Monthly Calendar-Report for May 2013

Train 651 westbound (an extra of empty coal-hoppers) exits Altoona Yard. (Photo by BobbaLew with Phil Faudi.)

—The May 2013 entry of my own calendar is from last June, the last time I saw the old Pennsy signaling in Altoona.
Norfolk Southern’s tracks through Altoona have been reconfigured, Alto Tower closed, the old Pennsy signals removed, and new signaling installed.
Visible in the picture is the old Pennsy signaling just before 17th Street overpass in Altoona. (I’m on that overpass.)
That cross-track girder signal-bridge has been removed.
The vaunted Pennsy target-signals probably now clutter some junkyard or landfill.
The tracks through Altoona have been reconfigured.
In this picture where Track Three starts is visible. It switches off Track Two.
Now there’s no switch. Track Two moves over and becomes Track Three.
Venerable Alto Tower (just like the musical pronunciation), on the other side of the overpass, is closed.
It supposedly will be saved and moved to Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona.
As long as I’ve visited Altoona, up until recently Alto controlled train-movements through Altoona.
Now train-movement through Altoona is controlled by Pittsburgh, and apparently not too well.
Trains get delayed, which didn’t happen with Alto Tower.
This picture was taken with the camera I borrowed after my own camera failed.
This picture is from train-chase number-nine with Phil Faudi (“Fow-dee;” as in “wow”), the train-chase where everything went wrong.
Not only did my camera fail, but it started raining.
It was also not long after my wife died, so I got very depressed.
The sun is still shining in this picture, but soon it clouded over, and frequent deluges began.
This borrowed camera also went wonky on me, although that may have been -a) my unfamiliarity with it, and/or -b) lack of light — it was so dark it wanted flash; it was raining.
The picture is fairly dramatic, but the reason I used it is because it shows the old Pennsy signaling.
Locomotive #1024 is an EMD SD70ACe built in March 2011. They generate 4,300 horsepower, and as far as I know are alternating-current traction-motors.
The SD70ACe meets the more stringent “Tier-Two” locomotive emission regulations, and competes with General-Electric’s ES44C4 (Evolution Series, 4400 HP, AC traction, 4 traction motors).



This is more like it.

—The May 2013 entry of my Oxman Hotrod Calendar is a hot-rodded 1932 Ford five-window coupe.
After that horribly-slammed and therefore impractical ’32 Ford pickup last month, it’s a relief to see something a real human-being could operate.
Although by now it’s probably a trailer-queen. In fact, the front-end looks so low it would bottom mounting a driveway.
But it looks like an adult could sit in it. Although he’d probably hit his head on the car’s ceiling; the top has been chopped 3&1/2 inches.
But it looks great. The car has a built 350 Chevy, and a four-on-the-floor tranny. The calendar comments you rarely see the four-speed any more.
Hot-rodders use automatic-transmission. Auto trannies have caught up. They’re about as fast as a standard tranny. They used to be called “slush-boxes.” Auto trannies when first built were wasting power.
But it became obvious the auto tranny took out driver slowness and/or error in shifting gears. Current automatics deliver power as well as standard transmission, yet shift quicker. Standard transmission has to be de-clutched, or should be. Auto-tranny just slams into the next gear.
Occasionally you see a standard transmission in hotrods. But if so it’s a modern five- or six-speed, not the four-speed Corvette tranny of yore.
This kid had always liked standard tranny. Rowing a V8 up through the gears has always appealed. I liked the sound.
With auto tranny you just floor it! It revs for the moon, then everything catches up.
During my senior year at college I was friends with a guy who had a ’32 Ford five-window coupe, but his car was a Model-B, four cylinders.
Five of us took his car on a fairly long trip to a park for a class picnic.
Five crammed into a car designed for two was ridiculous. At least two of us were crammed in the trunk.
We made it perhaps seven miles, then the car died.
“Vapor-lock,” the owner declared, and wet rags were wrapped around the metal fuel-tubing.
We did make it to the picnic, but I probably returned in something else.
Five people in a coupe is uncomfortable, plus I wanted reliable transportation.

Three-window coupe (a deuce; that’s an overhead-cam motor, overkill).

