Uintah Railway locomotives

[bruce kuebler]

Curtis F WOW! Thanks a bunch!!! I copied those pdfs and will contact Cynthia Franco. Did you visit the library or were copies made by librarian(s)?

[LivingLegend]

Yes, there was the Skagen built Rayonier 2-6-6-2 that Tom Miller owned at one time. Tom bought the loco a couple of years prior to, and sold it before his Big Boy was finished and delivered.

LL

[Loco112]

The Uintah #50 & #51 were built to negotiate 66-degree curves, thats about (Correction from 45') 78' radius, isn't it?

Thats about a 20-foot radius in 2.5" scale 7.5" gauger.

Thats about a 40' rad for a 5/12 scale 15" gauger.

[Harold_V]

The Uintah #50 & #51 were built to negotiate 66-degree curves, thats about 45' radius, isn't it?

Thats about a 20-foot radius in 2.5" scale 7.5" gauger.

Thats about a 40' rad for a 5/12 scale 15" gauger.

Please help me understand your comment.

Can't a turn be of any radius (within reason) and still be 66°? It can be accomplished with a ten foot radius just as well as it can be with a 1,000' radius. Just takes more space and more track. How would one expect that it would be 45'? Would your comment apply to a minimum radius?

TIA!

Harold

[Loco112]

Please help me understand your comment.

Can't a turn be of any radius (within reason) and still be 66°? TIA!

Harold

I don't think so, but who knows.

Radius is the distance of the center of a curve measured out to the center of the track, that means that train could go around a circle that was 160' in diameter?

There are 15" gauge locos that have trouble flange squeeling around a 160" radius.

Check this out; below
Courtesy of the Broadbelt collection; RR Museum of PN.
Photo #10160, everyone go buy a print. (that is within their posted usage policy, so its all legal. )

[Curtis_F]

Did you visit the library or were copies made by librarian(s)?

Bruce,

I have not had the pleasure of visiting the library my self, which would be problematic, as I would probably take to hiding in the air vent during the day and sneaking into the library every night to thumb through every drawing. Then having to live off food raided from vending machines, etc. Yeah. Probably best I don't go there.

Cynthia has been the head librarian there for several years and is pretty much the only one I have delt with. I've always found her very accomodating and reliable.

---------------

Harold,

Here's how Baldwin determined "Degrees of Curvature".

Cheers,

Curtis_F

[Pennsy fan]

Curtis is it the way you live now? The stale Oreos are not bad, washed down with a little apple juice! Ok see you in the vents later!
D.

[srrl5]

The Uintah #50 & #51 were built to negotiate 66-degree curves, thats about 45' radius, isn't it?

Thats about a 20-foot radius in 2.5" scale 7.5" gauger.

Thats about a 40' rad for a 5/12 scale 15" gauger.

Please help me understand your comment.

Can't a turn be of any radius (within reason) and still be 66°? It can be accomplished with a ten foot radius just as well as it can be with a 1,000' radius. Just takes more space and more track. How would one expect that it would be 45'? Would your comment apply to a minimum radius?

TIA!

Harold

I believe on full size railroads the degree of curve is for a 100' length of track.

David

[Harold_V]

Please help me understand your comment.

Can't a turn be of any radius (within reason) and still be 66°? TIA!

Harold

I don't think so, but who knows.

Radius is the distance of the center of a curve measured out to the center of the track, that means that train could go around a circle that was 160' in diameter?

If the track is 45' radius, it would be only a 90' circle, but that's not the part that confuses me.

The point I was making is a sharp bend can be 66°, just as a 1,000' radius can be made to comply with the 66° criterion. I understand the radius as you defined it, but it isn't tied to a given angle. You can have a 25° angle of 45' radius, or a 83° angle of 45' radius. I'm just curious if there's something about your statement that I don't understand. I am not well versed in train jargon. I'm trying to understand how the 66° relates to the 45' radius. Is it random? It certainly can be, but it isn't a requirement, unless there's something I don't understand. That's what I'm trying to clarify.

Again, TIA.

Harold

[Harold_V]

I believe on full size railroads the degree of curve is for a 100' length of track.

David

Ahhh! That throws a little light on the subject. I'd never heard it referenced that way.

Thanks.

Harold

[Curtis_F]

I believe on full size railroads the degree of curve is for a 100' length of track.

David,

Usually but not always 100'. Different railroads used different lengths so the radius of 66 degree curve could vary depending on which railroad you're talking about.

Surveyors and the locomotive builders tended to use 100' to make it easier to calculate.

However, many road foremen used calculations based on standard lengths of rail, which could be 30' or 33' depending on what the railroad liked to order. This helped the track crews in that they didn't have to measure out 100', they just counted out two or three lengths of rail and went from there. Thus depending on the railroad & road foreman the length for calculating degrees could be 60', 66', 90', 99' or 100'.

This is one of those things that had bitten modelers in the butt before as they get the degrees of curvature from a railroad companies papers, they assume 100' lengths, then when they try to make a model of a switching yard or siding things don't line up correctly.


Cheers,

Curtis F.

[Rwilliams]

Many years ago we were on a extra job called to spread ballast on a new piece of track into a new warehouse still under construction. There were stakes all over including some in the middle of the track which were soon going to be oblierated by the ballast spreading move. Before starting the move to spread the ballast on the big sweeping curve we asked about the life span of the stakes as they were soon to be destroyed by our shoving of the loaded cars.

The old time Roadmaster replied that the stakes had served their purpose and the many tons crushed rock would soon hold the track in place. With that said, we began the shoving move around the curve spreading crushed rock with a tie placed in front of the wheels of one of the hoppers. This was a time honored method of quickly leveling the pile of rock to top of the rail level and keeping the rocks off the rail so no derailments would result. With each car of ballast empty, the tie was moved to the next car until it too was empty. After 10 or 12 cars of ballast spreading, the tie was a bit worse for wear but the time saved was certainly worth more than the cost of a sacrificial tie. During one of the breaks of the spreading operation we queried the old Roadmaster of Santa Fe origins about how he did the layout of the curve.

His reply was that you had to keep it simple as most of the section crew had little or no English skills or education to begin with. With that basic premise, one simply used the 100 foot distance and measured over from that point. Go another 100 feet and measure over again until the stakes are in place. You only have to show them once and they know what to do keeping the life of the Roadmaster much easier. You just hoped the guys doing the grading for the track got it right. He drew a simple but effective sketch in the soil with a grade stake he had in his hand at the time to support his explanation.

Hope this helps,

Robert