Hey thanks for the train photos that is really neat

It's kind of like my way of sharing my Day's Adventures here on FA.

I had guessed that... thanks for bringing us along

Neat little industrial locomotive.

I have a liking for industrial steam locomotives, especially the Narrow Gauge types used in the Lumber and Mining industries. They looked so business like, and strictly "No nonsense" functional. There were also some small steam engines that looked pretty "Bulletproof" used in steel mills, and the "Fireless" types used in potentially explosive environments.

how technology has changed...

V.

I'll say! It usually takes about two or three hours to get a small steam engine like this up and running properly.

There were even some industrial locos that ran on compressed air!

Anh-ha. Those types of engines were used in situations where a "Live" fire could have presented an ignition hazard, such as in a Match or Explosives factory. I look at them as a giant Tomy "Jammer" on Steroids, and also one that people can drive and ride on.

Which makes them lots more fun! I talked to a fellow at a gun show who had retired from one of the gunpowder plants. They had a small but similar device that ran on tiny tracks and essentially filled the forklift/powered cart function. He would ensure that the tank was full at the start of shift (pushing it back to the compressor for a refill was not only hard work, it made one look like a dunce) and keep an eye on the pressure.

At the beginning of the first Gulf War they had a run on powder that had folks working three shifts and weekends -- with lots of rest -- handling that stuff when you're half asleep is not good for your health. The third shift tram operator got together with the maintenance guys to modify the tram with a seat and a tiller instead of the walk-behind system it had originally. He said the shift Foreman yelled at them for wasting time (if nothing's broken, there's nothing to fix) but the big boss came down later and gave everyone involved a bonus.

Pretty cool they were still using it that recently.

I missed seeing this little locomotive in action before it became a "Lawn Ornament" but I do remember the little Diesel locomotives that were used in the Quarries though. Sometimes they'd be sitting on a siding next to Huntington Drive, just outside of Duarte.

Yeah, still a little before my time, I wasn't born till '59, but it's cool to see steamers pressed into industrial service that late. Makes me wonder what the very latest ones were/ are. (As opposed to hobby/ tourist type stuff.)

I did see U.P. 844 when it came through the East Bay a few years back. It's certainly a pinnacle of steam, being one of the last produced with the most advanced engineering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvsG-XV5Hek
What a truly fucking awesome beast. The size, the power, the precision of the engineering... The pure beauty of form following function... The driving wheels are taller than I am. Sure, we have more efficient ways of moving stuff now, but it's hard not to think we've lost something, considering that there isn't even the tooling to produce something like this anymore.

I've never had a comparable experience of being so in awe and emotionally moved to stand before a machine before. It literally brought tears to my eyes.

What a great story! I have never seen the UP 844 myself, but way back in the early 1990s the UP 3985 "Challenger" stopped in nearby Ontario, CA and I just had to see that engine. I was really impressed that the main drivers were just as tall as I was, (At the time I topped out at about 5' 4".) and I just had to stick my snoot into the articulation point between the two sets of drivers. I was chased out of there by a jet of steam by a watchful fireman who didn't like me getting so "Close and personal" to HIS "Lady."

I darn near spent my whole paycheck that day, raiding their gift shop. So I can relate to how awesome you felt on the day you got to see the UP 844.

I've always been a locomotive fan, but rather electric/diesel.
But these last years, I developped an increased interest for steam locs without tenders, and the solutions implemented to carry fuel and water without those. It leads to extremely interesting designs, saddle tanks being one of the most exotic and creative - and ingenuous, since in this configuration water is pre-heated and thus needs less energy (fuel consumption) to boil! At the expense of a quite high gravity center which can cause problems... But these were never meant to go fast, anyway.
Thank you for these photographs of high interest, would have loved to see those by myself too!! ^^

If you like these little teapots, you may like their chinese cousins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WznzgvP9cts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ES4R77JlZ8&t=12s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n7spLEwv3I&t=93s

I fell in love with them. Enough to do a tribute: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/30693069/

762mm, 0-8-0

ZC

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I just had to show my friend Noah who's working at Travel Town in Griffith Park on the restoration on a couple of the steam locomotives all as a volunteer. What impressed him so about the videos we watched was at how "UN-safety conscious" the Chinese crews were, and at how beat up, but still hard working the machinery was. He mentioned that at the museum they even have two wooden. antique side dump cars similar in design to those used in the clay fields. As for myself, I like to think this footage would prove educational and inspirational to the "Industrial-short line" model railroad enthusiast as it offers so much imagery showing weathering, wear, tear and a look into another part of the world yhat still uses steam locomotives well into the early 21sr Century. At least to me it'd be a more interesting scale modeling project as opposed to a row of mine cars. -Well... They are technically used in a mine anyway.

So thanks for sharing the links with me. Even in G scale one of these diminutive little locomotives would prove to be a model building challenge, and also be a lot of fun to research.