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Re: Kodak - Slightly Off Topic...but Only Slightly.

Paul Hillman
 

Thanks A.T.,

I'd generally understood that water would separate prints, but was just wondering about any of the modern-marvels about such. I have some really good photos of the D&RGW narrow gauge in Durango and Chama, and other RR's, and they've gotten "stuck-together" over a time of storage. Don't want to lose their essence by experimentation.

Paul Hillman

----- Original Message -----
From: proto48er<mailto:atkott@swbell.net>
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com<mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 5:54 PM
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Kodak - Slightly Off Topic...but Only Slightly.


--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com<mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com>, "Paul Hillman" <chris_hillman@m<mailto:chris_hillman@m>...>
wrote:
> Yeah, not quite sure what the current, real quality of digital is,
(short of a $3,000.00 digital camera, etc.), but it looks like
the "old" print system is definitely on the way out. I used to
develop my own film and prints a few years back. I still have a 35mm
SLR and love it.
>
> But, I have another film OT question; what's the best way to
separate print-film pictures that are stuck together?
>
> Paul Hillman


Paul - I think you might try soaking the print film pictures in
distilled water - they were developed in water in the first place.
They should separate.

It is my understanding that a single 35mm black and white negative
holds the equivalent of 80 megapixels of data in "analog" form
(actually, it is digital when you get down to the molecular level).
A single 2-1/4" X 2-1/4" B&W negative holds 150 megapixels of data.
The negative is also a much better way to store data archivally -
the compact disc technology will probably be long obsolete, while
B&W negatives will still be great. I also understand that a digital
image on a compact disc will only last for about 20 years before it
needs to be removed and placed on new media. Maybe by then, a more
permanent form of storage will have been invented. A digital
picture can be transferred as a jpeg file several times before it
starts to break up - but when it does start to break up, it goes
away in spectacular fashion.

The above info comes from various articles in "Photo Techniques"
magazine. They are somewhat impartial - also do research on digital
and new wet photography films and papers.

Just another example of instant gratification over craftsmanship and
quality! A.T. Kott






Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: OT stuck photos

Paul Hillman
 

Thanks, "ex-dark room guy",

I seem to remember something about glycol also. But it's been such a long time that I sometimes can't remember my own name.

Paul Hillman

----- Original Message -----
From: Allen Rueter<mailto:allen@artsci.wustl.edu>
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com<mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 5:54 PM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] OT stuck photos


Paul,
Soak them in water till they seperate, you will lose the glossy finish.
You will need a towel and some books to dry them flat.
If you know a person who does there own prints or a lab, they may have a
print dryer with the polished metal plate to get the gloss back.

Good luck. ex-darkroom guy.

On Fri, Aug 26, 2005 at 03:06:17PM -0500, Paul Hillman wrote:
8<
> But, I have another film OT question; what's the best way to separate print-film pictures that are stuck together?
>


--
------
Allen P Rueter Phone: 314/935-6429 email allen :) artsci.wustl.edu
.oO* there are at least three sides to every issue.





Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: Scale Weights - Doubt It

Rob & Bev Manley
 

Roger,
They did and I had one. The flywheel was powered by a rubberband to a plastic drum pulley mounted on one of the axles. It performed much like a rubberband. Most of my cars have Interrmountain standard or semi fine scale wheelsets and they mimic the momentum better than the flywheel gimic. If you pre-pposition your Kadees so that they will not couple, you can with practice, switch on the fly.
Real brakemen don't use uncoupling magnets,
Rob Manley

----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Parry
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Re: Scale Weights - Doubt It


Did not NWSL offer a flywheel chassis that could be used with an Athern
box car to simulate train momentum?
On Aug 26, 2005, at 12:27 PM, Tom Jones III wrote:

