What is the Oldest Machine You've Been Transported By?

PDJetta

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This may be stretching the "General Automotive" category a little, but what is the oldest fuel consuming machine you've ridden in, on, or been transported by? For me, it was an 1875 Baldwin 4-4-0 wood burning locomotive with tender, 100% period perfect and mostly original. It has a kerosene lamp for its headlamp. It has a steam-driven air pump for the air brakes (I had no idea air brakes existed in 1875). You can see the air compressor on the right side of the locomotive.

This is one of three such locomotives in the country and the other two are non-operational and in museums. Last summer I took a 45-mile trek through the Colorado Rockies, with a 3,500 foot climb, from Durango to Silverton, CO, in a period coach and caboose pulled by this locomotive. Words cannot describe the experience of this trip, with several photo stops. This locomotive made the neatest sounds. Nothing on this locomotive was electrical. Nothing!

Before we got into the mountains, people lined the tracks to watch the locomotive pass by.

This steam locomotive burned about three cords of yellow pine and stopped to take on water three times during the trip.

For a lot of the trip I stood behind the tender, on the front platform of the coach, being showered with embers and watching the locomotive being fired. It was quite loud, but luckily I wore some good musician's ear plugs.

The smoke was not bad smelling at all and lighter than a coal burner. In fact, it smoked less than I thought it would. The wood-fueled locomotives were a true rarity because in 1875, about 80% burned coal, which has four times the energy for the same volume of fuel. Oddly, you never saw much steam being exhausted. I later realized it was because the air was so dry (I am from the humid east coast) and the steam simply did not condense in the air.

The week this privately-owned locomotive was at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was going to be this locomotive's last public appearance because its owner does not want to pay for the FRA boiler re-certification needed for passenger service. Here are some pictures I posted to my album:


http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=98304&title=img-02155&cat=all


http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=98309&title=img-03824&cat=all

Going full bore up a decent grade, at about 15 mph. This is the locomotive's owner, Dan Marcoff, who keeps it and its tender in a big garage at his house in Nevada. The locomotive and tender are transported by two "lowboy" tractor/trailers to the scenic railroad.



http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=98306&title=img-03114&cat=all

Time to refuel. Everybody gets to help.



http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=98307&title=img-03473&cat=all

The throttle valve shaft packing leaked. Someone wrapped the red rag around the shaft and it did not do anything. You can see where the water has flowed across the firebox door.



http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=98308&title=img-03721&cat=all


http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=98310&title=img-04192&cat=all



http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=98305&title=img-02395&cat=all

The coal-burning locomotive on the right is from 1925. It is the type the D & S NGR runs for the tourists.



http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=98311&title=img-04532&cat=all

And here is a video someone on our trip put together that pretty well conveys what the locomotive looked like and sounded like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MnDBhzMc7Q


Edit:

Here is a picture of the Eureka with the kerosene headlamp burning:

http://www.steamphotos.com/Railroad...9726_xbRCtn#!i=1065524337&k=Dt9JWLF&lb=1&s=XL

Here is the Wikipedia entry for this locomotive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_Locomotive

--Nate
 
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JSWTDI09

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You got me beat. When I was a child, my father had a Ford Model T that he had restored and I got to ride in. I'm not sure of the model year (does it matter?). Unfortunately, I was too young to really appreciate going for a ride in it. BTW: he also had a 1952 MG TD at the same time. When I was about 6 years old, he sold them both to buy a camper trailer for the family. It was many years later that I realized (or appreciated) the sacrifice he made for us.

Have Fun!

Don
 

ELM

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NICE Thanks for posting this. I bet you had a great time riding this train. The oldest car I drive is my 1929 Ford four door. Thanks again for sharing this.:):)
 

No More Buffalo

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About the same as you, but not quite as old. Been pulled by several steam engines in the 1890-1920ish year range. The oldest vehicle anyone is likely to be able to claim is 1831...the locomotive John Bull was restored by the Smithsonian for it's 150th birthday and did some (very) limited excursion trips.

The locomotive "Fairy Queen", operating the tourist trade dates from 1855 and is the oldest currently operating locomotive that I'm aware of.

The oldest operating car is a De Dion steam carriage from 1884 that recently sold at auction for some obscene amount of money.

