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Pennsylvania Railroad Museum
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Mary isn’t feeling very well today, so after doing our
laundry I headed off the
Pennsylvania
Railroad Museum. They claim to be among the top three of all railroad
museums in the U.S. They have a collection of over 110 engines and cars. I was
disappointed that you couldn’t walk through any of the passenger cars, but you
could see inside them. They had a lot of engines: steam, diesel, and diesel
electric and did a good job of explaining their unique characteristics. For one
of the steam engines you could look from below the tracks to see some of the
operational parts.
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V-style pistons for lumbering operations
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I also had a good explanation from one of the docents on how
to control the engines. It was simple, one control did forward and back, and
the other controlled the speed. Then there were separate brake controls: one
for the engine itself and the other for the air brakes on all the cars. I
hadn’t realized that air brakes were used in the late 19th century,
and that the side tanks on steam engines were for pressurizing air. Another
surprise – refrigeration cars were also introduced in the late 1800’s and used
ice for cooling and kerosene furnaces to heat to keep a constant temperature in
the car. The place was filled with model train enthusiasts who were working on
various displays. The most elaborate had an interesting city scene, followed by
a switching yard, country field and mountain scene. If you’re into trains, this
is the place for you.
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Brake control on left, engine on right
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