Dana’s 4-8-4
Yesterday (Tuesday, February 17, 2010) I visited my old friend Art Dana (“DAY-nuh”).
Art is the retired bus-driver with fairly severe Parkinson’s Disease.
For 16&1/2 years I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service in Rochester, NY, the supplier of transit-bus service in Rochester and the surrounding counties.
My stroke October 26, 1993 ended it.
Dana was slightly ahead of me in seniority, and was a mentor of sorts. His outlook on the job, go-with-the-flow, became mine.
Dana and I have similar enthusiasms; hot-rods, trains, model airplanes.
Dana’s wife died, and he no longer drives much.
Even though only 69, the Parkinson’s has him weak and frail.
He’s no longer the Dana I knew, but the old orneriness is still there.
Despite frailty, he’s set up an HO-scale running track in his basement. He’s a model train buff.
I’m not, but interested in what he has.
He dragged out some special controller that supposedly mimics real train operation.
You hit a “brake” button, and the train slowly stops, then slowly restarts after releasing the “brake” button.
It’s fairly accurate, more so than average model-train operation, which has trains suddenly slamming to a stop from 150+ scale mph, and restarting like fuel dragsters.
First we had to hook it up to the track.
“How’s your eyesight, Bob?” he asked.
I try to not butt in — let him try things himself.
But the Parkinson’s was intervening.
I ended up hooking it up myself.
—Which makes it possible for him to run his model-trains.
We put a red Canadian Pacific F-unit on the track, and tried it. No train; just the locomotive.
Hit the “brake” and it slowed to a stop.
Release the “brake” button and it would slowly restart.
Motor and headlight energized, and finally movement.
More sudden and jerky than reality, but close.
Art then produced a steam-engine model he had, a Union Pacific 4-8-4.
I looked at it, but it didn’t appear to be the actual Union Pacific 4-8-4.
It appeared to be the same boiler-casting (plastic) as his Santa Fe 4-8-4, which appears to be the actual Santa Fe 4-8-4.
“150 smackaroos,” Art said.
Well, an actual model of Union Pacific’s 4-8-4 might cost thousands, and his plastic Santa Fe 4-8-4 looks pretty good.
We set about trying to put this thing on the track.
“Too many wheels,” I said.
Art was fumble-fingered, and I had to figure out the drill; which is first the lead and trailing trucks, and then the drivers.
The tender for Art’s Santa Fe 4-8-4 uses the same hookup to the locomotive the Union Pacific 4-8-4 uses; a metal tongue with a hole in it.
A pin on the locomotive slides down through the hole; thereby dragging the tender with it.
No sign of the UP tender, so Art hooked the Santa Fe tender to the UP locomotive.
Getting that pin down through the hole meant lifting the whole kabosh up off the track, in which case we had to put everything back on.
“It’s on Art; give it the juice,” I said.
Around-and-around it went, flashing side-rods and a complete valve-gear and lubricators.
“That $150 is in them side-rods, Art. That boiler-casting probably cost them only pennies, but them side-rods and valve-gear look authentic,” I said.
“We gotta hope that stuff stays together. We could never reassemble it; not us old guys.
So do I take them wires off that track?”
“No Hughsey; I sit here and watch that thing for hours. Around-and-around it goes.”
It’s kinda sad. He’ll never be able to build a layout like he once had, but he can keep running model-trains.
• An “F-unit” is the first freight railroad locomotive manufactured by ElectroMotive Division (EMD) of General Motors. It used a large two-stroke V16 diesel engine. There were quite a few versions over the years; first being the FT in 1939 at 1,350 horsepower. Others were F2, F3, F7, and F9. Art’s appeared to be an F3. —They were very successful, mainly because they were reliable. Many railroads dieselized with F-units. But they were cab units, so vision rearward was poor. Road-switchers became more common, since they have excellant vision in either direction. But most “road-switchers” nowadays are built by General-Electric. EMD is in eclipse.
Art is the retired bus-driver with fairly severe Parkinson’s Disease.
For 16&1/2 years I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service in Rochester, NY, the supplier of transit-bus service in Rochester and the surrounding counties.
My stroke October 26, 1993 ended it.
Dana was slightly ahead of me in seniority, and was a mentor of sorts. His outlook on the job, go-with-the-flow, became mine.
Dana and I have similar enthusiasms; hot-rods, trains, model airplanes.
Dana’s wife died, and he no longer drives much.
Even though only 69, the Parkinson’s has him weak and frail.
He’s no longer the Dana I knew, but the old orneriness is still there.
Despite frailty, he’s set up an HO-scale running track in his basement. He’s a model train buff.
I’m not, but interested in what he has.
He dragged out some special controller that supposedly mimics real train operation.
You hit a “brake” button, and the train slowly stops, then slowly restarts after releasing the “brake” button.
It’s fairly accurate, more so than average model-train operation, which has trains suddenly slamming to a stop from 150+ scale mph, and restarting like fuel dragsters.
First we had to hook it up to the track.
“How’s your eyesight, Bob?” he asked.
I try to not butt in — let him try things himself.
But the Parkinson’s was intervening.
I ended up hooking it up myself.
—Which makes it possible for him to run his model-trains.
We put a red Canadian Pacific F-unit on the track, and tried it. No train; just the locomotive.
Hit the “brake” and it slowed to a stop.
Release the “brake” button and it would slowly restart.
Motor and headlight energized, and finally movement.
More sudden and jerky than reality, but close.
Art then produced a steam-engine model he had, a Union Pacific 4-8-4.
I looked at it, but it didn’t appear to be the actual Union Pacific 4-8-4.
It appeared to be the same boiler-casting (plastic) as his Santa Fe 4-8-4, which appears to be the actual Santa Fe 4-8-4.
“150 smackaroos,” Art said.
Well, an actual model of Union Pacific’s 4-8-4 might cost thousands, and his plastic Santa Fe 4-8-4 looks pretty good.
We set about trying to put this thing on the track.
“Too many wheels,” I said.
Art was fumble-fingered, and I had to figure out the drill; which is first the lead and trailing trucks, and then the drivers.
The tender for Art’s Santa Fe 4-8-4 uses the same hookup to the locomotive the Union Pacific 4-8-4 uses; a metal tongue with a hole in it.
A pin on the locomotive slides down through the hole; thereby dragging the tender with it.
No sign of the UP tender, so Art hooked the Santa Fe tender to the UP locomotive.
Getting that pin down through the hole meant lifting the whole kabosh up off the track, in which case we had to put everything back on.
“It’s on Art; give it the juice,” I said.
Around-and-around it went, flashing side-rods and a complete valve-gear and lubricators.
“That $150 is in them side-rods, Art. That boiler-casting probably cost them only pennies, but them side-rods and valve-gear look authentic,” I said.
“We gotta hope that stuff stays together. We could never reassemble it; not us old guys.
So do I take them wires off that track?”
“No Hughsey; I sit here and watch that thing for hours. Around-and-around it goes.”
It’s kinda sad. He’ll never be able to build a layout like he once had, but he can keep running model-trains.
• An “F-unit” is the first freight railroad locomotive manufactured by ElectroMotive Division (EMD) of General Motors. It used a large two-stroke V16 diesel engine. There were quite a few versions over the years; first being the FT in 1939 at 1,350 horsepower. Others were F2, F3, F7, and F9. Art’s appeared to be an F3. —They were very successful, mainly because they were reliable. Many railroads dieselized with F-units. But they were cab units, so vision rearward was poor. Road-switchers became more common, since they have excellant vision in either direction. But most “road-switchers” nowadays are built by General-Electric. EMD is in eclipse.
Labels: trains
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