Who knows whatever happened to that guy’s ’32 Model-B? It was real (stock), what now would be a rarity.
We had dreams of hot-rodding it. Being only four-cylinder, it was an antique, and desperately needed a modern V8 engine, like a SmallBlock Chevy.
It may even be this car, but I doubt it.
But at least this thing is more practical than last month’s pickup.
Never-the-less, five-windows are nice, but I prefer the three-window.



New E-44. (Photo by H. Gerald MacDonald©.)

—The May 2013 entry of my Audio-Visual Designs black-and-white All-Pennsy Calendar is a Pennsy E-44 electric freight locomotive.
The E-44s were intended to replace Pennsy’s aging P-5 fleet of electric freight locomotives.
The P-5s were originally designed as passenger locomotives, but were throughly skonked by the fabulous GG-1 (“Jee-Jee-ONE;” I only say that because a friend was mispronouncing it “Jee-Jee-Eye”)
Rather than give up on the P-5s, Pennsy decided to assign them all to freight-service.

Box-cab P-5s. (Photo by Bobbalew.)

A steeple-cab P-5. (Photo by Bobbalew.)

There were two versions: a box-cab version, and later a steeple-cab. (The GG-1 is a steeple-cab.)
The steeple-cab was a response to the fact the entire crew was killed in a grade-crossing accident with a box-cab.
The P-5s were Alternating-Current (AC), what came over the wire.
The E-44s were Direct-Current (DC). Rectification was on-board to convert the alternating-current from the overhead wire to direct-current for the traction-motors.
The traction-motors were essentially the same units used in diesel locomotives (which are [were] DC).
Pennsy had tried rectification in earlier experimental locomotives, but nothing worked out.
General-Electric’s EL-C, used on Virginian’s mountain electrification, was a very successful application of rectification.
When Virginian’s electrification shut down in 1962 (VGN had earlier merged with Norfolk & Western), the EL-Cs went to New Haven Railroad, electrified out of New York City east. (NYNH&H reclassified them EF-4.)

Two Penn-Central E-33s in Wilmington, DE. (Photo by Bobbalew.)

These units found their way to Pennsy lines after New Haven was folded into the Penn-Central merger. PC reclassified them as E-33s.
The E-44 is the E-33 upgraded, and somewhat redesigned.
“44” stands for 4,400 horsepower, although some E-44s were later upgraded to 5,000 horsepower.
To do so was limited by how much horsepower the traction-motors could deliver — although six traction-motors were in play with the E-44.
Also at issue is whether the E-44 was attractive. Well, I think they are. They ain’t the GG-1, but I think they look better than a P-5.
Rectification was later simplified for all E-44s.
The first E-44s used mercury-arc ignitron rectification
Later silicon-diode rectification was tried; big transistors.
Silicon-diode was simpler and more maintainable.
All E-44s were converted to silicon-diode rectification, but this particular E-44 is probably still ignitron.
The locomotive is only three months old, and the photograph is 1961.

The only remaining E-44. (Photo by Bobbalew.)

All but one E-44 was scrapped when the old Pennsy electrified freight-lines were de-energized by successor Conrail in 1981.
The single remaining E-44 is at Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.





1969 Cobra-Jet Mustang. (Photo by Peter Harholdt©.)

—The May 2013 entry in my Motorbooks Musclecars calendar is a 1969 Ford Mustang GT 428 SCJ.
The picture looks more an illustration than a portrait. It’s dramatic, and avoids photographer Harholdt’s side-elevations for portrait-pictures.
The same angle is dramatic, but needs to include the rear of the car.
The Cobra-Jet Mustang is a joke. About all it would be good for is drag-racing.
Toss it into a corner and it would plow. Too much heavy engine is over the front tires.
One also wonders how you get the lightly-loaded rear drive-tires to hook up in a drag. Full power from a standing-start could spin your rear tires. Your drag-race would go up in tire-smoke.
Owners of Cobra-Jet Mustangs had to be judicious to win a drag-race.
You had to apply enough power to get a quick start, but not too much power. Once you got rolling you could open ‘er up.
This is a nice-looking car, but I prefer a Mach-I or Boss-302, the most desirable of all Mustangs.
A Cobra-Jet might win a drag-race, but a Mach-I you could enjoy on real highways.


