a question about drawings in our archives

[NW Mailing List]

Good morning from the other side of the pond.

 

This is an interesting observation. The drawings of locos, railcars and
passenger vehicles in my treasured 1947 Locomotive Cyclopaedia (Simmons
Boardman) are real works of art and I assume originally drawn out by hand.
How these were ultimately reduced for inclusion in a book is a mystery. The
patient man hours that went into the development of these drawings must have
been staggering but they are all meticulous.  

 

In relation to speculative designs I suspect that quite a lot of this sort
of activity went on to sketch out what might be feasible/possible/desirable.
I have in my office a drawing of a Baldwin Duplex that became the basis of
the T1s on the Pennsy and a souped up Mallard type A4. It would have been
neat to see both in reality. 

 

Regards

 

Phil Mortimer

 

PS Was there ever any evidence of follow on designs for the A Class or the
Y6b?

 

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of
NW Mailing List
Sent: Friday, August 3, 2018 10:26 PM
To: NWHS Mailing List
Subject: a question about drawings in our archives

 

I have on occasion prowled about the on-line collection of drawings in our
archives and it is amazingly extensive.  It is also interesting to me the
amount of detail that went into these drawings and they seem to encompass
even the most subtle nuances of changes over time.  I have also found a few
drawings of interesting things for which I have never seen prototype photos,
so this brings about my question.  Given the time and detail involved in
creating these documents, how often would N&W engage in such exercises, if
they never actually got translated to something that was used?  Could there
really be that many drawings done that were only "what-if" speculations?
Like "what-if" we wanted to add a Viking roof to a specific class of boxcar,
then it would look like this, and "what-if" we wanted to add a Climax roof
to that same class of boxcar, then it would look like this, etc. etc.   Can
it be reasonably assumed(absent obvious photographic proof) that if there is
a set of drawings showing a particular appliance installed on a particular
car type that it was actually at least done once in real life?  Or was it
common practice for these drawings to be created based upon pure speculation
or the various component offerings of the different manufacturers  (ends,
roofs, doors, lock systems, etc.) ?

 

Brent

  _____  

Dr. J. Brent Greer

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