GTW 8305 For Sale on Facebook Marketplace

QJdriver · **Posted:** Wed May 08, 2024 2:15 pm

PaulWWoodring wrote:

Maybe you could have "smell-o-vision" with it for the smell of coal smoke and hot lube oil. You need to have a fan outside the cab window to simulate the wind rushing by.

WHAT will they think of next ??

How about a two person simulator, with the actions of the engineer linked to the actions of the fireman ?? It could work for simulating an oil burner, or firing coal with a stoker... Truth be told, this is like so many great preservation projects --- it's just what the world needs, as long as somebody else pays for it, and somebody else does all the work for nothing.

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2320

QJdriver wrote:

How about an interactive display ?? Touch the injector, and the water level goes up, while the visitor hears the familiar whoosh. Touch the firing valve or shovel, and the firebox is shown to fill with flames while the pressure gauge goes up. Touch the throttle and the wheels start to turn while the sound system chugs. No doubt somebody who has studied how to create these type museum exhibits will have much better ideas than mine, and it might also help to draw people into rail preservation that otherwise might never have gotten involved. Computer gadgetry like this might even have more appeal to the internet/X Box/smart phone generation than half of a motionless real locomotive does.

I like this. How about enabling visitors to see what goes into getting a train moving, beginning with the pre-trip inspection (say, points, on the screen to oil by left-clicking a picture of an oil can at locations with red dots that turn to green), ending with trying to move it without slipping, or rolling backwards etc. but all in the cab that the visitor has climbed into after looking over the engine? I think using the whole engine and tender instead of just a cab would make it seem more realistic.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed May 08, 2024 3:18 pm

QJdriver wrote:

Truth be told, this is like so many great preservation projects --- it's just what the world needs, as long as somebody else pays for it, and somebody else does all the work for nothing.

All manner of rail preservation "greats"--from the establishment of the first rail and trolley museums to the replication of the LNER A1 Pacific, from the repainting of a GG1 back into PRR colors to the restoration to operation of a UP Big Boy--got their starts from someone saying "Wouldn't it be nice if.....?"

jayrod · **Posted:** Wed May 08, 2024 4:34 pm

I'll add to the thread drift. I kinda like the idea of a simulator. You'd only need the cab and backhead. The rest can be turned into 10p nails. Stick it on some gimbals for a bit of bounce and sway. I'd think that would appeal to more than just us rail nerds.

rjenkins · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2024 1:16 am

If I'm not mistaken, the IRM already has the cab and backhead from one of 8305's sister engines that was scrapped to save the Q Mikado.

JR May · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2024 9:44 am

Adding to the drift here a bit, NASCAR teams use some pretty amazing simulators for practice rather than hitting the real track. Saves a ton of money.

That said, I like the idea of using a whole locomotive, and with that thought in mind, the software behind the simulator could be used on a variety of locomotives with no need to cut any of them up. Displays today of various sizes can be fitted to a variety of cab window sizes. Add a heat source for realism and you have quite a package that could be an added attraction at a number of museums around the country. Might look at what the major railroads use for training and leverage some of that as well. Seems to me the RRMPA has a diesel locomotive simulator, but not as part of a full locomotive.

J.R.

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