Mail-train with Pennsy E-7As. (Photo by Robert Olmsted.)

—The May 2013 entry of my All-Pennsy color calendar is a brace of two Pennsy E-7As leading a mail-train out of Chicago.
The picture is May 11, 1958.
I see the locomotives are still the cat-whisker scheme, five pin-stripes down the sides.
As opposed to the wider single-stripe scheme applied later to save money.
The cat-whisker scheme is Raymond Loewy, first applied to Pennsy’s phenomenal GG-1 electric locomotive (4-6-0+0-6-4)
The cat-whisker scheme was so attractive it was applied to later Pennsy passenger locomotives.
But it’s costly to apply. Five separate gold-leaf pinstripes, as opposed to a single wide yellow stripe.
Railfans prefer the cat-whisker scheme, but I don’t think the single-stripe scheme looks bad. It follows the same lines Loewy put down.
What looks bad is no stripe at all on a black carbody, Penn-Central.
The locomotives are tuscan-red (“TUSS-kin;” not “Tucson, Ariz.”), the color for Pennsy passenger equipment. Pennsy passenger-cars were painted tuscan-red, as were many Pennsy passenger locomotives.
I’m told many houses in Altoona, PA, Pennsy’s shop-town, were also painted tuscan-red.
EMD’s (Electro-motive Division) E-units were not as pretty as other passenger locomotives, like the Alco PAs, or Baldwin’s shark-nosed passenger units.
For a long time EMD was a subsidiary of General Motors. Now it’s independent.
Prettiness didn’t matter to Pennsy. EMD locomotives were more reliable.
E-units put out as much as 2,400 horsepower (the E-9s), but did so with two engines, like two 1,200 horsepower V12s.
I’ll let Wikipedia weigh in here:
“EMD E-units were a line of passenger train diesel locomotives built by the General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) and its predecessor the Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC). Final assembly for all E-units was in La Grange, Illinois.
Production ran from May, 1937, to December, 1963. The name ‘E-unit’ refers to the model numbers given to each successive type, which all began with E. The E originally stood for eighteen hundred horsepower, the power output of the earliest model, but the letter was kept for later models of higher power ratings.
Like many early passenger locomotives, E-units used two engines to achieve the rated power. This was due to the technology of the time limiting the power that could be developed by a single engine.
Even so, while E-units were used singly for shorter trains, longer trains needed multiple locomotive units; many railroads used triple units. E-units could be purchased either with or without driving cabs; units with a cab are called A units or lead units, while cabless units are called B units or booster units.
(B units did contain simple controls for hostling purposes, but they could not be so controlled on the main line.)
The locomotive units were linked together with MU (“multiple-unit”) cables which enabled the crew in the lead unit at the front to control the trailing units.
Railroads tended to buy either ABA sets (two driving cab-equipped units facing in opposite directions with a booster in between) or ABB sets (a single driving cab with a pair of boosters). The former did not need to be turned to pull in either direction, but B units were cheaper than A units and they made for a smoother line to the train.”
The locomotives are E7s. I don’t know if Pennsy had E8s or E9s. The E8s and E9s had grillwork over that top side-panel. E7s don’t.
I was behind E-units on a railfan excursion, but I don’t think they were ex-Pennsy, even though they were done up in Pennsy colors.


The Levin Es. (Note grill-work on top panel, and single-stripe paint scheme.) (Photo by BobbaLew.)

The units are the restored Levin-brothers E-units. They used to head the Conrail business-train. They had been extensively refurbished by Conrail.
They were very strong, and ran great.
And they’re actual E-units. They have two V12 engines. Union Pacific’s restored E-units have only one V16 engine. They’re more a GP-38 in an E-unit body.



At least it looks nice! (Photo by Philip Makanna©.)