> My thoughts were motorized momentum in the cars, or flywheel driven
> momentum
> in the cars. DCC is too much for individual cars when it is possible to
> simply (yeah, right!) have the car sense its own speed and through a
> computer program onboard the car control the momentum motor that
> drives the
> wheels, or provides resistance. A flywheel may be a lot easier, not
> sure
> about cheaper. It would provide a sort of brake when stopped, but it
> certainly would push the train along when moving!
>
> Tom Jones III
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>> Re: Scale Weights - Doubt It
>>
> (snip)
>> Then after accomplishing this you run into the problem of how our
>> layouts
> aren't actual scale
>> models, in fact most don't even approach being scale. Most are so
> drastically foreshortened that a
>> 1:1 freight car's dynamics when scaled down acting under the forces of
> momentum would roll much
>> farther than most of our sidings and yards are long. A freight taking
>> a
> mile to stop would take how
>> many dozen laps of most of our layouts to achieve that? That's if you
> don't have a point to point,
>> in that case it just goes over the edge because the world is flat.
>> Here
> there be dragons and they
>> find model railroad equipment to be tasty. That's why it keeps
> disappearing off the edge of the
>> layout, never to be seen again. :-)
>>
>> The more you try to mimic the prototype the more you end up
>> demonstrating
> the reality that our
>> models are basically toys, well, expensive toys.
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>



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Re: Kodak - Slightly Off Topic...but Only Slightly.

Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
 

It is my understanding that a single 35mm black and white negative
holds the equivalent of 80 megapixels of data in "analog" form
(actually, it is digital when you get down to the molecular level).
A single 2-1/4" X 2-1/4" B&W negative holds 150 megapixels of data.
Sort of. This is ONLY true if the negative is crystal sharp. The great majority, especially 35 mm, are far from truly sharp. In such a case the INFORMATION content may not exceed 5 MB, regardless of how many silver grains there are.

The negative is also a much better way to store data archivally -
the compact disc technology will probably be long obsolete, while
B&W negatives will still be great. I also understand that a digital
image on a compact disc will only last for about 20 years before it
needs to be removed and placed on new media.
I'd agree about the longevity of negatives--same is true of paper records. As for how long a CD will last, well, realistically, no one really knows yet. They certainly ARE subject to heat and humidity: you can add them to the very long list of things best stored in a cool, dry place. (inevitably reminds me of the great Traveling Wilburys song on that topic . . . )

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history
Re: Bob's photos

Richard Hendrickson
 

On Aug 26, 2005, at 4:13 PM, Fred in Vt. wrote:

I'm trying to find an answer for a fellow modeler up here, and I did not have a clue to the right explanaton. Would one the more knowledgable please indulge me with the difference between Z bracing, and what some call "exteral bracing". Not to be confused with hat section structural members. It's one of those things I should know, and can't recall it. Drat !!!
At last! A genuine freight car question. "External bracing" or, more correctly, "external framing" is any method of house car construction in which the framing is outside the sheathing. In the steam era, this was common to what are properly described as single sheathed cars (NOT "outside braced," a term that was never used in the RR industry). Such cars had a single layer of (usually) wood sheathing applied inside the body framing, which could be either hat section (usually Pratt truss, with the diagonals in compression) or Z section (usually Howe truss, with the diagonals in tension).
Re: Bob's photos

Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
 

In fairness to Martin, I would not pay up front & not have a guaranteed spot on the floor. Some folks are getting over-inflated, and need a reality check.
As for Al, that was a nightmare. . . .
I wasn't quibbling about the reason(s), just pointing out the absence.

I'm trying to find an answer for a fellow modeler up here, and I did not have a clue to the right explanaton. Would one the more knowledgable please indulge me with the difference between Z bracing, and what some call "exteral bracing". Not to be confused with hat section structural members. It's one of those things I should know, and can't recall it.
The cross-section of one is kind of a hat (inverted U), the other is a Z.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history
Re: The Springfield Show

armprem
 

Tim,I always looked forward to Steve's display of milk cars at
Springfield.No question ,Steve is ahead of the curve.I didn't mean to imply
that all_ the good modelers attended RPM meets....,just some of the
best....Armand Premo

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim O'Connor" <timboconnor@comcast.net>
To: <STMFC@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] The Springfield Show



Armand Premo wrote

The seminars are super with presentations by some of the best
modelers in the country ...
I don't need to point this out to most of you, but not ALL of the
best modelers in the country are into the "RPM scene". There are many
fabulous models on display at Springfield (as there are at regional
shows and meets all over the country). One of my favorite displays
at Springfield is the Pfaudler tables, where superb, scratchbuilt
models of milk trains are on display. And way back in 1989 before
I even knew my A end from a B end, I was awestruck by a Prototype
Modelers' display led by Steve Solombrino, a great modeler who to
my knowledge has never attended a single RPM meet. RPM meets only
attract 1% or less of model railroaders -- you can be sure you are
missing out on a lot of great modeling if that's all you do.

