On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 19:30:28 -0500, okt wrote
>
> I don't know about you guys but to me they looked like they struggled
> with esthetics until the 0-4s arrived.
> Thoughts?
Hmmmmmm - First you mention "aesthetics", and then you
invite "Thoughts" . . . . How could I resist!?!!!
Agreed - the O-5s were quite handsome locomotives - and so were the S-
4s . . . and the M-4s had a steroid-like majesty . . . . in the view of post-
steam observers . . .
The whole concept of steam locomotive aesthetics (Danger, Will Robinson -
opinionated viewpoint follows!) - Once we passed the point where railfans'
tastes were primarily established by standing trackside, we became subject to
a form of media editing . . . What is published; available on video; in the
hobby shop . . . In spite of its popularity, few would deny that the PRR was
very idiosyncratic - but certain standards set by the USRA back in the late
teens/early twenties have become enshrined by the fact that manufacturers
*LOVE* a prototype that can be lettered for the Top Fifteen Roads & still
come close . . . so the Q steam which a dwindling few of us admired at
trackside is often retroactively judged by standards which didn't used to
apply.
In retroactive judgement, most pre-superpower steam on the Q has the
following "uglies" . . .
"It looks like it had its face shoved in" . . . Most CB&Q steam is
characterized by a flat smokebox front with a lightly domed door. Compared
to the USRA cast front, with its bulging door base, it looks "blah". When
*most* of what I saw had a flat smokebox front which could be economically
replaced by a circle torched out of plate stock instead of ordering a
replacement casting . . . the O-4s, O-5s, S-4s and M-4s reminded me of an
elderly neighbor who had a growth on his throat . . . To modern fans, the
high-mounted headlight on its droopy bracket looks antiquated . . . back
then, a centered headlight on a Rock Island C-43 looked like a half-blind
comedian seeking his way with a flashlight . . . Compared to a slab-sided
USRA tender, the old Q "rolltop" looked dowdy - like your maiden aunt in a
long skirt 30 years oiut of fashion - in 1950, it looked sleek . . . kinda
like one of those pudgy Mercurys in the dealer's showroom . . .
Older Q steam, in my eyes, look businesslike. Not movie stars, but capable
farmboys . . . I liked the R-5As that went through Mt. Pleasant with the way
freight - just enough boiler taper to resemble brawny shoulders - short cab
pitched way back like a seed corn hat tipped back on the head . . . modest
emblem on the tender - more like a cattle brand than a billboard for Alka
Seltzer . . .
Admittedly, the Q kept the litte derby sandf domes longer than looked good -
on the O-1, it looked like a pimple . . . but the O1-As, with the wider
version, recovered a workaday proportion. In all honesty, my *favorite Q
steam is the P-6 4-4-2, after being rebuilt with 69" drivers for mixed train
service. Long, lean (and a little gawky) - more interested in doing the job
that "lookin' good" - the well-off farmer who drives a Dodge Ram rather than
a BMW . . . a symbol of "make do or do without" . . .
To me, pre- X-X-4 Burlington steam is a perfect fit to the Granger Road's
character, and I embrace it as part of the flavor.
Yes, the O-5s, S-4s and M-4As were very efficient and beautifully designed
locomotives, but they represent a mature, transcontinental CB&Q (and,
appropriately, were rarely if ever seen around the Burlington's cultural
roots - confined to the transcon main or exiled to the non-agricultural coal
fields. It was like casting Cary Grant for "Grapes of Wrath" instead of
Henry Fonda.
Burlington steam fit the Burlington . . . (end of rant)
Marshall Thayer
Mt. Pleasant, IA
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