I was blessed growing up in Galesburg I'll. Pre Burlington Northern days. CB&Q. Down the street from me. Lived an older gentleman who was a crew member on the Zyphers. Boy did he have stories. I remember him saying that they rode so smoothly that a cup of coffee wouldn't spill a drop when at full speed on a curve. I use to vist him often & vist regularly to just listen & soak in his adventures on those magnificent machines. RIP Mr. John's.
the pioneer zepher was as the sciance and industry museum in chicago puts it on the display of the record breaking locomotive set, was the first that combined diesle streamlining and articulation
Such a short, low-capacity unit first ordered only as one prototype unit ... of course it was overrun by success if it offered attractive travelling times. The problem here was that it was not scalable and couldn't easily be extended. In Europe things were about the same. The German SVT series were actually a collection of different types (diesel-electric or diesel-hydraulic, articulated or individual bogies, two or three cars). They did allow multiple traction which was used on a number of routes but their capacity was still vastly below that of standard express trains. Also back in the day "second class" was actually elevated comfort which a lot of people couldn't afford so they still travelled in third class in slower steam-hauled express trains. France had a number of one to three car Bugatti units (since the luxury car maker had trouble selling in the economic crisis it branched out into railways), however their sophisticated inline 8-cylinder petrol engines were complex and expensive to maintain and operate, so they were retired in the 1950s (with only one preserved unit now in a museum). Post-war a number of railways went back to diesel units and developed them further, leading to the first generation TEE (Trans Europ Express) system in 1957, but already in the 1960s it showed that these units were too small, didn't reach the speeds possible on newly upgraded lines, had trouble on mountain lines and as electrification progressed they were mostly replaced by loco-hauled electric trains, or in the Swiss case, multisystem electric units. The 1930s SVT were phased out in the 1960s and the 1950s TEE units made it into the early 1970s, some being used as holiday trains afterwards, rebuilt for local services or sold to Canada (the Northlander train).
@@TheRailroadCrossing-SteamPower No I mean they proposed it And I think they even did some tests with a besler style engine on a wheel set within the Mount Clair Baltimore and Ohio shops but shut the project down I mean it never got off the ground it was still born but it was a unique concept they proposed and smoother running with each wheel having its own drive engine, that could be changed out like a diesel electro if it needed work.
I was blessed growing up in Galesburg I'll. Pre Burlington Northern days. CB&Q. Down the street from me. Lived an older gentleman who was a crew member on the Zyphers. Boy did he have stories. I remember him saying that they rode so smoothly that a cup of coffee wouldn't spill a drop when at full speed on a curve. I use to vist him often & vist regularly to just listen & soak in his adventures on those magnificent machines. RIP Mr. John's.
Great story! I love hearing them
the pioneer zepher was as the sciance and industry museum in chicago puts it on the display of the record breaking locomotive set, was the first that combined diesle streamlining and articulation
Personally I think it was a knockoff of the Hiawatha streamline design only using stainless steel.
😍😍😍😍😍😍
Such a short, low-capacity unit first ordered only as one prototype unit ... of course it was overrun by success if it offered attractive travelling times. The problem here was that it was not scalable and couldn't easily be extended.
In Europe things were about the same. The German SVT series were actually a collection of different types (diesel-electric or diesel-hydraulic, articulated or individual bogies, two or three cars). They did allow multiple traction which was used on a number of routes but their capacity was still vastly below that of standard express trains. Also back in the day "second class" was actually elevated comfort which a lot of people couldn't afford so they still travelled in third class in slower steam-hauled express trains.
France had a number of one to three car Bugatti units (since the luxury car maker had trouble selling in the economic crisis it branched out into railways), however their sophisticated inline 8-cylinder petrol engines were complex and expensive to maintain and operate, so they were retired in the 1950s (with only one preserved unit now in a museum).
Post-war a number of railways went back to diesel units and developed them further, leading to the first generation TEE (Trans Europ Express) system in 1957, but already in the 1960s it showed that these units were too small, didn't reach the speeds possible on newly upgraded lines, had trouble on mountain lines and as electrification progressed they were mostly replaced by loco-hauled electric trains, or in the Swiss case, multisystem electric units. The 1930s SVT were phased out in the 1960s and the 1950s TEE units made it into the early 1970s, some being used as holiday trains afterwards, rebuilt for local services or sold to Canada (the Northlander train).
Yeah, they didnt anticipate the public response that it got.
Can you talk about the shay steam locomotives
You guy's are great at picking my mind! It's on my current list, along with the Heisler
@@TheRailroadCrossing-SteamPower how about the stillborn besler engine the b and o proposed
@@manga12 Im assuming you meant Distillate? LOL
@@TheRailroadCrossing-SteamPower No I mean they proposed it And I think they even did some tests with a besler style engine on a wheel set within the Mount Clair Baltimore and Ohio shops but shut the project down I mean it never got off the ground it was still born but it was a unique concept they proposed and smoother running with each wheel having its own drive engine, that could be changed out like a diesel electro if it needed work.
wait wait I actually know a better class of locomotives you can talk about in the next video
the canadian pacific royal hudsons
Noted!