I was going to post a Berk shot on the steam thread going on, then got into my old negs, and having a new scanner, became dangerous. I have photographed quite a few Berks in my short railfan endeavours. Will post some here as soon as I load them on Railimages.
These will appear in chronological order as I photographed them. First is NKP 763 in the Virginia RR Museum in Roanoke, 1993. Next is the NKP 765 posing as C&O 2765 on the New River Gorge trip in 1993. Shot at Hinton, WVa. I like Black and White with the steam. [ 20. November 2003, 00:17: Message edited by: fitz ]
Then in 1995 we went to the Grand Opening of Steamtown in Scranton. Got the NKP 759 there. And not far away in Strasburg , found the NKP 757 at the Pennsylvania State RR Museum. Last, but certainly not least is another Van Swearingen Berk, Pere Marquette 1225. Owosso, MI, 2000. [ 20. November 2003, 00:20: Message edited by: fitz ]
At least a couple of these were active in recent decades with excursions. Where are they now? Boxcab E50
Boxcab, as far as I know, 763 is still sitting right where she was in 1993, 757 likewise, 759 is somewhere in Steamtown. For the grand opening they towed her out to Tobyhanna. 765 is in Fort Wayne undergoing a complete rebuild, and should run this year. 1225 is still stationed in Owosso and ran an excursion this year, a week ago, May 31. Will run again this year.
Berks ARE beautiful; they are my favourite US steam loco, especially the NKP and PM Berks (virtually identical locos); I would LOVE to have an 0 gauge live steam model of one - and, if I had some more storage space, a 2 1/2 inch gauge version to run at G3 Society meetings - although the radius of the curves on some members' garden layouts would be rather tight methinks! Ben
Nice work Mr. Fitz! Sadly, The B&O had plans on building a "Berk" an it only made it to the design board an onto paper! Woulda been nice to see the B&O with something alittle different an all such as a Berkshire! If I'm not mistaken the trial road number for that loco was "5600" so... Would have been interesting! I can't recall what they were planing to class it as tho....
I am officially renaming this thread BarB (Berks are Beautiful) for Barb, Lady Sunshine, who obviously likes these 2-8-4's. Here are a couple more. [ 20. November 2003, 00:23: Message edited by: fitz ]
B&M Berkshire from an original painting by Arch McDonnell. This was painted at Franklin, NH on the NH Division between Concord, NH and White River Jct., VT. [ 20. November 2003, 04:11: Message edited by: signalguy ]
Berks are beautiful..............So are NYC Mike's, especially the K10 and up series, I love all the external plumbing!!!!! Martin
Gil, what kind of feedwater heater is that on the B&M Berk? A Coffin? Talk about a "heavy browed" look! Can't have a Berk thread without a B&A Berk, now can we? Photo from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath.
O.K. I'm dumb and know have to ask and give away what little I know, but what is a "coffin feedwater and what does it do? Mr Train P.S. Great photos
Mr. Train, never apologize for asking questions. That is how we all learn this stuff. At the risk of sounding like a professor, here goes: Steam locomotives had two methods of getting water from the tender to the boiler, via injectors and feedwater heater systems. There were different types, brands, manufacturers of feedwater systems. Elesco, Worthington, and Coffin come to mind. All of them had a cold water pump, usually mounted near the trailing truck of the locomotive, a heater located in or attached to, the smokebox, and a hot water pump, normally located above the LH cylinder assembly. The cold water pump pumped water from the tender to the heater in the smokebox. Two types existed, one where the water actually came in contact with the hot gasses, the other where it was contained, as in pipes, but was routed through the hot gasses to heat the water. It then was pumped into the boiler through a check valve. Hot water put into the boiler required less BTU's to make it boil, plus it cut down on thermal shock and stresses on the boiler caused by pumping cold water into a hot system. The photo on page 1 of this thread posted by Gil Abar shows the Coffin brand heater, which is the "brow" protruding forward of the smokebox and wrapped all the way around it. IMHO, they were ugly. Some RR's hid them inside the smokebox so they didn't look so bad, like the NY Central (Boston and Albany picture). Worthingtons were better looking. They are the little rectangular box on top of the smokebox ahead of the stack on the NKP and PM Berks. Hope this helps. [ 01. July 2003, 23:21: Message edited by: fitz ]
Fitz, when my Father-in-law was a boy in Wellesley, Massachuettes the whole town rushed down to the station to see the new Boston and Albany A1A that came into town. 2-8-4's were always his favorite engine. Thanks for posting those. Dad would have chewed your ear off talking about them.
