Large Scale Central

Atlas 25 ton narrow gauge center cab

Prototypes
#1

Thought I would post some pictures of the locomotive I plan to build next. The Atlas car and manufacturing company built 3 of these for use on sugar plantation railroads in Hawaii in 1936-37. the first one for the Lihue plantation railroad that was 30" gauge, and the other two for the Kahului railroad’s 3’ gauge line. All three units were 27’ long by 7’ wide by 13.8’ high. powered by twin 117 cummins engines that could run independent of each other, meaning on lighter trains they could choose to run just one engine. They were also equipped with talgo mounted couplers to maneuver the 4 wheel cane cars around tight curves.

Lihue 14 (first unit) shortly after delivery in Hawaii

http://largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/13798/25d89-bdc8-jpg

Kahului railroad #2&3

http://largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/13799/70941599-390296934978934-2609405512374026240-n-jpg

http://largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/13848/70925029-2415704572050428-5494570057117728768-n-jpg

and the last photo of the Lihue unit before leaving Hawaii for Cuba in the mid 50’s. by this point it was upgraded with GE trucks. shortly after, they sold it to Cuba and kept the GE units till the end.

http://largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/13849/70828989-924547741258099-6939539029931065344-n-jpg

And here is the last known photo of any of the units. this is Lihue plantation #14, taken at the mill sometime in the 90’s, after some heavy modification.

http://largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/13850/70460030-933069313725587-821523597574012928-o-jpg

And, in the end, The 30 ton GE units also went to cuba, but it is unknown if they went to the same 30" line there.

http://largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/13851/70794199-613134142845042-7082711193512574976-n-jpg

still digging for more information on either the Atlas units or the GE units. If anyone else has any information that would be great :slight_smile:

#2

#3

Thanks David, for some reason I can’t get the photos to appear.

#4

Cool with the arch bar trucks and spoked wheels, tremendous visual interest.

#5

Aaron Loyet said:

Thanks David, for some reason I can’t get the photos to appear.

Looks like you are trying to use the URL. Don’t do that. Open the picture, right click on it and copy the location. Paste that in the box.

#6

Just making a note of “No polling pockets” ? Why is that ?

#7

David Russell said:

Just making a note of “No polling pockets” ? Why is that ?

Wasn’t the practice outlawed as too dangerous?

#8

There is some debate on if it actually was outlawed, or just discontinued. But even so, many modern cars still have poling pockets.

#9

Poling a car is a long outlawed practice in railroading due to dangers and injury. Practice allowed to move a car on an adjacent track. Poling pockets were once a fixture on locos and rolling stock.

This info found at the middle of the supplied link

http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2015/07/poling-railroad-cars.html (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#10

Outlawed in the 1970’s. I am surprised that it was that late. That may explain why my search of railroad laws didn’t uncover it. I was searching in the laws pre 1940. That also explains why I saw the poling pockets on cars when I was growing up.

#11

in this case the locomotives were just pulling little 4 axle cane cars, so I doubt a poling pocket would have been needed as they probably could have pushed them by hand when empty

#12

Poling on railroads

Ask Trains from the March 2015 issue
February 15, 2017
RELATED TOPICS: FALLEN FLAGS | LABOR RELATIONS | PRE-1950
TRNAT0315_02
A Canadian National worker moves a car using a pole on the pilot of CN No. 6310 in 1958.
Gordon B. Mott, Louis A. Marre collection
Q When did railroads stop using poling pockets seen at all four corners of freight cars and engines? – John Bronn, Eagle, Alaska

A Poling was the once common practice of using a wooden pole to move cars on adjacent tracks. Poling policies differed among railroads, but most had forbidden their crews from engaging in the practice by the 1960s. Interestingly, the Interstate Commerce Commission seems not to have prohibited poling.

Where it was used, poling was an accepted and routine switching method at rail yards. It was a dangerous practice, however, as poles could snap under the strain, presenting a potentially lethal hazard to any people or property nearby. – Peter A. Hansen
#13

Joe, that’s kind of what I thought I had read somewhere. I noticed in pictures that I have taken of current railroad equipment, that some of the current equipment doesn’t have poling pockets.