Finnish innovation in the 1950s

[Jan-Eric Nystrom]

Some 50 years back, there were some innovative designs made in Finland during the last years of the steam era.

Here are a couple of photos, showing the huge 2-8-8-2 loco that was designed to handle the growing freight traffic (sorry for the low quality, these are scans from newspaper clippings):

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~animato/temp/jjfront.jpg

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~animato/temp/jj.jpg

It was built in the very early 1950s, (they started planning it in -41, but the war intervened), and it got its name, "Jättijuntti" (which, translated to English, is something like "the Giant Hick") because of the problems due to its length it could not enter many of the yards (not in Helsinki, at least), so it was seen mostly on the tracks outside the big cities.

There was no turntable large enough to swing it, so they had to run it all the way from Helsinki to the wye at Tampere to turn it around. Fortunately, since it did have a rear truck, it could be run equally well in either direction, so they didn't turn it very often. The maximum speed was 110 km/h, even though they did get it up to 187 km/h during trials in 1954. But, it was very uneconomical to run, and since we had great problems importing coal just after the war, it was mothballed in 1959, and scrapped just four years later. Nothing exists of it anymore, unfortunately.

The engine was also a dismal performer, so this was the first and only engine to be built in the "04" class. All plans of further articulated locos were scrapped after this huge failure - and then, of course, the diesel age began...

Passenger traffic also increased after the war, and these double-deckers were built in great numbers to handle the crowds:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~animato/temp/ddeckers.jpg

The idea was not bad, doubling the passenger capacity of our railways, but the designer had forgotten just one little thing in his design - the loading gauge! Just like what had happened with the 2-8-8-2, these cars could not be used on many sections of our railroad - this time not because of small curve radiuses, but due to tunnels or low bridges. When welded steel cars became common in the 1960s, these wooden cars were cut up and scrapped.

Greetings,
J-E

[This message has been edited by Jan-Eric Nystrom (edited 04-01-2006).]

[Bill Shields]

J-E:

That is a unique design with a very unique truck arrangement on the 12 wheel tender.

I would have thought that the firebox would have been bigger on such a large engine..the picture makes it look a bit small to the proportions of the rest of the loco.

Nice, neat, typically European design...clean and functional. Many American locos started out that way...emphasis on started out...

[watt-steam]

Hmmm - the calendar says april 1 ---

someone been playing with photoshop again?

reminds me of the photo circulating a few years ago about the 4-8-8-8-4 development of the 4-8-8-4 big boy, which turned out to be a photoshop trick from a big boy photo.

[Jan-Eric Nystrom]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">someone been playing with photoshop again?</font>

Guilty as charged... ;D

April fool greetings,
J-E

[Alan Stepney]

OK J-E, now lets see you build a model of it.!!!!
lol

[Unka Jesse]

Well J-E you did an excellent job on stretching the boiler on "The Hick", so well that you took in this hick from Tennessee. http://bbs.livesteam.net//smile.gif

And to think, just a few minutes ago, I was lifting a photo of Dolly Parton from advertising literature and preparing to paste her onto an interior view of a friend's music store.

Unka Jesse

[Jan-Eric Nystrom]

Photo editing is fun, and is on topic, too! http://bbs.livesteam.net//biggrin.gif

http://www.saunalahti.fi/animato/3003/JE3003.jpg

Greetings,
J-E

[Unka Jesse]

Very nice J-E. Your photo looks strange to us Americans (well most of us anyway) because of the station platform being as high as the doors on coaches etc. Over here you have to climb up to get into a locomotive instead of being able to practically step into the cab from the platform.

One other thing, did the early Finnish locomotives not have a front coupler or does something fit into that little hole in the centre of the pilot beam?

Unka, just curious, Jesse

[Jan-Eric Nystrom]

Simple answer: I never got to making the front coupler - maybe some day, when I finally get a round tuit...

Yes, the prototypes had one. They also had hinges on the smokebox door. Now you know why I could build this loco so quickly. http://bbs.livesteam.net//biggrin.gif

Greetings,
J-E

[srrl5]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jan-Eric Nystrom:
Simple answer: I never got to making the front coupler - maybe some day, when I finally get a round tuit...

