Show this to anyone who says we spend too much time on our hobby!!!!!

[Robert Zambelli]

Unbelievable!
Check out the mechanism on engine #15.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6VAuPPufNro

  Bob Z.

[kenneth cook]

                           That appears to be a Shay locomotive. I know they were used in the logging industry extensively. I believe it's driving twin worm gears. A very cool train and quite an engineering task. The train is also donning a lumber company insignia.  Ken

[Dalton Hammett]

Neat file !!!!!

[Tim Wescott]

That appears to be a Shay locomotive. I know they were used in the logging industry extensively. I believe it's driving twin worm gears. A very cool train and quite an engineering task. The train is also donning a lumber company.  Ken

Yup.  Normal locomotives are geared for lots of speed and not much torque -- kind of like a car that's stuck in high gear.  So they're great on the flat, but they don't do well on steep grades.  In fact, if you drive by railroad tracks in a hilly region, you'll notice that the road is going up and down and up and down, while the rails are going through a series of cuts and fills that keeps them level. 

The geared locos (of which the Shay was just one) were designed for hills, but their top speed was way lower than the main-line engines.

[Jeff Traxler]

I think we're gonna need a bigger Christmas tree

[sleepy gomez]

You are right, we don't spend enough on our hobby!

[john e. holliday]

In railroads, it is not so much the power/torque, it is the traction.   Steel against steel does not have much traction.   Watch films of the old steam locomotives.   The drive wheels would spin like a dragster until the train started moving a little.  My Granpa, who retired as a train engineer said it was not so much the speed as the steam engine had to make frequent stops for water and coal.  Then they went to diesel/electric and that is when speed started coming in.  He stated they had speed limits even on the rails, especially thru towns.  Can vaguely remember the sond of the steam whistle when they would be pulling out of the yard.   Only lived about a 1/4 mile from the track.

[RC Storick]

Unbelievable!
Check out the mechanism on engine #15.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6VAuPPufNro

  Bob Z.

I wasted a hour looking at all the cool videos, Thanks

[Dwayne]

These guys and those who compete in Top Gun are in another league all together, the time and money put in is mind boggling

[L0U CRANE]

Steam locos! As a kid I got a ride on a cog-wheel coal-fired (musta been a tourist thing) up a mountain in New Hampshire. The smell of coal smoke and cinders is still with me.

First overseas tour in Germany - early 1960's - there were still many rural freight runs using coal-fired steam. That was before the movie, "The Train" about efforts to stop the Wehrmacht from looting French art treasures. I was able to reconstruct the oil, cinder and ash fragrance - which was missing from the excellent filming.

So, we need bigger vans to transport our big-engine stunters? Just consider what these live-steamer hobbyists need to set up...