Tim O'Connor






Yahoo! Groups Links









--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.10.15/81 - Release Date: 8/24/05
Re: Bob's photos

Fred in Vt. <pennsy@...>
 

Tony,

In fairness to Martin, I would not pay up front & not have a guaranteed spot on the floor. Some folks are getting over-inflated, and need a reality check.
As for Al, that was a nightmare. Al & Patricia waited till the next day to head home; just in time for a 20 some inch snow fall. IIRC, they had soda cans explode in their vehicle from the -10 temps.
Mrs. westerfield may be from Vermont, but Al does NOT DO SNOW. Have no reason to feel deprived by his decision, I can order on line.
For those who may never have operated in snow------it's different!!!
Now back to the regular programming >>>>>.

I'm trying to find an answer for a fellow modeler up here, and I did not have a clue to the right explanaton. Would one the more knowledgable please indulge me with the difference between Z bracing, and what some call "exteral bracing". Not to be confused with hat section structural members. It's one of those things I should know, and can't recall it. Drat !!!
Thanks.......

Fred Freitas

----- Original Message -----
From: Anthony Thompson
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 12:37 PM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] RE: Bob's photos


Thomas M. Olsen wrote:

> Springfield may have a waiting list of vendors, but they when they
> finally select a vendor to fill a spot, apparently they won't guarantee
> the table space until the vendor arrives to set up. Martin Lofton has
> been asked to attend as a vendor a number of times . . .

And Westerfield has told us he went once and isn't going again.
So Springfield isn't exactly presenting "all the big resin producers."

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history


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YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS

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b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
STMFC-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: OT stuck photos

Allen Rueter <allen@...>
 

Paul,
Soak them in water till they seperate, you will lose the glossy finish.
You will need a towel and some books to dry them flat.
If you know a person who does there own prints or a lab, they may have a
print dryer with the polished metal plate to get the gloss back.

Good luck. ex-darkroom guy.

On Fri, Aug 26, 2005 at 03:06:17PM -0500, Paul Hillman wrote:
8<
But, I have another film OT question; what's the best way to separate print-film pictures that are stuck together?

--
------
Allen P Rueter Phone: 314/935-6429 email allen :) artsci.wustl.edu
.oO* there are at least three sides to every issue.
Re: Kodak - Slightly Off Topic...but Only Slightly.

proto48er
 

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Hillman" <chris_hillman@m...>
wrote:
Yeah, not quite sure what the current, real quality of digital is,
(short of a $3,000.00 digital camera, etc.), but it looks like
the "old" print system is definitely on the way out. I used to
develop my own film and prints a few years back. I still have a 35mm
SLR and love it.

But, I have another film OT question; what's the best way to
separate print-film pictures that are stuck together?

Paul Hillman

Paul - I think you might try soaking the print film pictures in
distilled water - they were developed in water in the first place.
They should separate.

It is my understanding that a single 35mm black and white negative
holds the equivalent of 80 megapixels of data in "analog" form
(actually, it is digital when you get down to the molecular level).
A single 2-1/4" X 2-1/4" B&W negative holds 150 megapixels of data.
The negative is also a much better way to store data archivally -
the compact disc technology will probably be long obsolete, while
B&W negatives will still be great. I also understand that a digital
image on a compact disc will only last for about 20 years before it
needs to be removed and placed on new media. Maybe by then, a more
permanent form of storage will have been invented. A digital
picture can be transferred as a jpeg file several times before it
starts to break up - but when it does start to break up, it goes
away in spectacular fashion.

The above info comes from various articles in "Photo Techniques"
magazine. They are somewhat impartial - also do research on digital
and new wet photography films and papers.

Just another example of instant gratification over craftsmanship and
quality! A.T. Kott
Re: Scale Weights - Doubt It

Roger Parry <uncleroger@...>
 

Did not NWSL offer a flywheel chassis that could be used with an Athern box car to simulate train momentum?

