Working on a project for CRHS Volunteers: Railroad equipment guide

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The CRHS has, believe it or not, interns!

They're history and library science students from Shippensburg University, who we have established a great relationship in building our museum (opening this spring).

One of the problems our interns face is that they're not "train people" and they're asked to deal with "train people" subject matter. They likely don't know a GP9 from a K4s, let alone a GP38 from a GP38-2. However, when working with our materials, knowing the difference between a GP38 and a GP38-2 is quite important.

So I started working on a guide to why train people care about this stuff, and more importantly, how to familiarize yourself with the differences between equipment types so you can pick them out in photos.

It's very much a work in progress, but I feel like you guys here might have some interesting input, or might find it useful yourself.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UFLGSRCpvLzI3pFnnj3TfFdzk9hcMkacy-1oSGEsnm0/edit?usp=sharing

At some point I plan on releasing it publicly in some form or another, but for now, it lives in that Google doc.

Let me know what you think.

Oh, and interestingly... most of the section about why different audiences care about the stuff was written by the Chat GPT robot. It's pretty wild.

[John]

Oh, and interestingly... most of the section about why different audiences care about the stuff was written by the Chat GPT robot. It's pretty wild.

I see "Generally, we have three audiences: railfans and photographers, model railroaders, photographers and railroad historians."

I prefer : Generally, our primary audience is: railfans, photographers, model railroaders and railroad historians

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I see "Generally, we have three audiences: railfans and photographers, model railroaders, photographers and railroad historians."

I prefer : Generally, our primary audience is: railfans, photographers, model railroaders and railroad historians

Me too. I changed it.

Amusingly, that part was written by my own dumb self.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I also just created this using Glide.

https://conrail-equipment-lookup.glide.page/

Not pretty, but it does the job!

[lock4244]

That's going to be quite the document when completed Ed. Many train people wouldn't know half of that stuff, lol.

I did notice that in the switcher spotting guide for example, the first picture of the NW-2 has CR 2072 more prominent in the first pic in the gallery than the NW-2. As well, there's a lot of great action shots of the different models that show mixed lash ups, equipment other than the intended units. If the intent is to give the uninitiated a crash course in equipment types, it may be better to limit the pictures to roster shots.

When I talk to normies about trains, I often find myself checking my language so that they may have a hope to understand what I'm babbling on about. We use a lot of nomenclature that to us makes sense, but outside of our world we're confusing at best. I think the same holds true with the photographic examples, focus provides context.

My $0.02

[learmoia]

Suggested Edit..

RDG
Reading Company (... yes, its the one from Monopoly.  Known as 'The Reading', pronounced "Reding" not reading)


 .. but    a valid connection to non RR people.

Maybe include a photo of an S1/S3 Truck vs the S2/S4 truck since you have a photo of an S1/3 on the previous page.

S2/S4 (and 1/3) have 1 stack not 2... I think?..

I also recently saw a video of what all the SW#s meant along with differences between:
SW: Switcher - Welded Frame
SC: Switcher - Cast Frame
NW: I forget - Welded Frame
NC: .... - Cast Frame
TR: Transfer

Maybe that's too much detail..

Then you need to put all this into one of those Iceberg Youtube videos so they can digest it.

~Ian

[learmoia]

When I talk to normies about trains, I often find myself checking my language so that they may have a hope to understand what I'm babbling on about.

I just talk about angle cocks and hump yards 

~Ian

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Suggested Edit..

RDG
Reading Company (... yes, its the one from Monopoly.  Known as 'The Reading', pronounced "Reding" not reading)


 .. but    a valid connection to non RR people.

Maybe include a photo of an S1/S3 Truck vs the S2/S4 truck since you have a photo of an S1/3 on the previous page.

S2/S4 (and 1/3) have 1 stack not 2... I think?..

I also recently saw a video of what all the SW#s meant along with differences between:
SW: Switcher - Welded Frame
SC: Switcher - Cast Frame
NW: I forget - Welded Frame
NC: .... - Cast Frame
TR: Transfer

Maybe that's too much detail..

Then you need to put all this into one of those Iceberg Youtube videos so they can digest it.

~Ian

Reading update made.

As for the other stuff, ain't that crazy about the switchers? Especially how "Switcher, Welded", who's "SW" seems like the best abbreviation for them became the winner. I don't think I want to include that stuff in there, and I had thought about the Alco Blunt trucks too but after a review, those didn't seem to make it into the Conrail (or Conrail adjacent) era. I might do it anyway. We'll see.

