Romanian steam locomotive, Falkenber/Elster, Germany.

[Capn Twisted]

Just saw this posted on FB by a page I subscribe to called Wrecks and Co and thought of ya'll. I haven't been around for a while, and lurking for the past little while, but this beauty was enough to break my silence :P

[thietavu]

What type that might be?

[Capn Twisted]

The plate on the front says 50 764 further digging turned up a small documentary on the place where this train is kept, which is in fact a locomotive graveyard/museum of a private collector. I'm guessing it is a WWII era Class 50 (German 2-10-0 ) manufactured in German manufacturing plants in Romania (like many of the weapons such as the Kar98) during the war. If anyone has anything to add about this engine, that would be fantastic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=823WA3cgq1I

(edit) Nope according to Wikipedia (I know right LOL) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRB_Class_50 the Romanian State Railway CFR produced 282 copies of Class 50 locomotives between 1947 and 1959. Apparently the Romanian copies that the CFR used were post war reproductions... still kinda similar to the KAR though, which remained in production in Romania, and were even used by the Soviets (with some modifications) who had seized mountains of them, and the manufacturing facilities in Eastern Europe.

[obertran]

Great video Capn

[thietavu]

Yes, very nice video - and place! :)

[Capn Twisted]

Wrecks and Co posted another. I am not well versed enough in steam engine profiles to identify these, but according to the poster they are located in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Northwest Piscataquis, Maine, US:

[Lone Cat]

Connie and Pacific built in the US, It's not quite clear who built them.

1. Are these USRA design?
2. Are these built during first worldwar or second?
3. Were these engines bounded to Europe but never delivered before the war ended? (ones destined for Europe have chain & buffer couplers instead of the superior Janneys)

the Consolidations are well used till the end of steam, even though by the time Belpiare firebox had been proven as superior to roundtop ones, almost every Consolidations in the US were built without belpaires. when Mikadoes (and later Mountain and the Northerns) had been introduced, these newer engines never fully replaced the old connies regardless that these classes were obsolette when Mikadoes shown up. even worse.. the American-built standard gauge locomotives bound to Allied-controlled Europe were mostly the very outdated connies! so why the Federal government (or the so called USATC) favored the Consolidation designs for European theatre despite it was obsolette? Why aren't superior Mallets or Mikadoes, or the Northerns even considered and chosen for that theatre? (yet the Micks went to postwar Korea and China)

[Knave]

Lots of questions at the end Lone cat. The only one I can help you with is why so many 280's were sent to Europe during WW2. With a cab that has been reduced in height they were able to fit into the tunnels of the lines they were to run on. The Alaska Railroad received 12 of these engines during the war. Photos of the prewar and the wartime Connies show the cab height difference. You can see these photos here http://www.alaskarails.org/ These 12 were referred to as Gypsy Rose Lee models as they were stripped down. Although I can't find what was not there. I believe it was a weight issue. They were fairly popular in Europe except the crown brickwork was not fastened very well and the bricks would sometimes collapse.

To the left on Johns site click 'Rosters' then 'Steam'.

[RayofSunshine]

Well Lone Cat,
It was probably that there was an greater supply of the Consolidations at the time. Due to the newer engines being manufactured at the time, it might have been a way to "get rid of older equipment". The Mallet and Mikadoes were also faster, and capabilities more superior to that of the Consolidations as well. Just a guess.

[AdmiralHalsey]

Those are some sad images. Breaks my heart seeing steamers slowly rusting away like that.