Adam, there was an article in the NYCRR Historical Society Magazine (The Headlight) back in the 1990's I believe. Also I think one of the Stauffer (sp ?) books had some pictures of those tests.

And yes, I had the pleasure of meeting Harold several times. He gave some talks showing the boiler tests in West Albany shops. And he is indeed in several of the Niagara test photos inside the safety cage on the front end. Must have been a wild ride..

Cheers, Kevin.

Kevin,

Is it still possible to find any of those articles? I would love to see some photos and a writeup on that experience. What a neat guy Harold was, you really had to shout in his ear to speak with him, was all that hearing loss from riding shotgun in a big Niagara? Amazing to think how different times were back then. On the other hand sometimes my generation has a hard time understanding why people would have subjected themselves to such a thing, and not just stuffed a wad of cotton in their ear or done something to keep their hearing.

Adam, I have a copy someplace in my collection. I think the NYCRR Historical Society sells back copies ?

My Father hired out in train service with the NYCRR (Lines East) in Buffalo NY 5 days after Pearl Harbor and retired as an engineer after PC/Conrail in 1990. He had hearing loss, although not as bad as Harold. Back then they just did not know as much as we do now about the dangers of long term exposure to loud noises.

He told me about the "Y", (the bunkhouse where you laid over between trips) in Syracuse NY. It was between the main freight line and the engine house. He wondered how he ever slept at all.

Different times indeed. No air conditioned cabs back then, and you probably don't want to know about the toilet facilities on the steam engines (a coal scoop has more than one use).

Cheers, Kevin.

Does anyone know how locomotives were moved onto the rollers? I can easily imagine them being lifted with a crane, but I also thought there might be other ways to do it.

-Mark

Check out these video clips from the "Rollers" thread; it seems the test buildings had approach tracks that allowed the locomotives to be rolled onto the rollers on their own wheels.

Altoona Test Plant at 1:18:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=48a_1319759136

New British test plant at Rugby in 1948, check out the sound!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iET3Vbjl2vs

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/locom ... ng-station

A couple of photos of the Altoona plant, one of them looking like when the installation was in St Louis for the World's Fair of 1904. The latter shot gives an idea of how the rollers could be adjusted for different wheelbases, and also reveals what looks like an inner "rail" on which wheel flanges ride to position the locomotive over the rollers.

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2141/2 ... 045547.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2141/2 ... 043019.jpg

A British locomotive in a test plant in Vitry, France:

http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/imfile/02030.jpg

The whole thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34663

By happenstance, the "Altoona Works" Facebook page (not actually connected with any of the facilities, NS, etc., just a fan page) is running a couple images and photos of Altoona's plant:

https://www.facebook.com/altoonaworks

Not sure if this will show up or not, but the story includes a photo of the test stand at Purdue:

https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/About ... index.html


Les

I seem to recall that the 4-4-0 in that photo of the Purdue test plant was built new for Purdue, but I could be wrong on that; of more particular interest would be to find out what happened to it and to the interurban car the school had.

While on the subject of Purdue, let us also recall that the school's sports teams are called the "Boilermakers."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdue_Boilermakers

http://www.purduesports.com/trads/what- ... maker.html

http://www.purduesports.com/trads/purdue-pete.html

http://www.sports-logos-screensavers.co ... akers2.jpg

http://www.teamsportsblog.net/wp-conten ... makers.jpg

There is another photo of the 4-4-0 in the test plant in the link below:

http://www.boilermakers.org/resources/w ... ilermakers

J3a-614:

I don't know about the 4-4-0, but the interurban went with the steam locomotive collection to the Museum of Transportation.

Les

The Purdue University archives have several photos of the test plant and their site is searchable.

Here's a link to the University of Illinois' archives, in which there are quite a number of photos of the U of I Locomotive Test Lab. This link should lead you to a photo noted to be of a B&O mike on the rollers, testing different types of Illinois coal.

http://archives.library.illinois.edu/ar ... nt&id=6997

To search for more photos of the test lab, just click on "locomotives, steam" under "subjects".

Enjoy!

Kent

It looks to me like the track is configured to bear the weight of the engine on the flangeways, and then the rollers are jacked up to lift the wheel treads.

I think Softwerlex is right about the track being designed to support a locomotive on its flanges until the rollers are positioned and jacket up under the drivers:

http://archives.library.illinois.edu/ar ... nt&id=7001

http://archives.library.illinois.edu/ar ... nt&id=1189