On Aug 26, 2005, at 12:27 PM, Tom Jones III wrote:

My thoughts were motorized momentum in the cars, or flywheel driven momentum
in the cars. DCC is too much for individual cars when it is possible to
simply (yeah, right!) have the car sense its own speed and through a
computer program onboard the car control the momentum motor that drives the
wheels, or provides resistance. A flywheel may be a lot easier, not sure
about cheaper. It would provide a sort of brake when stopped, but it
certainly would push the train along when moving!

Tom Jones III

----- Original Message -----
Re: Scale Weights - Doubt It
(snip)
Then after accomplishing this you run into the problem of how our layouts
aren't actual scale
models, in fact most don't even approach being scale. Most are so
drastically foreshortened that a
1:1 freight car's dynamics when scaled down acting under the forces of
momentum would roll much
farther than most of our sidings and yards are long. A freight taking a
mile to stop would take how
many dozen laps of most of our layouts to achieve that? That's if you
don't have a point to point,
in that case it just goes over the edge because the world is flat. Here
there be dragons and they
find model railroad equipment to be tasty. That's why it keeps
disappearing off the edge of the
layout, never to be seen again. :-)

The more you try to mimic the prototype the more you end up demonstrating
the reality that our
models are basically toys, well, expensive toys.




Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: Kodak - Slightly Off Topic...but Only Slightly.

Paul Hillman
 

Yeah, not quite sure what the current, real quality of digital is, (short of a $3,000.00 digital camera, etc.), but it looks like the "old" print system is definitely on the way out. I used to develop my own film and prints a few years back. I still have a 35mm SLR and love it.

But, I have another film OT question; what's the best way to separate print-film pictures that are stuck together?

Paul Hillman

----- Original Message -----
From: Beckert, Shawn<mailto:shawn.beckert@disney.com>
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com<mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 2:26 PM
Subject: [STMFC] Kodak - Slightly Off Topic...but Only Slightly.


Guys,

This article is taken from USA Today. You might want to take a look:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-08-25-kodak-cuts_x.htm<http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-08-25-kodak-cuts_x.htm>

The freight car connection should be obvious. If things keep going the way they
are, there might not *be* a Bob's Photo in a few years. Or John C. LaRue, or Jay
Williams. etc. Not to be Chicken Little (hey, there's an idea for a movie), but
it looks like we better start buying photographs like crazy or we find someone
who still makes printing paper (and chemicals) and work out a deal.

At some point we'll be forced to accept digitally printed photos. I already have
some, and I'm just not impressed.Unless the quality of digital printing improves
drastically (and who knows, maybe it will), I think we're in for a dry spell as
far as this facet of our hobby goes.

This is not meant to stir a debate (which will get Mike upset), but I think people
here should be aware of what's coming. Not a pretty picture - no pun intended.

Shawn Beckert





Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: Kodak - Slightly Off Topic...but Only Slightly.

Adam Maas <mykroft@...>
 

Beckert, Shawn wrote:
Guys,
This article is taken from USA Today. You might want to take a look:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-08-25-kodak-cuts_x.htm
The freight car connection should be obvious. If things keep going the way they
are, there might not *be* a Bob's Photo in a few years. Or John C. LaRue, or Jay
Williams. etc. Not to be Chicken Little (hey, there's an idea for a movie), but
it looks like we better start buying photographs like crazy or we find someone who still makes printing paper (and chemicals) and work out a deal.
At some point we'll be forced to accept digitally printed photos. I already have some, and I'm just not impressed.Unless the quality of digital printing improves drastically (and who knows, maybe it will), I think we're in for a dry spell as
far as this facet of our hobby goes.
This is not meant to stir a debate (which will get Mike upset), but I think people here should be aware of what's coming. Not a pretty picture - no pun intended.
Shawn Beckert
If you're getting your photos printed at a minilab, you're already getting digital prints. All the modern minilabs scan the negs and then print digitally to photo paper. This side of the business is not declining much, but kodak isn't as big a player as it used to be, with Fuji leading and Noritsu and Agfa also playing. The major change here is simply in volume, most folks now come in and print 75+ digital shots rather than a roll at a time.

