DonVA
Loc: British Columbia and New Mexico
Locomotive builders were proud of their product and that pride often expressed itself in an official builders portrait. The format was almost always exactly the same: a square on side view. Done professionally with the large format cameras of the day these photos often had incredible detail and clarity. They were sometimes taken against a white canvas background erected for the purpose, or against the sidewall of a machine shop, or sometimes just out in the yard, a brand new and shining machine at home in the industrial setting that produced it.
So this is a classic builders portrait even though it was taken 95 years too late.
The engine is Arizona Eastern Heisler #3, currently owned by the Oregon scenic railroad. The Heisler is a geared locomotive in which the pistons, instead of being mounted horizontally on either side and acting on the wheels directly by way of rods, are mounted in a vee configuration, acting on a crankshaft that runs beneath the center of the locomotive. Driveshafts and gears then power the near axles of the front and rear trucks which in turn power their partners with rods on the wheels.
Heislers, as well as the other two common geared locomotive types the Shay and the Climax, weren't very fast but had enormous pulling power. They were used in mining and logging and wherever else the loads were heavy and the grades were steep.
Alamosa, Colorado. June 3, 2012. Canon 7d with EF 24-105, pp with Affinity Photo.
DonVA wrote:
Locomotive builders were proud of their product and that pride often expressed itself in an official builders portrait. The format was almost always exactly the same: a square on side view. Done professionally with the large format cameras of the day these photos often had incredible detail and clarity. They were sometimes taken against a white canvas background erected for the purpose, or against the sidewall of a machine shop, or sometimes just out in the yard, a brand new and shining machine at home in the industrial setting that produced it.
So this is a classic builders portrait even though it was taken 95 years too late.
The engine is Arizona Eastern Heisler #3, currently owned by the Oregon scenic railroad. The Heisler is a geared locomotive in which the pistons, instead of being mounted horizontally on either side and acting on the wheels directly by way of rods, are mounted in a vee configuration, acting on a crankshaft that runs beneath the center of the locomotive. Driveshafts and gears then power the near axles of the front and rear trucks which in turn power their partners with rods on the wheels.
Heislers, as well as the other two common geared locomotive types the Shay and the Climax, weren't very fast but had enormous pulling power. They were used in mining and logging and wherever else the loads were heavy and the grades were steep.
Alamosa, Colorado. June 3, 2012. Canon 7d with EF 24-105, pp with Affinity Photo.
Locomotive builders were proud of their product an... (
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I enjoyed the history as well as your photo. Thanks for posting.
Excellent photo and intro...thanks for sharing!!
Jay Pat
Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA
Heisler locomotives are unique for me.
Well captured.
Pat
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