The oldest operating ship is the SS Segwun, plying inland water ways in Canada, dating from 1889.

The oldest operational aircraft are a pair of Bleriot XI's from 1909. The oldest operational commercial aircraft are many DC-3s from circa 1935 or so. In fact, at around 80 years old the remaining (several hundred strong) DC-3 fleet is probably the oldest power vehicle in commercial usage of any kind, they're still pretty much the best thing in remote jungles, or the arctic.

Finally, and going off topic just a hair, the oldest operating heat engine is the "Smethwick" engine from 1779, which is in a museum. The oldest engine still in-situ is the No. 1 engine at Crofton Pump Station on the Avon canal, dating from 1812, still oiperable and still capable of pumping water.
 

PDJetta

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Thanks for all your replies. Those are some interesting facts about the oldest types of vehicles.

The Eureka and Palisade locomotive had a colorful history and was rescued from an MGM studio and restored to original. Originally it was manufactured by Baldwin as a wood-burning locomotive and in the 1920s converted to burn fuel oil. At some point MGM bought it for movies and then it was damaged when one of the studios burned. An retired attorney from Nevada bought the locomotive and restored it and now owns it. The cab is all new walnut, but to the original specifications, using original plans. I noticed the front small wheels had cast lettering indicating they were from 1907 and the steam-powered air compressor has a patent date of 1896, so those are not original, but probably period correct. The boiler and fire tubes are original. The paint and pinstriping and starburst patterns on the wheels are true repaints of the original coloring and patterns. It is a very beautiful and ornate locomotive. A lot different than the huge cast iron behemoths from the teens and twenties.

The boiler was set to blow off steam at 120 psi, 20 psi less than when new, for safety. New, on level ground, the locomotive was rated to travel 45 mph, maximum. We ran about 25 - 30 mph, at most and just crawled up some pretty steep grades. It was a nice 10 hour trip, with all the photo, wood, and water stops.

The Eureka and Palisade locomotive, without the tender, weighs in at 20 tons! I had no idea it was so heavy. It is really small. There is a lot of iron in it!

What was really neat is the owner stated his locomotive is for all to enjoy. He let people climb right up in the cab to take a real close look.

--Nate
 
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Ski in NC

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1918 135' excursion boat, used to have steam engine. Served as coastal defense gunboat in WW1 and WW2. In 1960's single steam engine removed and twin Detroit 12V-71's installed, but kept single rudder. Well, one engine went out and they still ran the boat. This burned out the electric power steering as rudder load was severely imbalanced. So I and another punk were hired to manhandle the 8' steering wheel. "Manual" power steering. One or the other basically had to hang on the pegs.
 

TDI smile

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The oldest car I drove as a kid in the yard was a 1936 OPEL OLYMPIA. Had no Titel, so we drove it in the yard and took our driver lesson without an instructor.
 

Lug_Nut

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"....fuel consuming machine..." limits me to the late 1800's.
Mt. Washington Cog Railway (shameless plug for the 2013 TDI Fest just a few miles east) steam engines in service back in the early 1960's, most of those have since been retired.
 

aja8888

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I had a 1941 Plymouth 4 door sedan that I drove to high school with. I bought it for $30 from an old gent in 1960 and we towed it home. It had sat for so long the valves were stuck. I did a valve job on it and drove it until I bought a 47 Plymouth. What big back seats those cars had.

Then I got my 1955 Chevy two door sedan and life got better. Somewhere in there was a 1952 Chevy. I can't remember being in older cars, unless my Dad had one when I was a young boy.
 

jetlagmech

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I have been on some old scenic railroads in Washington state Mt rainier but most memorable was the B-17 Sentimental Journey before an airshow in Yakima Washington after we gave up our hanger and helped replace a jug on eng #4 with the traveling crew. that was in 1985.
 

PDJetta

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"....fuel consuming machine..." limits me to the late 1800's.
Mt. Washington Cog Railway (shameless plug for the 2013 TDI Fest just a few miles east) steam engines in service back in the early 1960's, most of those have since been retired.
I rode the cog railway too. It was pretty neat. One heck of a climb to the top up Mount Washington.

One other "ride" I would like to take is in a DC-3. I read a detailed account of a flight in a one someone took. He mentioned opening the pop-up door, kind of like a sunroof on a car and watching the stars at night.

