Rhody Trip

[John Schapekahm]

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[Jeff Young]

Beautiful!

[Darel Leedy]

Yes, as usual my other brother does masterful work. How about some progress pictures of the rest of your #62? Looking forward to seeing this model!

[Keith Hayes]

WOW!

[South Park]

  Aren't "fluted domes" a whole different critter ?  ....  like the sand dome
seen here ...

 

  These brass beauties look like what I call "ringed domes".  Beautiful work !

[John Schapekahm]

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[Robert McFarland]

South Park is referring to the grooves and ridges in the top section of the Porter's sand dome .I would agree with him.

[John Schapekahm]

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[Jim Courtney]

I don't exactly know when I first picked up the term "fluted domes". Certainly not from an authoritative text book, or such. I've always used the terms "ringed domes" and "fluted domes" interchangeably.

I can see South Park's point, the sand dome on the little CC locomotive does look a little like a champagne flute, with the ridges and grooves. But then again, a champagne flute is usually tall and skinny, hence "flute".

So let's figure this out. What is the proper term for locomotive domes with decorative rings at the saddle and at the top of the cylindrical portion of the dome, below the actual "dome" at the top?

It occurs to me that "fluted dome" and "ringed dome" may be architectural terms. Were the rings on 19th century locomotive domes meant to evoke a Greek (Doric) column?  Were the rings meant to suggest the simple round capitals of that style?  Flutes on a column have always suggested to me the vertical grooves on any classical Greek column.

(Edit:  Never mind, I should have read John's informative link first, before shooting off my mouth!  See the "sandbox orders", derived from Doric and Tuscan columns.)


Is there an architect in the house? Keith?

Cast your vote here, or further educate us!  References please.

Jim

[South Park]

  Citing others that might have made a mistake certainly does not provide
"proof" of something being correct.  The same argument could be made that
10 million Nazis couldn't have perhaps had this whole genetic thing a bit
skewed.

  I got the terms "ringed dome" vs. "fluted dome" from none other than Uncle
Bob during a visit to the CRRM a million years ago, and it was his telling me
that there was a difference that set my own definition.  Add in a career as a General
Contractor, where the two are also different things, and this seems a no-brainer
of lazy use of terms vs. accurate descriptions.

  But what do I know ?  ....  I WAS the smartest kid in the Dumb Class !  

[Robert McFarland]

John's reference article from Pacific NG answered a question I have long wondered about-why there are no visible counterweights on a Mason Bogie.

[Chris Walker]

While I am impressed with John's rather fulsome list of perpetrators; that my name appears on by the way, I would have to agree wholeheartedly with S' Park.  As he noted, Bob Richardson in 3 of his books referenced the "rings", on mentioning the wreck of the #346 on Kenosha and the subsequent re-application of said "ring" obtained following the wreck and scrapping of #345. Never a word about Fluted.
 
On account of being a Diesel driver first, I got my USA steam education rather late coming from fellow railway modellers who refered to the domes as being either round or fluted.
 
In as much as an Electric is not an engine but a Motor when refered to on rails, a steam engine or a diesel engine yes, but not an electric engine.  Ditto on that when someone says to look under the bonnett at the "motor" in a car, simply wrong.  
My favourite is the term of "tailings" used to refer to mine waste dumps is being so commonly used as well when only Mills produced tailings.
 
I guess until corrected and made aware of, one tends to default to the "first use" terminology.
 
By the way, that is some wonderful machining work by Derrell,  large scale brasswork is so impressive.

[Jim Courtney]

We rail enthusiasts and railroad model builders, who have never worked on the prototype, tend to misuse or even make up terms that I never heard while working those summers on the Rock Island.

One of my favorites is the model builders term "turnout" instead of a "switch", where one track diverges into two. No one on the RI ever referred to "turnout stands" or "turnout lists" and the folks that threw them were always call "switchmen".

Another example is the term "cut lever" instead of the prototype's "coupler lift bar", referring to levers that raised a pin inside a Sharon or MCB coupler. The latter term no doubt was derived from the days when a pin was lifted from a link and pin coupler. On the Rock Island, the "switchman" working closest to the "switch engine" was referred to as the "pin-puller", as opposed to the "field man" who set or released hand brakes on a distant cut of cars.

As for fluted domes, I'm just as guilty as anyone in using the term incorrectly--steam had disappeared before my brief railroad career began.

And yes, Derrell's domes for John's Rhode Island are works of fine art.

Jim

[Chris Walker]

Jim Courtney wrote

One of my favorites is the model builders term "turnout" instead of a "switch", where one track diverges into two. No one on the RI ever referred to "turnout stands" or "turnout lists" and the folks that threw them were always call "switchmen".
Jim

Try to imagine how hard it has been for me as I started modelling with British outline before finding European(Decauville) ng  moving then US ng after discovery of the likes of Shays and C-16's and The South Park.  Every American modeller(in NZ and US) seemed to use the term Turnout whereas at work we called them "Points", never any reference to a "switch" either, then there was the term Crossover which applied to back-to-back Points with or without a Diamond(s) in-between.
 
I've tried very hard over the years to tailor my terminology to the people I was addressing at the time but when relating "work stories" sometimes it just loses the flavour if I have to abridge it, and then I just wonder why I'm even telling it.  Sometime back in the mid-1980's the Loco (crew) Association stopped using the term Enginedriver for Locomotive Engineer but the NZR management didn't.  Even on the Footplate, the term was neglected as in this country an Engineer is someone in an educated profession usually associated with the likes of building Bridges or Machinery etc.  Certainly not driving anything that is.

[John Greenly]

These domes are superb!  Were the originals this beautiful- I doubt it!  As to the originals, what you see is a cover over the actual steam dome, right? And is it made of formed sheet metal,  machined parts, or a combination of both?  Even the drawings must be works of art.

Cheers,
John

[John Schapekahm]

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[South Park]

  Those look to be quarter scale !  

[John Schapekahm]

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