "Best Friend"
How did they get the "Friend" up and down? I don't see a cable. Is the guy on the tender manning a brake?

Joshua
Author:  Ron Goldfeder [ Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How to unload a "Best Friend"
There was an automotive engine in the "tender" which was used to move the train and sometimes to assist the steam loco itself. I'm not sure how it drove the axle or axles. The guy on the tender is at its control position. This engine had enough power to move the train up and down the ramp safely. Perhaps someone else with first hand knowledge can fill us in better.
Author:  scrmcurator [ Thu Dec 02, 2004 9:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How to unload a "Best Friend"
Ron Goldfeder wrote:
There was an automotive engine in the "tender" which was used to move the train and sometimes to assist the steam loco itself. I'm not sure how it drove the axle or axles. The guy on the tender is at its control position. This engine had enough power to move the train up and down the ramp safely. Perhaps someone else with first hand knowledge can fill us in better.


I never saw the Friend being loaded or unloaded, but since the transport cars are now in "my" museum's collection I can sort of speak to this.

First off, the flatcar behind the loco isn't a tender, it's a flat. The Friend is technically an 0-4-0T. That square box between the front wheels is the water tank. The flat was originally included in the replica because SC law required a flat with a bale of cotton between the dangerous rolling bomb and the coaches (a good idea, actually, considering what wound up happening to the original Friend). Later, the flat made a good place to add the Ford. The Wings & Wheels replica, now in the State Museum in Columbia, is more accurate -- the flat has a couple bales of cotton on it. BTW, the Southern's Friend has air brakes on the coaches and mechanical brakes on the engine. The Ford ran the compressor. Again, the W&W replica is more accurate -- the original didn't have any brakes at all. Their idea of "brakes" in 1830 was a crowd of slaves running out and grabbing the train to bring it to a stop.

There's an electric winch in the back of the boxcar. We use it for both loading and unloading our coaches. From the pic it looks as if the Southern used the Ford in the crate on the flat for unloading. I doubt that they'd be able to get enough traction on that steep ramp to load using the Ford, so they probably used the winch for loading.

The ramp, BTW, is in a number of pieces. Putting it together is about as challenging as assembling a relatively simple jigsaw puzzle. John's attempt to climb it with a motor car made me quite nervous because the ramp is worn. It wobbles back and forth quite a bit. There's about a quarter inch of play in the gauge, which isn't enough to derail anything but more than enough to make a person decidedly nervous.
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