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Post by Randy on Oct 6, 2006 22:08:11 GMT -5
Peter will like these live steam locomotives I shot last week. They are a little blurred, but it's hard to catch something that's moving fast.   |
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Post by nikonbob on Oct 7, 2006 8:30:58 GMT -5
And you thought camera collecting was bad. If I dragged one of these home..... OTH they are very interesting. I am guessing that they work like the originals being steam powered?
Bob
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Post by Just Plain Curt on Oct 7, 2006 10:32:38 GMT -5
Now there's a trainset I could really get into. I think I like the second one best but both look like they'd be a hoot.
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Post by GeneW on Oct 7, 2006 19:55:19 GMT -5
Randy, you did quite well with these for a fast-moving target! These guys have too much fun!
Gene
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Post by Randy on Oct 7, 2006 22:00:20 GMT -5
These are coal fired live steam. You could smell the acrid odor of anthricite in the air. We had a good time walking around the park watching these guys. There were about 12 different steam and diesel locomotives running through the 3 miles of track at the park.
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Oct 8, 2006 8:15:09 GMT -5
Indeed yes, Randy. I love these small locos almost as much as the full size ones. They're lovely examples of model engineering and must take months, and months, and ....... to build. I wish I had a machine shop with the equipment to build stuff like this, but if I did I doubt if I'd ever get the time.  . I used to have loads of copies of Model Engineer Magazine with plans for locos like these, and small traction engines, but I gave them to a live steam enthusiast who had the time and the equipment. You describe the atmosphere perfectly. Yes, the smell of anthracite and hot steam oil. Wonderful! At live steam meetings in the UK there are usually a lot of full-size small stationary engines as well, some of them up to 100 years old. Fascinating things. The owners bring them to the meetings on small trailers. A few run on live steam from a separate boiler, but many owners have a small generator and compressor and run them on compressed air. Most of them run happily at 4 to 6 psi. Some are connected via a flat belt to a small pump that pumps gallons of water from one tank to another. Has a series of programmes by the late Fred Dibnah ever been shown on US TV, or are DVDs available? They are available online. Fred was an ex-steeplejack from Bolton, in Lancashire and now part of Greater Manchester, who had a life-long passion for engineering, mainly Victorian, and steam engines. His programmes are well worth a look. He rescued a lot of old machinery and set it up in big sheds in his back garden. His local council once served him a notice to take the sheds down because he'd built them without planning permission, but there was such a public outcry the council had to back down. They did put their foot (feet?) down though when Fred proposed to set up a Victorian pithead, sink a shaft and tunnel under the garden. Wonderful old lad with his flat cap and soft Northern accent. The country is poorer with his passing. PeterW |
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Post by Randy on Oct 8, 2006 8:45:23 GMT -5
Peter, most of the locomotive owners have heavy 3/4 ton pickup trucks because they own more than one locomotive or rolling stock. The Club has an old Lift from a Gas Station installed at the park with about 12 tracks around it for locomotive storage. The Owners have panel tracks in their trucks to haul the engines on and they back up to the lift which is brought up to the level of their truck. Then a panel track is installed between the lift and the truck that telescopes for length and the locomotive is backed onto the lift. The lift is then lowered down to the level of the storage tracks and swung to the appropriate track. The locomotive is then fired up with an electric blower mounted above the smokestack to create draft in the firebox. I was just fascinated by this whole affair and I could have watched for hours. I'll see if I can find the website for this Club and put a link for it here. I have a 3/4 ton truck....all I need is the locomotive! LOL  |
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Post by Randy on Oct 8, 2006 9:04:38 GMT -5
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Post by nikonbob on Oct 8, 2006 11:09:17 GMT -5
Randy
Thanks for the link. It is bookmarked on the off chance I can get there.
PeterW
The History Channel had a show on the building of the London sewer system recently. Talk about a Victorian engineering marvel. I hope to see the steam pumps next time I get to London.
Bob
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Post by John Parry on Oct 9, 2006 7:03:53 GMT -5
These bring back some great memories Randy - thanks!
PeterW Yes - Fred was certainly a character. His wife walked out on him when he put the third (I think it was) traction engine in his small back garden. How totally unreasonable can women sometimes be??
My favourite Fred story was from his first TV series. He and his small team were to demolish a massive brick chimney (stack). The team had installed the ladders so that an inspection of the top could be made. The scene changed to the interior of the pub across the road, where Fred was explaining at length how he was going to demolish the chimney, while at the same time drinking large amounts of beer. After downing his last pint he climbed the vertical inspection ladder (around 200 or so feet high).
The TV Company had dozens of complaints about health and safety - how could he have been so irresponsible as to work at height after consuming alcohol? There were so many, the Company got Fred back on to answer the charges. Apologise? Not Fred... "If I hadn't had at least four pints inside me, I wouldn't have gone up there!"
This time the viewers blocked the switchboard with thousands of calls, all to say the same thing:
"Neither would I !!"
Regards - John
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Post by doubs43 on Oct 9, 2006 11:52:37 GMT -5
Randy, those are interesting scale trains that bring out the child in every man. I find the second one especially interesting because of the extension to the smoke stack. I'm willing to bet that the original height allowed the hot cinders and smoke to blow directly back into the engineer's face!
Only one suggestion: Learn to pan your shots! (Like swinging a shotgun on a clay target.) It'll keep the fast-moving trains sharp and blur the background which helps to suggest speed.
Walker
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Post by nikonbob on Oct 9, 2006 12:18:49 GMT -5
Walker
That is a good suggestion for these situations. The hardest part of panning a shot, for me at least, is to remember to follow through. By that I mean keep the panning going after releasing the shutter.
Bob
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Post by doubs43 on Oct 9, 2006 17:27:37 GMT -5
Walker, That is a good suggestion for these situations. The hardest part of panning a shot, for me at least, is to remember to follow through. By that I mean keep the panning going after releasing the shutter. Bob Bob, that's probably the most difficult part of panning with anything. Skeet shooters stop their swing as they pull the trigger and hunters do the same thing on moving game. The camera is no different in that respect and I'm guilty of not following through in all three instances. As with anything, practice helps. IMO, the easiest cameras for that type of shooting would be either TLR's or folding cameras and press cameras. The TLR will normally have a "Sport's Frame" and so may the folder if it's a decent one. The press cameras (Speed Graphic and Busch) usually have a wire frame finder for sporting events. Practice without film on passing cars or whatever is moving. Then whatever the subject, find a spot, pre-focus and make your shots. I find it helps to keep thinking "follow through".  Walker |
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Oct 9, 2006 18:51:05 GMT -5
John.
Wonderful story, John. I love it. And how typical!
PeterW
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. I used to have loads of copies of Model Engineer Magazine with plans for locos like these, and small traction engines, but I gave them to a live steam enthusiast who had the time and the equipment.