--Nate
 
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vwa1

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1929 McKormick-Deering 10-20 tractor. Lovingly restored by my Grandpa, and he's about the only one that can start the old devil. He is 81 years old and talking of selling it and his other antique tractors. A better story is the 1936 John Deere model D tractor he has, still on steel wheels. As far as we could figure out, he is the second owner. That tractor is a workhorse through and through, and starts up on about the third turn of the flywheel every time. It has seen almost 80 years of service with nothing more than routine maintenance. In other news, our '91 Case IH Magnum tractor is in the shop again... Sorry, off topic. lol
 

Mike in Anchorage

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I've been on a similar train in Germany, but don't know the year. It was fun. I also had my first flight in a Ford tri-motor, built, I think, in 1927. They were regularly flown from northern Ohio near Sandusky to Put-in-Bay, which is an island in Lake Erie. That was a fun experience. As for oldest car - probably a 1920's machine of some sort.
 

ymz

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I had a 1941 Plymouth 4 door sedan
Brings back memories of my teen years... one of my buddies picked up something of that vintage as his first car... since in N.Y. State one needed a safety inspection, we took it to the local garage, where the owner put the car in forward and rolled a few feet, stopped and put it into reverse, rolled a few feet, put it in park and went to get the "safety" sticker for the windshield... (I guess it's a good thing they didn't need a smog test back then...)


Yuri.
 

dogdots

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I have been on some old locomotives but my favorite "old" transportation included some of my toys: first car was a 1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe purchased from original owner and got me all thru high school. 3 on the tree push button start flat head 6. Still had original interior and battleship gray paint when I sold it. I had a string of muscle cars after that and now I am just into diesels and my Norton 850 and Guzzi 1000.
 

k1xv

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I have also ridden the Durango and Silverton RR with the 1875 locomotive. However, when I lived in New Jersey, I used to commute daily on the old Morris and Essex line. This was an electrified line that went into service in 1930, and every other car was a motive unit. The other cars were older ones left over from steam service. There was a lounge car that I occasionally rode in that dated from 1903.

This was all replaced with more modern equipment, around 1984, and the old railroad cars got scattered to historic excursion rail lines all over the area.
 

PDJetta

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I have been on some old locomotives but my favorite "old" transportation included some of my toys: first car was a 1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe purchased from original owner and got me all thru high school. 3 on the tree push button start flat head 6. Still had original interior and battleship gray paint when I sold it. I had a string of muscle cars after that and now I am just into diesels and my Norton 850 and Guzzi 1000.
The Special Deluxe is a neat car. There is a guy in our neighborhood that has a '49 Plymouth Special Deluxe, 100% original car, bought two years ago from someone in California for about $4500. Zero rust, original everything, no dents and in need of restoration and a lot of maintenance work. 25,000 original miles is claimed and it appears to be true from the general lack of wear and what looks to be all original parts. My neighbor and I helped the owner get it running after he got it. Awsome car. Still six-volt. I had a couple of six-volt VW Bugs in my youth, so that was an asset in figuring out why it would not crank. Cleaned all the grounds and tuned the engine. Fired right up.

--Nate
 
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40X40

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chemist93

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For me it would be a 1912 Baldwin narrow-gauge locomotive from the ET&WNC RR. Someone took a photo of it, mail car and caboose in 1924. Howard Fogg did one of his paintings from the photo for a Christmas scene. It's now at the Tweetsie RR theme park near Boone, NC.
 

Powder Hound

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Back in the early 90s, while I was living in St. Louis, I took my kids to Six Flags. The old wooden roller coaster was not the fastest, or quietest, or best in any other factor, but it scared the <bleep> out of me. So it was the best adrenaline rush of the day.
 

vwdieseling

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Narrow gauge rails were used in California for the silver mines. I visited a museum in Nevada City, California that essentially was based on the era of train engines in your post. The museum curator collected and restored model T Fords and also had an AutoLoco which was a steam powered car that was built in Ohio.The oldest vehicle was a Allis Chalmers tractor 45 B which was a diesel, but had to be hand cranked to start.
 

duwem

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Probably some old steam train but as far as cars go the 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup that I own.
 

pcjr

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Caught a ride in a horse and buggy this weekend... the buggy was made in 1780's however the horse was only 7 years old...
 
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