Planes, Trains and Automobiles

[Leaf473]

My little sister Christina lives in Colorado with her husband Charlie and she went to see one of those Big Boy trains not too long ago. She said it was a good experience.

We visited a steam locomotive museum in Golden, Colorado many years ago. Most of it was outdoors, and the cool thing about it was that most of the engines were open, so you could climb up where the engineer would have been, stuff like that

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

My little sister Christina lives in Colorado with her husband Charlie and she went to see one of those Big Boy trains not too long ago. She said it was a good experience.

We visited a steam locomotive museum in Golden, Colorado many years ago. Most of it was outdoors, and the cool thing about it was that most of the engines were open, so you could climb up where the engineer would have been, stuff like that

I'd love to see one of the Big Boys, but since I don't live in the US, that's very unlikely to happen!

I also have memories of visiting an outdoor museum that had steam locomotives, back when I was a kid; I can't remember for sure whether people were allowed to climb into the locomotives' cabs or not, but I think it may well have allowed.

 

[Leaf473]

I'd love to see one of the Big Boys, but since I don't live in the US, that's very unlikely to happen!

I also have memories of visiting an outdoor museum that had steam locomotives, back when I was a kid; I can't remember for sure whether people were allowed to climb into the locomotives' cabs or not, but I think it may well have allowed.

I'm pretty sure this was the place:

Locomotives - Colorado Railroad Museum

I only remember the steam engines, because that's what the people I was with wanted to explore

Those old steam engines were mostly heavy gauge steel, hardly anything you could break.

I don't know where this picture is from, but this is the kind of thing I remember

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

I'm pretty sure this was the place:

Locomotives - Colorado Railroad Museum

I only remember the steam engines, because that's what the people I was with wanted to explore

Those old steam engines were mostly heavy gauge steel, hardly anything you could break.

I don't know where this picture is from, but this is the kind of thing I remember

Really fascinating! Are the locomotives at the Colorado Railroad Museum operational, or static display only? The locomotives at the museum I went to were static only, but I've also been on a train pulled by a steam locomotive a few times.

 

[Leaf473]

Really fascinating! Are the locomotives at the Colorado Railroad Museum operational, or static display only? The locomotives at the museum I went to were static only, but I've also been on a train pulled by a steam locomotive a few times.

I think most of them were static. Most of them hadn't had any kind of restoration work done. That was kind of a cool thing, they looked very much like they did when they were in service, just a little more rust.

I think they did have a working engine or two, and some restored passenger cars that you could ride in on special occasions.

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

I think most of them were static. Most of them hadn't had any kind of restoration work done. That was kind of a cool thing, they looked very much like they did when they were in service, just a little more rust.

I think they did have a working engine or two, and some restored passenger cars that you could ride in on special occasions.

I don't think the static locomotives that I saw had had any restoration work done either, and there wasn't any track other what they were displayed on.

That would have been fun, to ride in those restored passenger cars! Did you get the opportunity to do that?

 

[Leaf473]

I don't think the static locomotives that I saw had had any restoration work done either, and there wasn't any track other what they were displayed on.

That would have been fun, to ride in those restored passenger cars! Did you get the opportunity to do that?

That's how I remember the museum I was at too, with the track. It was like they had just pushed or pulled the old locomotives from wherever they had been sitting for the last several decades. I think the museum was an old switchyard.

We didn't do any train riding, we were just on the very low budget, just let the kids play adventure

I did write on the pikes peak cog railroad, though, many years ago.

That third rail in the middle actually had teeth on it, and it was engaged by a gear underneath the engine.

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

That's how I remember the museum I was at too, with the track. It was like they had just pushed or pulled the old locomotives from wherever they had been sitting for the last several decades. I think the museum was an old switchyard.

We didn't do any train riding, we were just on the very low budget, just let the kids play adventure

I did write on the pikes peak cog railroad, though, many years ago.

That third rail in the middle actually had teeth on it, and it was engaged by a gear underneath the engine.

The museum where I saw the locomotives was a general historical museum, and I recall that it had various historical vehicles as well as the locomotives; I can't everything it had though, as it was many, many years ago that I went there.

The Pikes Peak railroad looks really fun, and that scenery is spectacular! I don't know much about trains, but I'm guessing that, with the toothed third rail engaging the gear under the engine, it would be considered a form of funicular railway.

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

VX-9 Vampires black F-14D Vandy 1 (seen with another VX-9 F-14D in the first photo):

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

Here are two F-22A Raptors with a special "chrome" skin coating that's being tested:

and an F-35C Lightning II testing a similar skin coating:

 

[Leaf473]

Here are two F-22A Raptors with a special "chrome" skin coating that's being tested:

and an F-35C Lightning II testing a similar skin coating:

Is the special skin for evading radar?

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

Is the special skin for evading radar?

I don't think there's all that much details available about it, but I think it may be to increase stealth. I think I recall also seeing some speculation that it might be for protection against military lasers, since the shiny surface would, I'm guessing, reflect a laser beam rather than allowing it to burn through the jet.

 

[Leaf473]

I don't think there's all that much details available about it, but I think it may be to increase stealth. I think I recall also seeing some speculation that it might be for protection against military lasers, since the shiny surface would, I'm guessing, reflect a laser beam rather than allowing it to burn through the jet.

Yes, I'm sure it's secret. (Anything we thought we knew about it would probably be wrong ) But it kind of makes those planes look like the old style when things were just aluminum on the outside. At least I think that was plain aluminum.

Like this, though I'm not even sure what kind of airplane this is, but I think it's from the 1950's

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

Yes, I'm sure it's secret. (Anything we thought we knew about it would probably be wrong ) But it kind of makes those planes look like the old style when things were just aluminum on the outside. At least I think that was plain aluminum.

Like this, though I'm not even sure what kind of airplane this is, but I think it's from the 1950's

I hadn't thought about those shiny skin coatings making the jets look old-style, but you're very right that they do. I'm not very good at recognising early jets, but I searched the photo you shared, and I found that it's an F-86 Sabre:
North American F-86 Sabre - Wikipedia

specifically, the CA-27 variant built in Australia.

 

[Leaf473]

Thought this was pretty of cool

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

Thought this was pretty of cool

That's really awesome! I hear Danger Zone in my head when I look at this photo!

I reckon this Tomcat is an F-14A, since the F-14A virtually always used afterburners for catapult launches, unless very lightly loaded. The F-14B/D, on the other hand, pretty much always launched in military power (maximum power without afterburners).

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

VF-2 F-14D Tomcat in flight:

Two VF-2 F-14Ds in flight; note the TARPS (Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System) pod mounted on the belly (between the engine nacelles) of the closer Tomcat:

A VF-2 F-14D Tomcat taking off from the angle deck of USS Constellation:

 

[St. Helens]

Beautiful photos.

 

[Aquila Super Tomcat]

Beautiful photos.

I agree! I'm going to try cropping the first one slightly at the top and bottom in my art software, and see how it looks. If the cropped version looks good, I'll get a poster made of it for my wall. I've got a poster I had made from a cropped version of this photo:

in my room, and it looks great!

 

[Anthony2019]

Photo taken in September. On board the GWR "Night Riviera" between London and Penzance (Cornwall).