Railroad Forums 

  • PRR piggyback sign in the weeds at SYR

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1463838  by JoeS
 
The sign I have is made of .040 inch aluminum and I don't think it is porcelain enamel. I say that because my impression of porcelain enamel is that it is very brittle, which this paint is not. And, I know it's aluminum because I checked with a magnet. Diameter is about 55 inches, too big to fit into the back of a Honda CR-V lol.

It must be a second generation design, probably cost- and weight-reduced from the late days of the TrucTrain era.

I can't imagine one of these coming off the side of a trailer at 60 or 70 mph.
 #1463882  by tree68
 
JoeS wrote:I can't imagine one of these coming off the side of a trailer at 60 or 70 mph.
LIke those two fans filming the CN train in Kingston?
 #1463907  by SST
 
While watching trains in various locations, I often wonder if a car[s] derail, am I going to be able to react and then run fast enough to get out of the way. These guys are lucky.
 #1463975  by lvrr325
 
I watched a car almost get away from a YADE-27 crew on the Solvay hill like 20 years ago or better, stood there like an idiot and couldn't get their attention but the engineer saw it and I never saw a guy sprint so fast, he came down off the engine and jumped on that tank car and spun the handbrake over before it could split a switch.

I stopped going down in there after that. I would have been fine from the standpoint of it derailing but suppose it leaked chlorine or something.
 #1464187  by JoeS
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:I think the most amazing thing is that this thread is four pages long.
Well, Otto - look at it this way: this thread inspired me to act. The Salamanca Rail Museum now has a Pennsylvania Railroad TrucTrain sign in their collection.
 #1464197  by Otto Vondrak
 
JoeS wrote:
Otto Vondrak wrote:I think the most amazing thing is that this thread is four pages long.
Well, Otto - look at it this way: this thread inspired me to act. The Salamanca Rail Museum now has a Pennsylvania Railroad TrucTrain sign in their collection.
That's a good thing. Cheers!

-otto-
 #1464851  by jr
 
I've had occasion to handle both a PRR TrucTrain sign, and an NYC Flexi Van sign. The difference was quite remarkable. As previously posted, the PRR sign was built like a tank - steel, with enamel paint. Very heavy. The Flexi Van sign was aluminum, physically smaller, and much lighter. Probably could be picked up with two fingers.

I thought it was an interesting study of the two roads' differing philosophies. Almost a microcosm of the failure of the merger.

JR
 #1464904  by SST
 
I took a ride down today to check it out. Is that sign BIG! It would have been difficult to pull it out of the SYR ditch if it were the same size.

The last time I was down at the Salamanca Rail Museum the other station was still standing. Sad not to see it there. While there, it was pointed out to me that the concrete dumper towers have also been leveled and removed. Talk about erasing history.