scott kirkpatrick
Well-known member
Spent a few days in West Virginia this week (for radio astronomy purposes, but that's another story). Time seems to stand still there (Cass, WV -- ask Google) sometimes:
The locomotives are among 5 big old geared driveshaft-driven mining and timber locomotives used in this area and in the Pacific Northwest and now quite rare. They are in daily use here. Their mechanical engineering excellence would seem to fit them in the Leica M forum. The difference between these and locomotives used for long distance carriage is that there are pistons driving vertically into a crankshaft and a driveshaft coupling to all the wheels on the engine and tender. For the more common Shay:
there are three pistons, a driveshaft on the right with universal joints, and a boiler offset to the left. For the rarer Heisler,
the pistons form a V driving a central shaft. Like a Moto-Guzzi. The operation at Cass also has a Climax geared engine, but it must be a basket case, stored back in the woods, as i couldn't find it. All of this served to feed 10-12 trainloads of cut lumber a day to several acres of sawmill, which unfortunately burned down many years ago:
Nearby was a sign of a much newer technology which nonetheless seems to have also passed out of use:
I checked with Carl Weese, who has put together almost a book on drive-ins,
(for example, see http://www.carlweese.com/DIbig/index.htm )
and he tells me that this is the Bartow Drive-In, which he photographed on a sunnier day a few years ago -- it's #30 in the flash that is linked-- and got to to meet the 80-year old owners.
scott
The locomotives are among 5 big old geared driveshaft-driven mining and timber locomotives used in this area and in the Pacific Northwest and now quite rare. They are in daily use here. Their mechanical engineering excellence would seem to fit them in the Leica M forum. The difference between these and locomotives used for long distance carriage is that there are pistons driving vertically into a crankshaft and a driveshaft coupling to all the wheels on the engine and tender. For the more common Shay:
there are three pistons, a driveshaft on the right with universal joints, and a boiler offset to the left. For the rarer Heisler,
the pistons form a V driving a central shaft. Like a Moto-Guzzi. The operation at Cass also has a Climax geared engine, but it must be a basket case, stored back in the woods, as i couldn't find it. All of this served to feed 10-12 trainloads of cut lumber a day to several acres of sawmill, which unfortunately burned down many years ago:
Nearby was a sign of a much newer technology which nonetheless seems to have also passed out of use:
I checked with Carl Weese, who has put together almost a book on drive-ins,
(for example, see http://www.carlweese.com/DIbig/index.htm )
and he tells me that this is the Bartow Drive-In, which he photographed on a sunnier day a few years ago -- it's #30 in the flash that is linked-- and got to to meet the 80-year old owners.
scott
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