There's still a LOT to write though.

[learmoia]

Reading update made.

As for the other stuff, ain't that crazy about the switchers? Especially how "Switcher, Welded", who's "SW" seems like the best abbreviation for them became the winner. I don't think I want to include that stuff in there, and I had thought about the Alco Blunt trucks too but after a review, those didn't seem to make it into the Conrail (or Conrail adjacent) era. I might do it anyway. We'll see.

There's still a LOT to write though.

I was partially mistaken..
The difference between the S1/3 and S2/4 was in the stack and radiator.
The S1 and S2 Shared Blundt trucks, the S3 and S4 shared AAR Trucks.

Conrail DID have a few S2s with the Blundt trucks.. but for an intern learning what a train is, we're getting into the weeds..
http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/alco/s2/s2.html

BTW... Did you say what a TRAIN was?
...  A Train is a locomotive with or without cars who has authority to occupy a main track and displays a marker (EOT/FLAG/Flashing light).... or something along those lines..

At least in GCOR.. but your likely using NORAC and the definition could be slightly different.

I agree.. BIG project... ~Ian

[learmoia]

Ed,

Another thought for when you get into the details of a locomotive or car.

A photo of the model with circles around the identifying features could be alot easier to digest than reading a description.

Are you open to Railwire input on portions you haven't started yet?

~Ian

[thomasjmdavis]

IIRC, the original meaning of S and N in SC, NW, etc. was "six" (hundred horsepower) and "nine" (hundred horsepower).  F was "fourteen" (1350 rounded up, rating of the FT and F2) and E was "eighteen" (rating of the EA, E1-E6).  Once they switchers went beyond those HP ratings, the "N" now longer made sense, EMD was no longer using cast frames, and the whole class of locos were known generically as "switchers", so SW was adopted for all locos that were classed as switchers, and TR "transfer" continued in use for cow-calf versions.  The only single unit transfer loco EMD built (1800 hp B-B-B-B for the IC in 1936) was simply "Model T"- which no doubt made someone at Ford unhappy.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed,

Another thought for when you get into the details of a locomotive or car.

A photo of the model with circles around the identifying features could be alot easier to digest than reading a description.

Are you open to Railwire input on portions you haven't started yet?

~Ian

Absolutely! Want me to share the document with you so you can edit?
That's the beauty of Google Docs.

[learmoia]

Absolutely! Want me to share the document with you so you can edit?
That's the beauty of Google Docs.

Or we can post segments here for you to add.. (It's a pretty big project to open up for public modification).

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Or we can post segments here for you to add.. (It's a pretty big project to open up for public modification).

Well, not the whole world, but you should now have edit access.

[cv_acr]

As for the other stuff, ain't that crazy about the switchers? Especially how "Switcher, Welded", who's "SW" seems like the best abbreviation for them became the winner.

IIRC, the original meaning of S and N in SC, NW, etc. was "six" (hundred horsepower) and "nine" (hundred horsepower).  F was "fourteen" (1350 rounded up, rating of the FT and F2) and E was "eighteen" (rating of the EA, E1-E6).  Once they switchers went beyond those HP ratings, the "N" now longer made sense, EMD was no longer using cast frames, and the whole class of locos were known generically as "switchers", so SW was adopted for all locos that were classed as switchers, and TR "transfer" continued in use for cow-calf versions.  The only single unit transfer loco EMD built (1800 hp B-B-B-B for the IC in 1936) was simply "Model T"- which no doubt made someone at Ford unhappy.

Yes.

The "S" stood for "Six" (Hundred Horsepower), not "Switcher"

Some of the early EMC models were

SC (Six hundred HP, Cast frame)
SW (Six hundred HP, Welded frame)
NC (Nine hundred HP, Cast frame)
NW (Nine hundred HP, Welded frame)
EA (Eighteen Hundred HP)
FT (Fourteen Hundred HP, twin)

The SW, E, and F series then evolved from these initial designs under EMD, but with eventually the letters no longer having any specific meaning/correlation to HP, and just generically describing the design (yard switcher, 2-engine carbody, 1-engine carbody). The SW1, E1, E2, F2, for example, all were second or third versions of those model designs with the same HP. By the time you hit the E3 and F3, the HP ratings were starting to increase, but kept the same letter designator as the previous model.