—The May 2013 entry of my Ghosts WWII warbirds calendar is a Stearman biplane (“BYE-plain;” I only say that because as a child I was mispronouncing it “bip-lane”) trainer manufactured by Boeing.
I’ve never liked biplanes, but the Stearman was very compliant. It was often the first training airplane of would-be fighter-pilots for WWII.
My first contact with Stearmans was as a child: Stearmans towing long advertising-banners above our neighborhood.
“Drink Ballentine beer; just look for the three-ring sign.” (Ballentine, based in Newark, NJ, was once quite large, and was heavily marketed in the Philadelphia area. It now belongs to Falstaff Brewing. —I’m from south Jersey, across from Philadelphia.)
The Stearmans flew out of what I’m told was the first Philadelphia Airport. That airport was in south Jersey, and didn’t last, mainly because its runways couldn’t be lengthened.
You might be able to land a DC-3 on them, but later planes required longer runways.
That airport was closed in by development, plus a river.
But for private aviation, and Stearmans, it was fine.
I remember bicycling there once as a teenager, and all that was left were a couple Piper-Cubs, and Aeroncas. Also a couple Ercoupes and a Swift.
By the time I visited the Stearmans were gone.
Stearmans towing banners is early ‘50s; my visit was middle ‘50s.
The Stearman banner-planes were probably picked up war surplus.
I think I might have seen a crashed Stearman. All I remember is a radial-engine wrapped in tubing and flapping red canvas. Anything useable had been stripped off the wreck.
The airport has since closed.
I’ll let my WWII warbirds site weigh in:
“Built as a private venture by the Stearman Aircraft Company of Wichita (bought by Boeing in 1934), this two-seat biplane was of mixed construction.
The wings were of wood with fabric covering while the fuselage had a tough, welded steel framework, also fabric covered.
Either a Lycoming R-680 (PT-13) or Continental R-670 (PT-17) engine powered most models, at a top speed of 124 mph with a 505-mile range. An engine shortage in 1940-41 led to installation of 225-horsepower Jacobs R-755 engines on some 150 airframes, and the new designation PT-18.
The plane was easy to fly, and relatively forgiving of new pilots. It gained a reputation as a rugged airplane and a good teacher.
Officially named the Boeing Model 75, the plane was (and still is) persistently known as the ‘Stearman’ by many who flew them.
It was called the ‘PT’ by the Army, ‘N2S’ by the Navy and ‘Kaydet’ by Canadian forces.
By whatever name, more than 10,000 were built by the end of 1945 and at least 1,000 are still flying today worldwide.”
The photograph is very dramatic. Take off into the sunset, and have photographer Makanna take a picture.
His sunset pictures are usually the most dramatic.
With that, we can even make an old turkey — a Stearman — look good.



Locomotives for export await shipment at Norfolk Southern’s Lambert’s Point docks. (Photo by Carlos Fink.)

—The May 2013 image in my Norfolk Southern Employees’ Photography-Contest calendar is new General-Electric locomotives bound for Brazil.
I looked up “Lambert’s Point” in my Google Satellite-views.
It’s near Norfolk, VA, the outlet of Chesapeake Bay into the Atlantic Ocean.
Lambert’s Point is where Norfolk & Western (railroad) transloaded its rivers of coal for export abroad. (Norfolk Southern is a 1982 merger of Norfolk & Western and Southern Railway.)
Giant yards for coal-storage are apparent still in my Google Satellite-view.
The photograph is not very dramatic. But it illustrates.
Missing are the coal transshipment facilities of Lambert’s Point.
Rivers of coal would come from the Pocahontas coal-region to get shipped abroad.
Above all, Norfolk & Western moved coal. It was a very strong railroad, and moving coal was its major market.
It was so tied to coal, it ended up being the last steam-powered railroad in America, coal being the fuel for steam-locomotives.
Locomotives for export is a sideline. And they just as well could have been shipped out of New York city or Philadelphia or Baltimore.
But Lambert’s Point is a seaport too, and has direct railroad service. New York city might be roundabout, Philadelphia too. Baltimore probably would have clearance limitations.
Locomotive #3054 is a GP40-2, perhaps a yard-job for Lambert’s Point.
But it could have moved the shipment over the railroad; a GP40-2 WAS originally a road-unit, and 3054 might have been enough to get that short train from Erie, PA (where the engines were built) to Lambert’s Point.
The locomotives for Brazil look like they might be General-Electric’s Evolution Series. They’re probably on flatcars because they’re not standard-gauge (four feet 8&1/2 inches, as in America) —Track-gauge in Brazil is five feet three inches.