While doing some research I came upon an article (Trains Magazine, if I recall correctly) that mentioned some "modern advances" were built into Grand Canyon RR #4960 during her extensive overhaul in the late '90's.

I think I also remember reading that Frisco #1522 had some modern cab electronics installed during her stint in service.

Does anyone have any information on any of this stuff? For that matter, does it exist? I know OC #6325 has axel temp. gauges in her cab, so what other type of today's gadgets have been installed on steam locomotives?

Thanks for any info!

IIRC, C&O 614 had some modern bells and whistles installed for the '90s NJ Transit excursions. Maybe Mr. Rowland can be more specific. I know 614 was also equipped with all kinds of modern sensors and test equipment for the mid-80s ACE tests. I seem to recall also at least one active steamer being equipped with some kind of MU controls to operate helper diesel(s).

1522 had temperature monitoring of all locomotive axle bearings, crosshead guides and ambient cab temperature. There was a box on the front wall of the cab, above the engineer's front door that scanned and gave a readout on each bearing periodically. It had an audible alarm that would sound when a temperature reached a set point.
We later added a connection at the rear of the tender which enabled us to feed this info to a laptop in the Firefly, our crew car, and in conjuntion with Street Atlas software, we could monitor where we were on the map, how fast we were going and scan the bearing temps. Our "geek" did an excellent job on this system and it was of great help to us.
All the information was downloadable and at the end of a day's running, he would download the info and provide us with a printout, showing times, speeds, each bearing temp, etc. This would allow us to see if a pattern was developing with a particular bearing, or how temps ran in relation to each other.
This was a terrific system and gave advance warning if something started to run warm, far earlier than the engineer's nose warning.

In 1998 NJTransit installed a Union Switch&Signal cab signal, overspeed control and event recorder system including the installation of a micro-processor to control these features. At the same time we equipped her with a diesel control stand so that she would have all the bells&whistles required to be fully Amtrak equipped in the hope of someday working out a deal with Amtrak for a multi-year mainline steam program.
Hopefully one day that will happen???
Ross Rowland

Doesn't CP #2816 have some similar "rocket science" type equipment for monitoring in-cab as well? I believe some have talked of a axle-sensor that is color-coded to temperature, or something close to it.

TJG

The former SP 4449 and Former SP&S 700 are equiped with mu capability.

In that vein... does anyone have any information on the "steam MU" that supposedly baldwin or some other manufacturer was working on fairly late in the age of steam?

There's been a couple of references given... I think there is a reference in Wardale's book about westinghouse-sponsored testing of air throttles or something of that ilk... and then a mention of a currently preserved locomotive with an "air throttle"... maybe the union (?) 0-10-2?

thanks...
Joe

1522 has MU capabilities since her initial rebuild in 1988, thanks to Jack Wheelihan. He furnished drawings, ideas, etc for the project.

The most relevant practival application was the British "autocoach" in which a locomotive was used push-pull style with a cab car. Pulling, the engine ran as normal. In push, or auto, mode, the fireman stayed on the footplate doing his job, while the engineer rode up fron tin the coach's cab using an MU-like device to run the steamer.

Some of these are preserved and running in the UK..Link: http://www.cambrian-railways-soc.co.uk/~autocoach/dev.html