I'm familiar with the sectioned Baldwin 0-6-0 at Steamtown and the cut-away trolley at Electric City Trolley Museum, and I seemed to recall a sectioned locomotive at the National Railway Museum in York, England.

Are there others?

http://rrmuseumpa.org

I seemed to recall a sectioned locomotive at
> the National Railway Museum in York,
> England.

The locomotive at the National Railway Museum in York is Bullied "Merchant Navy" Pacific 35029 "Ellerman Lines", built in 1948. It's a much larger and more comprehensive display than the one at Scranton, on par with sectioning a PRR K4 or New York Central Hudson. The major difference, of course, is that there were so d**m many SR Bullied Pacifics in the scrap lines at Barry that by American standards it would be like sacrificing a PRR GG1 or an EMD E8 for a sectioned display (I think something like 31 of them escaped the scrappers?).

lner4472@bcpl.net

I saw a sectioned narrow-gauge side-tank 0-4-0T Welsh coal-mine engine at the Toronto Science Center some time ago (probably during the 1974 T.R.A.In. conference). This was probably 15-inch gauge or so, with no cab, not much bigger than a Fairmont car.

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867

There is a retired Union Pacific U28C at the Museum of Transport in St. Louis. The hood has been taken off and the major components of the prime mover, etc., are labeled.

If my cobwebbed filled noggin remembers correctly, UP used the locomotive (if you could call it that) as a training aid before it was donated to the Museum.

Regards,
Burlington John

PS - picture from the NMOT website at www.museumoftransport.org



Burlington Route Historical Society

BurlingtonJohn@trainorders.com

I almost remember in the dim cobwebby corners of my mind seeing one in either the Deutcsches Museum or in Switzerland back in the early 1970's. An attendant climbed into the sectioned cab and when he opened the throttle it was run on rollers in place by an electric motor.

If you remember the late '60s and early'70s you missed them.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Another sectioned steamer — what kind, I don’t remember — is at the Madrid
Railway Museum. I saw it back in 1998. Even better: One of those export model Alco PA twins is on display. I also noticed a second one at that time on a weed-grown siding at Valencia.
Kevin

> I almost remember in the dim cobwebby
> corners of my mind seeing one in either the
> Deutcsches Museum or in Switzerland back in
> the early 1970's. An attendant climbed into
> the sectioned cab and when he opened the
> throttle it was run on rollers in place by
> an electric motor.

> If you remember the late '60s and early'70s
> you missed them.

> Dave

Kurt,

The Rochester Chapter NRHS, which operates the Rochester & Genesee Valley RR Museum, has two cutaway diesel locomotive prime movers. One is an Alco 244 and the other is an EMD 567 I believe. As you can see by the picture, they are not complete engine blocks, but are comprised of part of the complete block showing the cylinders and valves and many of the other detail parts on each end of the engine. The 244 shows a cutaway of the turbo showing its insides for example. They are all painted and are very well done. Even though they are not complete blocks, they are still quite massive taking up about 5 feet by 5 feet of floor space and standing almost 7 feet tall.

They are currently on display at our partner museum, the New York Museum of Transportation, since the R&GV RR Museum does not have a display location large enough. I am not sure where they came from, but they are well done and have been on display for many years.

Until later,
Chris
R&GV RR Museum

> I'm familiar with the sectioned Baldwin
> 0-6-0 at Steamtown and the cut-away trolley
> at Electric City Trolley Museum, and I
> seemed to recall a sectioned locomotive at
> the National Railway Museum in York,
> England.

> Are there others?


Rochester Chapter NRHS

crhauf@frontiernet.net

> There is a retired Union Pacific U28C at the
> Museum of Transport in St. Louis. The hood
> has been taken off and the major components
> of the prime mover, etc., are labeled.

> If my cobwebbed filled noggin remembers
> correctly, UP used the locomotive (if you
> could call it that) as a training aid before
> it was donated to the Museum.

You aren't full of cobwebs yet. UP used this thing to train new hires at it's shops. Not only was it useful to show the various parts, but they used it to show in great detail how to change fuel injectors, power assemblies, main bearings, brushes, etc. Without the hood in the way, the instructor and students could actually get their hands on things and take it apart and reassemble it. It also visually illustrated the piping and flows and what was in each pipe (fuel, water, oil, air, etc.), wiring, etc.