</font>

Are local hardware store has been out of round tuit's for quite awhile. http://bbs.livesteam.net//smile.gif

David

[willy]

Is it just me??? The sign by the clock reads

Enema Townsale

?

[Unka Jesse]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jan-Eric Nystrom:
Simple answer: I never got to making the front coupler - maybe some day, when I finally get a round tuit...

Yes, the prototypes had one. They also had hinges on the smokebox door. Now you know why I could build this loco so quickly. http://bbs.livesteam.net//biggrin.gif

Greetings,
J-E</font>

[Unka Jesse]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jan-Eric Nystrom:
Simple answer: I never got to making the front coupler - maybe some day, when I finally get a round tuit...

Yes, the prototypes had one. They also had hinges on the smokebox door. Now you know why I could build this loco so quickly. http://bbs.livesteam.net//biggrin.gif

Greetings,
J-E</font>
It sure is a beautiful piece of workmanship even if you never get that round tuit! http://bbs.livesteam.net//smile.gifDid you make up a decal for the side of the headlight? I really want to put something on my RRSC American light and was thinking about printing up a decal of a mountain scene in an oval since the original CP 173 locomotive was a Western engine.

Unka Jesse

[Jan-Eric Nystrom]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Enema Townsale</font>

Not quite... http://bbs.livesteam.net//biggrin.gif

It says "Ekenäs Tammisaari", which is the name of the town in Swedish and Finnish. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammisaari


Jesse:

No, it's not a decal. It's just a painted, freehand ad-lib design, done at the spur of the moment. You can see it a bit better in this photo:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/animato/3003/IMG_4495.JPG

The CP173 that Walt Disney owned had really nice paintings on the headlight (made by Ward Kimball, IIRC) - here's a photo I shot in Disneyland some 13 years ago:


http://www.sci.fi/~animato/rail/lilly1.jpg

Greetings,
J-E

[This message has been edited by Jan-Eric Nystrom (edited 04-03-2006).]

[srrl5]

J-E,

What is that square boiler in the picture of the headlight painting?

David

[Jan-Eric Nystrom]

News: Flash!

... which never worked. See here:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/animato/3003/3003ad.html

That should explain it...

Greetings,
J-E

[willy]

That is quite interesting JE. Thankyou, nice to see there are different ideas of boilers out there.

So would this be considered "thinking inside the box"?

http://bbs.livesteam.net//biggrin.gif

[Jan-Eric Nystrom]

Well, ideas are only good if they work - I totally lost sight of the box here... http://bbs.livesteam.net//biggrin.gif

It simply did not work. I had too little info about flash boilers in general, and no idea about the amount of heat (20 kilowatts) needed for a loco of this size, back then, when I built the boiler dud.

The 3003 now runs well on three propane burners, consuming a total of 1.3 kg (3 lbs) of propane per hour!

Greetings,
J-E

[Alan Stepney]

To return to the first picture(s), I have seen several April fool's articles / pictures this year, but none as good as that one.

Congratulations J E.!

[Unka Jesse]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jan-Eric Nystrom:[/URL]Jesse:

No, it's not a decal. It's just a painted, freehand ad-lib design, done at the spur of the moment. You can see it a bit better in this photo:

J-E I had forgotten that your business requires artistic talent to succeed and the results are obvious that you know what you want and how to do it.

I think I shall try to print out some decals or something since my talents are not up to the task of freehanding on the headlight. I like the Disney headlight, but I am still thinking of a nice Western mountain/lake/tree image.

Unka Jesse

[Jan-Eric Nystrom]

Well, there's a Yosemite scene on the other side of the Lilly Belle headlight, IIRC. Sorry that I have no picture of that - Walt's loco was kind of inside a display case... http://bbs.livesteam.net//biggrin.gif

There's an article about his backyard railroad on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolwood_Pacific_Railroad

... and I have made a webpage myself, too:

http://www.sci.fi/~animato/rail/walt.html

Greetings,
J-E

[This message has been edited by Jan-Eric Nystrom (edited 04-04-2006).]