Film however is dead from a mainstream perspective. It will be the domain of the artist and purist within a coupel of years (From a new sales perspective, film cameras essentially died in 2004, the P&S market is gone and the SLR market is dying).

-Adam
Kodak - Slightly Off Topic...but Only Slightly.

Shawn Beckert
 

Guys,

This article is taken from USA Today. You might want to take a look:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-08-25-kodak-cuts_x.htm

The freight car connection should be obvious. If things keep going the way they
are, there might not *be* a Bob's Photo in a few years. Or John C. LaRue, or Jay
Williams. etc. Not to be Chicken Little (hey, there's an idea for a movie), but
it looks like we better start buying photographs like crazy or we find someone
who still makes printing paper (and chemicals) and work out a deal.

At some point we'll be forced to accept digitally printed photos. I already have
some, and I'm just not impressed.Unless the quality of digital printing improves
drastically (and who knows, maybe it will), I think we're in for a dry spell as
far as this facet of our hobby goes.

This is not meant to stir a debate (which will get Mike upset), but I think people
here should be aware of what's coming. Not a pretty picture - no pun intended.

Shawn Beckert
Re: Kaslo double dutch drop

Paul Hillman
 

I can just imagine the stories from the steep-incline, multiple-
grade, multiple switch-back logging railroads, about these "Double-
Dutch-Drops", IE);

"Yeah, one day we tried a triple, double-Dutch-drop with a string of
10 fully-loaded log-cars and killed 20 men. Everything was OK until
old "cross-eyed Bob" the switchman couldn't tell which way the train
was goin' and switched her into the company mess-hall siding. Took
us a week to find the beer-cooler again."

Paul Hillman

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, PBowers <waiting@s...> wrote:
Canadian Pacific had an interesting "double dutch drop??" in Kaslo
and
probably one of the longest movements of tat type. The inbound
train left
the van on the mainline with brake on as it was an approx 2%
grade. The
loco and train pulled over the switch, reversed direction and then
went
down another approx 2% grade to the dock. Once the train was
clear, the
van brake was released and it rolled to the opposite end of the
yard which
was on a almost 5% grade. The van reversed direction and returned
back to
the switch down to the dock where the brakeman, after changing the
switch
to the dock track reboarded and rode the van down the grade
coasting to a
stop near the rest of the train. The length of track travelled
was about a
half mile.

Peter Bowers
Re: Solid, Roller & Friction Bearing Journals

Doug Brown <brown194@...>
 

Non-roller bearings were labor intensive with the checking and adding of
lubrication. With higher labor rates and lower parts cost, the
break-even point favored roller bearings. Roller bearings also helped
eliminate hotbox failures.

Doug Brown

-----Original Message-----
From: STMFC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
behillman
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 8:44 AM
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Solid, Roller & Friction Bearing Journals

Tony Thompson wrote;

Looking into roller bearing history, Timken was selling roller
bearings for horse-drawn equipment in 1893. Their bearings were
incorporated into automobiles quite early, and into machine tools
before World War I. (Timken began to call their product an
"anti-friction" bearing around 1910.) It is an indication of the
conservatism of railroad mechanical people that railroad
applications came as late as they did.
***************************************************************

Response,

In the 1903 book, "Railroad Construction-Theory & Practice", which I
afore referred to, concerning at that time the application of roller-
journals to freight cars;

" But the advantages (of roller-journals) disappear as the velocity
increases. The advantages also decrease as the load is increased, so
that with heavily loaded cars the gain is small. The excess of cost
for construction and maintenance has been found to be more than the
gain from power saved."

Their thoughts in 1903 were apparently more along the lines of
better lubrication of "solid-bearings";

" The resistance could probably be materially lowered (in 'ordinary -
journals') if some practicable form of journal-box could be devised
which would give a more perfect lubrication."

Something happened in later years for the ultimate conversion to
roller-journals, probably a significant reduction in costs in
applying them to 100's of thousands of freight-cars?? (It's ALWAYS
about the "money".)