It became surplus when the Dash 8 and newer units came along, which had much different "guts" than the old U-Boats (thankfully). Since then, it's been very useful for showing the public what's under those hoods.

Which, IMO, is a GOOD thing. Like the steam engines, the public today simply cannot fathom or even visualize what's inside that boiler or under that hood. Heck, most have no idea what a boiler is, much less what's inside it or how it works.
If you don't believe it, stand near an engine on display at a museum and just listen to the questions and statements made by the public. Not to mention some of the statements made by some of the "knowledgeable" volunteers and docents!!!

Most people don't have the basic education or common-sense background to grasp this stuff that seems so simple to most of us, so it's our obligation (again, IMO) to make it easier for them to understand it. If that entails slicing and dicing a few engines, it's well worth it.

That would be Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, Lucerne. I saw that loco cutaway when I was there about 10 years ago. I don't see any mention of it on their web page though. (link attached)

Verkehrshaus der Schweiz
n2xjk@yahoo.com

Thought of one more. A friend showed me a picture book from a big French railroad museum (Mulhouse?) that had pictures of a gorgeous SNCF 4-6-4 that had been aggressively sectioned, along the lines of J. David's Scranton 0-6-0. The picture was clear enough to show that the tubes were finned on the inside (How do you roll `em?) and that the superheaters were ruptured and freeze-busted, just like American Type E's.

Actually two more, if you count partial Diesel prime movers. Along with the sectioned 4-6-2, the York Museum has a partial Deltic prime mover that operates electrically, next to the Deltic demonstrator. (Deltic trivia too good to keep to myself: the builder's solution to prime-mover oil leaks was to equip these locomotives with a seal-welded floor, to keep the leakage from shorting out the traction motors. Two of these happened to go by the York station on excursions the afternoon I arrived there last spring, and RDG 2101 is no longer the smokiest locomotive I've ever seen.)

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867-0665

Funny how this subject comes up as I am currently working on a proposal for such a display like the Union Pacific U28C for the Orange Empire Railway Museum. Going one step further, run an elevated catwalk along one side of the locomotive (at walkway height) and through the cab. Obviously the interior cab would have to be sufficiently "guest" proofed if this is to be a display that is unattended which it can easily be.

Regards,
Paul Krot
OERM

paul_krot@msn.com

I first heard about the sectioned steamer in Scranton earlier this year. I've since been currious about just which locomotive it is. Is it one of the little saddle tanks? Just currious.

Sincerely,
David Ackerman

david_ackerman@yahoo.com

Thanks Earl. you've given us more info on how this loco was used as a trainer than we had before this thread began. I would point out that this loco just happens to to be the sole U28C to have survived, and its trainer role is what saved it. As for the general public, I can recall a lot of sheer nonsense questions. One of the best was the person who asked what the area behind the cab of our UP "Centennial" was used for, baggage perhaps?

I don't have photo at home but we've recently tried a variation on the "cut-away" steamer method of showing visitors how one works. Our Georgia 0-6-0 has been painted to show what each portion does using a wide variety of colors. The boiler is red, the sand domes and pipes sand color, the air and electrical systems different, etc, and the frame, brakes and suspension different colors as well. The nice thing about this method is that is is non-destructive and it can be repainted black in the future.

I can remember seeing full "cut-aways" at York, Mulhouse, Lucerne, and Nuremberg in Europe. This technique is rather standard over there. Steamtown has the only one in the US that I know of.

Museum of Transportation
rdgoldfede@aol.com

> I first heard about the sectioned steamer in
> Scranton earlier this year. I've since been
> currious about just which locomotive it is.

Spang Chalfont #8 0-6-0, Baldwin 1923, a small, low-drivered, tender-equipped 0-6-0 which spent its life as a steel plant switcher. Really attractive little engine, actually. I remember many moons ago that J David. remarked on this board that she was mechanically pretty much a wreck, and thus a good candidate for the section display. She looks great cosmetically now, and I for one love that display as a teaching tool.

ASME National Engineering Landmarks Roster
eledbetter@rypn.org

I recall a cut-away steam engine, or at least part(s) of one, at Chicago's Museum Of Science And Industry, though there seems nothing about it at their web site:

Museum Of Science And Industry
bilburns1313@tds.net