Aug 13, 2024
Tornado starts to return to steam, warming fire lit.
seen from Italy
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Tornado starts to return to steam, warming fire lit.
Happy birthday, Setskogen!
Happy birthday, Setskogen! Our beautiful black lady! A slightly cranky lady, but otherwise easy to handle. I was warned how difficult she was to handle beforehand, but after a few days on this beautiful loco I have to say the co-operation issues are greatly exaggerated... She is just a bit determined how she wants it. 😉 That she would reach such an age was not given... Two world wars and a fire at the locomotive shed at Skulerud could have ended the life of this machine a long time ago, but in the old days people did not give up so easily. A machine damaged by fire would probably be scrapped today, but not in 1944... Setskogen was inside the locomotive shed when it burned down to the ground one January night. All attempts to rescue her from the burning building were in vain... But as soon as the ruin had cooled down she was pulled out and taken to the workshop, and already in March of the same year she was out and about again! Less than 20 years later, her existence was again threatened, when the railway was shut down and the equipment sold or scrapped. But a group of enthusiasts managed to save both her and Høland, and thanks to that effort, they both chug around the rebuilt section of tracks to this day. She probably came to UHB a while before the newspaper wrote about her, but in the world of the books we have set her birthday to the day she was first written about since I have not been able to find out exactly when she was put into service. Anyway... 114 is a solid age, but she's still fit for her age. May she live another hundred years!
The Girls
LNER A1 Pacific - Flying Scotsman and escort C38 3801 - The Grey Nurse rail-tripping around Australia.
You know what would be funny?
If Flying Scotsman is finally retired and then suddenly a Trust or a Rail Society announces plans to build a new A3 or A1 Gresley.
Bonus points if they call it the Scotch Express, the original name of the Flying Scotsman.
BR 9F (92134)rescues Standard 4 Tank Engine (80136) after a failed water pump at the NYMR Gala.
Steam engine rescuing another steam engine as oppose to a diesel for once!
This is Fluff.
They are owned by the Furness Railway Trust and were it's very first engine. I have no head canons for Fluff, I just think they're adorable with an adorable name.
Fluff's history is here.
Have you ever wanted to see 4 steam engines racing each other with carriages full of people?
Never fear, the Maitland Steamfest has got you covered with their Great Train Race 2023. The winner by a technicality was 3801.
In Australia, we race trains because we bloody well can.
What do you do when you have some detonators going out of date? Get a tank engine to run over those suckers like no one's business.
A detonator is a small flat cylinder, placed onto the rail and clipped into place. When a train runs over it, the force of the wheel causes the detonator to explode, creating a very loud and distinctive sound which the Driver of the train should immediately identify as being a detonator, stop his train and investigate the situation. The purpose of this is to warn of danger; detonators form part of what is known as 'Emergency Protection' which on the railway refers to the method of trying to prevent any approaching trains from colliding with or becoming involved in an emergency situation which has already taken place, they're also used to alert train crews about track workers further up the line.