Paul Hillman










Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: Bob's photos

Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
 

Thomas M. Olsen wrote:

Springfield may have a waiting list of vendors, but they when they
finally select a vendor to fill a spot, apparently they won't guarantee
the table space until the vendor arrives to set up. Martin Lofton has
been asked to attend as a vendor a number of times . . .
And Westerfield has told us he went once and isn't going again. So Springfield isn't exactly presenting "all the big resin producers."

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history
Re: dutch drop

Tom Jones III <tomtherailnut@...>
 

This is a "drop". The "Dutch Drop" has the loco speed ahead, throw a switch,
then loco REVERSES and goes hidey-hole into the spur, switch thrown again,
and car rolls past. Its that reversing that gets interesting! Nothing like
having your locomotive heading back toward a rolling car to get your
attention.

Tom

----- Original Message -----

My impression of the Dutch Drop was that, to get a car into a facing
point spur, the engine sped up and then the car to be dropped was
uncoupled. then the engine sped up even more and as it passed the
switch the points were thrown and the car rolled into the spur.
Getting the engine far enough ahead of the car to stop, back into a
trailing point spur (assuming there was one handy) and throw the
switch back would seem impossible, as well as even more dangerous, to
do.
Bill Williams
Re: Scale Weights - Doubt It

Tom Jones III <tomtherailnut@...>
 

My thoughts were motorized momentum in the cars, or flywheel driven momentum
in the cars. DCC is too much for individual cars when it is possible to
simply (yeah, right!) have the car sense its own speed and through a
computer program onboard the car control the momentum motor that drives the
wheels, or provides resistance. A flywheel may be a lot easier, not sure
about cheaper. It would provide a sort of brake when stopped, but it
certainly would push the train along when moving!

Tom Jones III

----- Original Message -----
Re: Scale Weights - Doubt It
(snip)
Then after accomplishing this you run into the problem of how our layouts
aren't actual scale
models, in fact most don't even approach being scale. Most are so
drastically foreshortened that a
1:1 freight car's dynamics when scaled down acting under the forces of
momentum would roll much
farther than most of our sidings and yards are long. A freight taking a
mile to stop would take how
many dozen laps of most of our layouts to achieve that? That's if you
don't have a point to point,
in that case it just goes over the edge because the world is flat. Here
there be dragons and they
find model railroad equipment to be tasty. That's why it keeps
disappearing off the edge of the
layout, never to be seen again. :-)

The more you try to mimic the prototype the more you end up demonstrating
the reality that our
models are basically toys, well, expensive toys.
Re: Solid, Roller & Friction Bearing Journals

Tom Jones III <tomtherailnut@...>
 

More like the application of fuel prices and safety issues (i.e., liability
claims) that moved railroads to roller bearings.

Fuel at the time that article was written (1903) was virtually a zero cost
item for many railroads, so starting a heavy train and keeping it going with
the attendant friction from solid bearings, and the additional fuel expense
was not a biggie. For some railroads, simply taking the coal from one of
their own mines and moving it to the coaling towers was the sole additional
expense. Modernly, its too bad you can't burn coal in Diesels . . . shipping
by train would be much cheaper!

Additionally, solid bearings have a cute propensity of overheating when
poorly lubed and catching the train on fire, or at least melting off the
axle end once in a while. Roller bearings also fail from lack of
maintenance, but they don't require an inspection at every stop, oiling on a
regular basis, people to go out and fill the waste and oil box on the
journals, piles of cotton waste and gallons of spilled oil everywhere with
the EPA looking over your shoulder, and on and on and on. Finally, spun off
axle ends still happen, but not nearly as frequently as with solid bearings.

The final straw was that the cost of copper and other metals used to cast
solid bearing brass (actually a form of bronze) became higher and higher
while the cost of machined steel got lower and lower. There was simply no
longer an economic reason to go for the less safe, higher friction,
relatively higher cost solid bearings.

So, you are right - its ALWAYS the money!

Tom Jones III

----- Original Message -----
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Solid, Roller & Friction Bearing Journals


(snip)

Something happened in later years for the ultimate conversion to
roller-journals, probably a significant reduction in costs in
applying them to 100's of thousands of freight-cars?? (It's ALWAYS
about the "money".)

Paul Hillman
148001 - 148020 of 192670