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Re: (erielack) Train and Crane

Lynne,

Schuyler beat me to it and he is correct, it is a pile driver and it 
looks like they might be preparing to replace a short overpass (if the 
tracks to the right and below pass under the mainline tracks), or from 
all the pipe sections laying around a culvert installation possibly?

The engine in the photograph was constructed by Cooke Locomotive Works 
of Patterson, NJ in 1876 for the Lackawanna's Morris & Essex division. 
Prior to about 1899 each division was rather autonomous in specifying 
locomotives required for divisional needs unlike later when it was 
unified under a central Motive Power department and single 
Superintendent of Motive Power.

The railroad's divisions were very territorial back then and reflected 
local practices and preferences. Consequently there was a great deal of 
variation and specialization of locomotive design which although allowed 
the divisional motive power chiefs to express his creativity and 
prowess...or not, resulted in a hodge-podge of locomotives with little 
commonality between divisions.

Number 88 also carried the name "Vulcan" when built. It is a classic 
example of the ubiquitous "American" type locomotive which had a wheel 
arrangement of 4-4-0. Translation; four pilot truck wheels, four driving 
wheels and no trailing truck wheels. The engine was renumbered 437 in 
the Lackawanna's general locomotive renumbering of 1899 so that dates 
the photo to prior to that year. Seeing how it still has its link and 
pin couplers, I would venture it dates from sometime in the mid 1880's 
to early 1890's. That's just a guess.

The engine was finally retired and scrapped in 1911. Thirty five years 
of service, not too shabby.

Regards,

Will Shultz


Schuyler Larrabee wrote:
> Lynne, that's a pile driver, not a crane.  You can see the pile, the 'telephone pole' looking thing
> in the vertical part of the driver.  The top of it is a little bit above the coach.  The weight, or
> hammer,  which has been pulled up close to the top of the pile driver's vertical legs, is about 3/4
> of the way up to the top.  In action, the hammer is pulled all the way up (usually) and then allowed
> to free-fall so it hits the top of the pile.  Over and over and over and over and over again.  Yep,
> noisy!  The hammer then drives the pile down into the ground.  Eventually, it hits either rock, or
> refusal based on the friction generated between the sides of the pile and the dirt it's driven in.
> Technically, the engineers would look for a "blow count" of so many blows per foot, or inch, to
> establish the bearing capacity of the individual pile.  In those days, as far as I know, all piles
> were wood trees, like you see in this picture.  Today, there are many different kinds of piles,
> concrete, steel, tapered of both varieties, stepped, and more.  Piles driven in groups form the
> basis for foundations of many very large structures, which sit on (generally) concrete bearing caps
> atop the piles.  Sometimes in the old days, the bearing caps were built of stone.
> 
> It's not perfectly clear to me, anyway, why they are driving piles right THERE.  Fellow Jerseyites
> may know the location well enough to say that there is, as it sort of looks like, a bridge there or
> something.  Given that the structure is being placed in a fill, the embankment the tracks are on,
> they must be planning something fairly heavy.  Fills are not generally as strong as natural "dirt"
> to build something on.
> 
> SGL
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: erielack-owner_@_lists.elhts.org 
>> [mailto:erielack-owner_@_lists.elhts.org] On Behalf Of Lynne
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 8:58 PM
>> To: Erie Lackawanna List
>> Subject: (erielack) Train and Crane
>>
>> NOTE: This message had contained at least one image attachment.
>> To view or download the image(s), click on or cut and paste 
>> the following URL into your web browser:
>>
>>
>> http://lists.railfan.net/listthumb.cgi?erielack-02-15-06
>>
>> TrainAndCrane.jpg (image/jpeg, 4000x2460 877662 bytes, BF: 11.21 ppb)
>>
>> I found this photo in our archives today, but I need to ask 
>> for help deciphering it, please. The photo was extremely 
>> faded, so I scanned it at a high resolution and manipulated 
>> it in the photo editor, to try to get as much detail as 
>> possible. I apologize if the file is too big, but I wanted 
>> everyone to be able to see as much of the mid- and background 
>> as possible. I am happy to resize it if necessary.
>>
>> The back of the photo has only "Crane" written in it and a 
>> faded ink stamp that says "The First National Bank of Millburn, N.J."
>>
>> Any ideas about what is happening in this photo? Can you tell 
>> what the approximate date is from the train? I would also 
>> like to submit it to the local paper for our weekly historic 
>> photo, but I don't know what to say about it. Can you help?
>>
>> Thank you again.
>> Lynne
>>
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> 
> 
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