Rail riding

[dirtman]

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  ncmired commented
  
  The main reason I'm building my train bike is to ride the 300 mile-ish GAP Trail & C&O Canal, I'll Amtrak from home to D.C., from there Amtrak over to Pittsburgh, ride the bike back to D.C., then Amtrak ride home. Since the bike path is never too far from the D.C./Pittsburgh Amtrak line,

Good luck building your train bike. Don`t worry about getting run over by a train. All the rails are gone or Relocated.
I live in Pittsburgh. A few years back a few of us veterans planned the ride from Pittsburgh to Wash DC.
Pedal bikes only. I only use my MB to rescue my dirt bikes when I run out of gas or to get parts.
While on a few practice rides 40-60 miles, I had to drop out. My legs could handle it by my butt couldn`t.

Eastern Continental Divide, PA – Mile 123.5 from Pittsburgh
The Eastern Continental Divide, located 23.5 miles from Cumberland, Maryland, is the highest point on the trail at 2,392 feet above sea level. This point marks the divide between the watershed that heads to the Atlantic Ocean and the watershed that heads to the Gulf of Mexico.
One of my vet friends dropped out at about mile 90. Before we die we plan on getting dropped off at the E-Continental divide and pedaling into WDC. and taking Amtrack or the bus back to Pittsburgh. I`ll be 72 soon and he`ll be 74 so maybe we might plan the trip in October 2023. If you make the trip before us keep us informed about Amtrack. Good luck.

[Retrorockit]

There were a lot of rails hauling coal and iron ore to Pittsburgh back in the day.Then steel to Detroit.There was oil in PA also.

[ncmired]

Yep, Retro - coal, and the like - quite the industry. Much quieter now. There are still active oil wells, but I think their recovery rates have dropped off - at least for the small business ones I know of in the New York southern tier. No more hit&miss engines - flip a switch and electric pump, when the return is worth it. Lot of gas still I think - enough and convenient enough that some have the luxury of a gas head right on their property, making free heat.

And thanks, dirtman, for that info - it might have been one of your earlier posts regarding the trail that clued me in on it. Timewise, I'm five years out, and you'll likely beat me to it.

I've got a "60 mile in one sitting seat" (and likely suitable for more), but I don't have legs - no, not the ZZ Top reference! And, no camping for me - I'm going to spring for one of the guide services, hotels, and B&Bs - I've earned it.

[Retrorockit]

This is what Hit or Miss engine means for those who've never seen one.It only fire when the flywheel slows down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp0sdSOfjik

[Retrorockit]

I found this guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYVB6aJqviI

The 2 cylinders are double action. Power up and down stroke. So it's equal to a 4 cylinder 2 stroke (or 4 stroke v8). It's making power everywhere in the stroke. Doesn't really need to idle, or have a clutch, or flywheel. You'll notice it pulls just fine at 0 RPM. Kind of like electric that way. Steam engines don't blow the piston down with pressure. They shoot a small amount of steam in, then let it expand to remove the heat from it.

[Retrorockit]

https://imgs.search.brave.com/2QJOP7CC0QWb6zuOZQkTfU16JIhISJEhAKbFhq3-iP0/rs:fit:600:315:1/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9pLnBp/bmltZy5jb20vNzM2/eC84Yy9lNy9mYy84/Y2U3ZmM2ODU1ZjBi/YjMyNjJlODJmYmIw/NmFmNTQwNy0tZ2ly/bHMtd2Vla2VuZC1t/aWx3YXVrZWUuanBn

On real ones the connecting rod goes straight to the wheels. No transmission. To go faster just add bigger wheels.The 2nd car is the fuel tank.
A train like that could hit 100mph if they were running late. Like when a diesel broke down and they had to make up time.

[ncmired]

Related to work and train engines of old, it looks like the Big Boy No. 4014 is rolling again - all 1.1 million pounds of it:

Yes, obsolete, but it makes glorious noises, as do the still runnable V-12 R&R Griffons & Merlins, and the Allisons of old:

These V-12 engines must have sounded phenomenal when pushed to war emergency power.

[Retrorockit]

Because they weren't hauling coal that one would've been an oil burner.

[73Eldo]

I didn't think UP built many (or any?) of their own locos. For sure the later ones were all ALCO's which included the big boys, challengers, and northers. Some railroads did build their own, Southern Pacific I think was one that still has a few survivors. The big boys were coal. Back when they were still in regular use they did try to convert one to oil but it apparently didn't work so they ended up converting it back. When they restored one 2019 they did convert it to oil which works fine for how hard it needs to work these days.

In the 70's and 80's people were putting those V12's in just about everything you could think of and if you broke it you didn't bother to repair it because they were apparently so cheap and easy to get from military surplus. Now days even broken engines and parts apparently go for huge money.

[Retrorockit]

I'm kind of working form memory on this. I passed all my train books on to my brother so I can't look these things up.

[Retrorockit]

Most beastly single engine fighter was the Hawker Tempest. 3500HP. I won't even try to explain it. No cams, no valves.........
https://mechtraveller.com/2019/10/th...e-aero-engine/
Jets came along before it reached it's full potential.

[Retrorockit]

Opposed piston diesel is pretty cool. They list it as 18 cylinders, but that means 36 rods and pistons moving around. Sleeve valves made it possible.
Kind of like 3x 60* vee 12 aircraft engines spliced together.

[73Eldo]

There was also that Chrysler tank engine? that I think was 3 V8's in a triangle. I saw one of those at a museum before I knew they existed. Museum didn't have much info on it and that was the very early days if the internet so i think it was years before I was able to learn more.

[Retrorockit]

They also made some 18 cylinder sleeve valve air cooled radials for the Hawker Sea Fury. The "Flat" head layout made them very compact for their displacement.
I found this animation of the smaller 14 cylinder Hercules.
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vrvep_YOio

[stts]

This is as close to trains as I get. The family train set. Actually this was from my brothers train set. I had HO gage stuff. I got a few things still from my younger years. My first microscope and my first transistor AM radio, and a small box of other things. Too bad I didn't save stuff that went up in value.