Jaws ( w83 )Question

Simple Question. . what size is the flatcar?
thanks.

Much like the Harold protect engs, Jaws was painted without managements approval. The shop guys just went ahead and painted it back in the 1970's.

didnt know that! i thought they put that scheme on when they rebuilt her in 78'
i think they shoulda left her in orange. .

That paint job was approved by LIRR managment.I remember at the time president Gabreski and employees from the loco shop at morris park posing for a picture which appeared in the employee news letter "ALONG THE TRACK"

Yes, Frank could not help but outfit it like the WWII fighter jets.

Clem

i gotta say, that nose art on "jaws" looks hot.

it did look good when it was new and clean. . . now its faded. .
but anyway. . anyone know the size of the flatcar?

It always reminded me of "The Fighting Tigers" fuselage art!

Knowing then-president Gabreski was involved now makes sense!

Dave Keller

Oops . . . . .there goes the brain fart again!

I MEANT to write "Flying" Tigers.

Dave Keller

In the old forum there was a whole write-up on the size and type of car used. I thought I had saved it, I'll have to look around on the PC to see where I could have put it. Anyone remember who might have posted it?

LIRRNOVA55

Hi Paul, (I think)

The flatcar is 40 feet long. As you may know, JAWS was made by LIRR craftsmen from three seperate "cars." The vee plow came from an old 1800's wooden Russell snowplow, the cabin is a cut down steel caboose and the flatcar, (so we've been told), was once used as a pusher on the car floats in Long Island City.

I did the dimensions thread on the Forum a few years ago. I should have kept all that data as a "file" but I didn't! If I had I could have put it back here


de Don, n2qhvRMLI

Thanks for teh info Don!, didnt the shops build 2?. . one all wood. . one steel ? i remember seeing pix of it somwhere. . .

Jaws. . . i must say. . love them teeth. . .
shot from monday. .

Ahh, the Flying Tigers, also known as the American Volunteer Group. An elite fighter wing of three squadrons: the Panda Bears, the Hell's Angels and the Flying Tigers. American fighter pilots flying in the service of Chiang kai-Shek and the Chinese Nationalist Party- the Kuomintang. Those Curtiss P-40's looked great with that shark mouth, faithfully reproduced by the LIRR paint shop men. They could only get away with something like that with an ex-fighter pilot at the helm.

Exactly what I meant!

Dave Keller

The engineer I work with lost his grandfather to that wedge plow. He was out in a snowstorm with it and the plow got stuck in the raised position. He went out to try to lower it and the wedge plow fell crushing his legs.

I read somewhere that the operators of that equipment used to have to be really sharp with the physical characteristics of the railroad. They used to have to raise the plow in certain spots over crossings and switches. If the wedge caught it, the plow would derail and sometimes even catch fire. This was all in a couple of feet of snow!