Trains and steam in twilight

[WallShadow]

Scranton has "Steamtown, USA", a collection of restored steam locomotives. Scranton also has an artillery shell production factory (right downtown, IIRC). Also nearby is the Tobyhanna Army Depot, and lots and lots of coal mines (hearly all defunct, however).

Strasburg, PA, near Lancaster, has 8 _operational_ steam locomotives currently and about a dozen more stored (meaning non-operational)

The East Broadtop Railway is operating 2 steam locomotives out of Orbisonia (central PA west of the Blue Ridge.

Heck, I just discovered that Dillsburg (15 miles south of Harrisburg on the way to Gettysburg) has been host to the Williams Grove Steam RailRoad (one operational steam and 2 diesels) for over 50 years! They've also been hosting a steam meet a couple of times a year--steam tractors and other goodies like "donkey engines" to provide portable power to sawmills and other industries. These steam enthusiasts will become rare treasures come the apocalypse.

Another meeting place for steam enthusiasts has been the Lawrence County Steam Fair in Portersville, PA.

[Trooper]

Russian railway troops in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsp6vEDrHZU

[WallShadow]

http://www.tvrail.com/pages/our-collection-of-equipment
Tennessee Valley Railway has operated several engines, 3 of them steam-fired, for many years, including the period covered by the Twilight War.

[Silent Hunter UK]

Of course the UK is filled with a large number of preserved steam locomotives and also an increasing number of preserved diesels, a number of these engaging in RL mainline railtours.

Although you'd have a problem with lines cut as a result of the nukes in any T2K game.

[kato13]

Swaghauler's mentioning of improvised "rail service" make me look for pics.

Here are some i found.






I expect a lot of these rail runners would pop up in areas where the military did not destroy the rail lines.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

The bonus with these lightweights is that they are a lot more forgiving and don't need to have the heavy duty steel rails in use today. They can reliably function on rails made from timber such as those used for mining carts in the 16th & 17th century and even for rail into the 19th century as witnessed in the photo below from New Zealand.

Source of image: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/schol...6Rail029a.html

For more info, there's a decent report of early rail lines at the following wiki link.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_way_(history)

[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by kato13

Swaghauler's mentioning of improvised "rail service" make me look for pics.

Here are some i found.






I expect a lot of these rail runners would pop up in areas where the military did not destroy the rail lines.

They are a bit fancier than the one in Africa, but the concept is spot on. It's amazing how resourceful the "third world" can be. NOTHING is wasted. Not even rusty metal, plastic or old cloth.

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

Scranton has "Steamtown, USA", a collection of restored steam locomotives. Scranton also has an artillery shell production factory (right downtown, IIRC). Also nearby is the Tobyhanna Army Depot, and lots and lots of coal mines (hearly all defunct, however).

I was at Steamtown this past summer, and spent a few days wandering the site. The artillery shell production facility (the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant) is literally across the street from the current museum (it's in the old locomotive erecting shop from when part of Steamtown was the Dickson Manufacturing Company building locos for the DL&W). There are tunnels linking the two, though walls have been built in the tunnels to prevent people from entering the shell factory. Supposedly it has machinery to make the bodies of 105mm and 155mm artillery shells and 120mm mortar shells. AFAIK, it's not set up to fill them or to make fuses.

Unfortunately, most of what seems to be operable at Steamtown are switchers. That does make sense, since they're useful for moving other locos and cars around as working engines, but it means the collection's less useful for freight or troop haulage, since the long-haul trains are mostly cosmetic restorations or awaiting restoration. On the flip side, it does have a working roundhouse that can do the restoration work, which would be an incredibly valuable resource.

For TNE, I was working on a locomotive design sequence at COTI. It's not nearly complete, but it might make for a useful set of notes for anyone working on their own locomotives for T2K.

[Raellus]

Armored Trains are no longer a thing of the past.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ion-of-ukraine

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[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Armored Trains are no longer a thing of the past.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ion-of-ukraine

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Russia actually has 30K railway troops just for the War in Ukraine. I wonder what the old Pact had?

[ChalkLine]

Originally Posted by swaghauler

Russia actually has 30K railway troops just for the War in Ukraine. I wonder what the old Pact had?

There were 50 Railway Brigades in 4 Railway Corps. I can get you their locations if you like. There was also 25 Road Brigades.

[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by ChalkLine

There were 50 Railway Brigades in 4 Railway Corps. I can get you their locations if you like. There was also 25 Road Brigades.

This alone would make a significant logistical difference from modern Russian operations. Combined with other PACT countries' logistical support, one could see a significant difference from the current Russo-Ukraine conflict.