Smoke Gets In Your Eyes – a great show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harback for their 1933 musical Roberta. It still is popular song, having been performed by numerous performers, but the most famous version was recorded in 1958 by The Platters.
Not so wonderful, however, for engine crews racing across America’s landscape. The configuration of steam motive power dictated that the smoke stack be up front ahead of the boiler. Besides, that exhaust is what created the draft keeping the firebox ablaze.
Most railroads ignored the problem, but the Union Pacific and a few others solved the problem to a degree with “elephant ears,” as they were nick-named. The ears extended in front of the smokebox, and the forward movement, at speed, created an updraft. At slow speeds, tough luck, and hope for a good side wind. The Southern Pacific solved the smoke problem particularly in their many tunnels by buying Cab-forward steam locomotives.
I can remember vividly parked along the Chilkat River in Alaska in 1958, drinking terrible home brew, watching the Northern Lights, and listening to the Platters new hit; “Smoke Gets in your Eyes,” static and all. (It does get better than that…)
Credits: Classic Trains – Winter 2010, Photos: top Stan Kistler collection, bottom Allen W. Madison
A southbound grain train led by UP power exits the Madisonville bypass at Mortons Gap KY on March 7, 2014. -Rick Bivins
by Wally Watts & Matt Gentry
The month of February brought the execution of a new idea for the West Kentucky NRHS, and that was to have brief discussions (roughly 15 minutes) at each meeting about general railroad knowledge or why a railroad may execute its procedures this way or that.
For the month of February, our President Tom Johnson gave a topic to get the idea off the ground, and the topic was “Why do we see foreign rail power on another railroads trackage, and how does that railroad get compensated?” For example; why do we see Union Pacific power running on CSX track through Madisonville KY? (Which we witnessed during the meeting!)
A lot of times, the simple answer can be that the train is a “run through.” This means that the train does not get altered from its origination point to its final destination. These trains are typically your coal drags, grain trains, coke trains and oil trains. What this means is that an oil train put together and loaded in the oil fields of North Dakota on the BNSF will not be altered until it reaches its destination at an oil refinery in Ashland, Kentucky for example.
Even Class II RR’s trade power. Here, Wheeling & Lake Erie is found on NS tracks in Elkhart IN. 10/29/11 -Matt Gentry
The reason you may see foreign power running a local manifest freight would most likely be the foreign railroad is running out their borrowed time to the railroad that is running the train. The way the railroads get paid for the use of their locomotives elsewhere in the nation is based on how many “horse power hours” a locomotive gets used and therefore billed to the operating railroad. For instance, if a Union Pacific locomotive with a horse power rating of 4400 horse power were used for 13 hours on the CSX, the CSX would owe them 13 hrs of use of one of their locomotives with a 4400 horse power rating. There are many different configurations that the horse power hours get calculated and paid back due to different horse power locomotives. A CSX 4000 horse power unit would take more than 13 hours to pay back the UP for their 13 hour 4400 horse power unit.
NS & CP units are seen at Romney KY on March 8, 2014 -Rick Bivins
Another example-In the 1940’s and 50’s when the SP, UP, and C&NW were running the City of San Francisco, I (Wally) have seen photos of the train in Green River, WY with an ABB lash-up of C&NW E-7’s eastbound. They were “running out their time” in UP territory with C&NW crews-BUT with a UP “pilot” engineer on board. Same thing sometimes with the westbound “City.” It would be seen in Nebraska with SP E-6’s or 7’s on the point. They were “running out their time” they “owed” UP. Instead of owing money or borrowing money to each other, they owe time-or “horse power hours” if you will.
A southbound CN switches onto Union Pacific’s Chester Sub. at Gorham IL on February 18, 2014 -Thomas Bryan
The topic of discussion for the moth of March was planned to be presented by David Millen over the L&N railroad throughout the area. However I (Matt) stopped at David’s house after the meeting in February to drop off his copy of The PennyRail to find that he had slipped on the ice. David seemed to be getting along OK, but was unsure of his attendance at the March meeting.
In the event of David’s absence, we will use the following question for our topic of discussion:
Why did the Illinois Central run steam on their coal trains in Western Kentucky long after other railroads had gone completely to diesel-electric locos? –Tom Johnson
