This is the engine room from which the engineers operated Locomotive 227. In the center you can see the coal shut leading underneath the boiler.

Locomotive 227 is located at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. Weighing in over 1 million pounds and capable of pulling a load of 36 million pounds, it has two separate ‘engines’, i.e. sets of powered wheels. Because of the locomotive’s length, the wheel sets are articulated, meaning they can ‘turn’ underneath the main body of the locomotive. This was necessary so the locomotive could handle the curves in the railroad tracks.

Looking at all the controls in the cab, one could almost imagine that the train engineers running this machine could probably have a go at running the space shuttle, aero issues excepted.

For other Monochrome Monday photos check here.

Spending a week at our camper in northern Minnesota, I took a a few hours and headed up to the Split Rock Lighthouse, located about 50 miles north of Duluth on the western shore of Lake Superior. Built in 1910 after a series of shipwrecks in the area, it served it’s purpose for over half a century, before being decommissioned in 1969. It is now part of the State Park system, with the lighthouse itself being accessible from spring to fall.

The walk from the lighthouse to this spot wasn’t as far as it seems. The stairs down the cliff though looked a little daunting, and had several resting areas along the way. I’ve only taken one set of stairs longer than these, those being at the 12 Apostles in Southern Australia.

Another shot of engine 225. I’d love to understand how that mechanism functions as a ‘reverse gear’. Actually, locomotives don’t use gears in their drive line, but we’ll let them get away with description. Reversing gears has to be a big deal with a steam locomotive. Growing up in Germany, I saw quite a few coal fired locomotives. One of the more amazing sights is to see on of those locomotives spin their wheels, their version of a burnout. Hard to believe but they can do that.

Fair amount of processing done on this photo. Wanted it to look like a vintage photo. For other Monochrome Monday photos check here.

Overnighted at the camper up north, and got a chance to visit this steam locomotive in the Duluth area. One of the few things that wasn’t swaying given the very gusty winds all day long. These machines are a mechanical engineer’s dream. Covered with mechanisms and steam powered actuators. I would love to drive along side one of these as it goes down the track and watch the operation of all those parts.

For other Monochrome Monday photos check here.

That’s what the counter weight is for 1/2 of the lift bridge in Duluth (there’s one on each side). The counter weights of course mean that the power required for lifting the bridge is primarily needed to overcome friction, not the actual weight of the bridge. Imagine the hole that weight would make if it were to come loose way up in the air. Not to fear, from what I’ve seen this bridge is well maintained.

Went up to Duluth to get some shots of the tall ships visiting for the Maritime festival. As I suspected the tall ships were surrounded by a collection of of boats making it impossible to get any clean shots. This picture is the Pride of Baltimore II, coming in to dock. It has working cannons, which were fired (blanks of course) a few times on its way into and in the harbor.