Jack's Favorite Trains--Videos
These videos feature five of our trains operating in different layout locations. It takes almost ten munutes for a train to circle the layout's outer loop at prototypical speeds.
The Great Northern Mallet
This train propelled by a beautiful steam engine ran from Saint Paul to Seattle. The only transcontinental built between 1890 and 1920 with private funds the GN relied on many recruits from Scandinavia to cross the prairies and, then, as laborers were required to negotiate the challenges of the Rockies workers were imported from China; these immigration patterns are visible still today. The GN became the principal advocate for creating Glacier National Park and the railroad became the park’s operator.
The Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1
Early in the 20th century the Pennsylvania Railroad made a major commitment to providing multi-track, mainline passenger service from New York City to Washington DC. The railroad experimented with locomotive designs in search of a passenger electric for high-speed mainline service. That search ended in 1937, the year of my birth, with the GG-1. This beautiful contemporary engine hustled passenger traffic of all types, including the famed Congressional and Broadway Limited, for five decades.
The New York Central Hudson
Perhaps no other railroad has been so closely associated with a locomotive as the New York Central with its 4-6-4 steam propelled Hudson. This beautiful locomotive was built in the 1930s and was a resounding success in pulling both freight and passenger trains over NYC lines. It proved so successful with rail fans, photographers and the public at large that the NYC used it to advertise their passenger service in an era when passenger trains were a luxurious way to travel. The passenger cars are called ‘heavy weights’ as the floors are constructed of concrete. Heavyweights were later abandoned due to the added wear and tear on track and wheels.
The European Crocodile CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
A landmark in Swiss mechanical engineering with its symmetrical design of two swivel bogles under a low nose the croc was the first powerful electric locomotive for the mountains. A camera is mounted to this croc to siumulate a ride along the loop around our pool.
The Galloping Goose CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
This is one of seven railcars built between 1931 and 1946 by the Rio Grande and Southern and operated in the Rockies until the early 1950’s. The RGS developed these ‘geese’ as a way to stave off bankruptcy and keep its contract to run mail to towns in Colorado. There simply was not enough passenger traffic or cargo during the depression for the RGS to continue running trains. The goose is powered with a Buick motor. Automobile motors were not only less expensive to operate but were significantly lighter, thus reducing impact on the rails and roadbeds. The ‘geese’ carried both mail and a few passengers for fifteen years.