The last time I saw Strasburg 31 in operation was back in the late '80s. The thing I remember most about her is watching her "waddle" side to side as she approached East Strasburg. Is this waddle normal for an 0-6-0? Seems like it'd be awfully hard on the track. It made me appreciate the comment about "banging tangents into kinks" in the souvenir book.

[redacted]

.

Go ahead and tell him "#@&% you, Watson" for me. :o)

Seriously, thanks for the info. What I was most interested in knowing is if the waddle is unique to the 31 or if it applies to all 0-6-0s. By extension, would it also apply to 0-4-0s and 0-8-0s? I've never noticed the same waddle with other switchers I've seen run -- but that could just be because I've never seen them from head-on running at speed like the 31.

.

In terms of personal experience with "the waddle", I can say I've seen an even more pronounced example of this syndrome on PRR 0-6-0 643 at Williams Grove near Dillsburg, Pa. In this case, it's dealing with track that's minimally maintained (but they DO maintain it) and an 0-6-0 with smaller drivers and a lower boiler (I theenk...). I rode the cab of 643 in service a decade or so ago and was privately relieved that no one had to run that loco on that track on a regular basis.

Perhaps the Strasburg crew can put to death another rumor that spread years ago: The rumor that Strasburg briefly considered laying welded rail over the "Road to Paradise". The pro was the decreased maintenance and smoother ride (and thus less wear on the equipment); the obvious con was the loss of the old-timey "clickety-clack"!

I seem to recall that the Monticello Railway Museum stopped using their Republic Steel 0-6-0 # 191 because of the damage it did to the museums track. They believe that their Southern 2-8-0 will be easier on the line once it is put into service.

Les

When we ran the Baldwin 26 0-6-0 during my tenure at Steamtown, it definitely tended to hunt back and forth over 10 MPH when we ran it on the 2 mile round trip “shuttles”. The engine was restricted to 20 MPH but we usually kept it around 15 MPH with 2 cars. The more cars you added, the better the ride actually. There were times the engine was run over CP ail between Bridge 60 and Carbon Jct in transit for special events at decidedly over 15 MPH which provided for an even rougher ride.

The 26 had a blind driver when first put into operation at Steamtown which has since been replaced with a flanged tire, I never fired the 26 with the blind driver and always wondered how the ride would have differed.

Dave Crosby

Morris County Central #4039 wasn't known to be a ballroom queen on the rails either.

That may be why the Midland Terminal took its ex-U.S. Army 0-6-0's and turned them into 2-6-0's. Wonder how much it helped? The Virginia Blue Ridge on the other hand, which also used the ex-Army 0-6-0's (including MCC # 4039) over the road, never bothered with a conversion. Since the USA 0-6-0's were built with the option of converting them to Moguls, I wonder why no tourist railroad ever tried it?

Les

A conversion of 31 to a mogul was actually entertained in 1990. We didn't do it because of the "freak out" factor.

Steve:

This was actually done I believe, with an 0-6-0 from some place down south (Jacksonville Terminal Railroad perhaps?) The locomotive ended up in Canada and was converted to a 2-6-2 as I recall and lasted quite late into the diesel era. I think it was finally scrapped though. This was really going a far different way. Most steam conversions were locomotive LOSING wheels, not gaining them! Mikes became 0-8-2's on the Grand Trunk Western, Burlington Prairies were made into "super" 0-6-0's, NorthWestern 2-10-2's were converted into 0-10-2's. I never did see a photograph of the "pretend Prairie". Maybe one of our Canadian friends can give us the particulars, and maybe even a picture.

Les