Feb 5th, 2017: Carver in Training

Ernest "Mooney" Warther’s father died when he was 3, so it took him 4 years to get through 1st an 2nd grade, because if the weather was good he’d be herding the village cows to help make ends meet. At 14, with a 2nd grade education, he went to work in a steel mill for 28 years. Then full time at his carving hobby

Considered one of Mooney Warther's finest carvings, The Great Northern Mountain type 4-8-4 locomotive of 7,752 individually carved pieces. It was his favorite. Made from ebony, ivory and pearl, in 1933 when Mooney was 48 and at the top of his form. The cab shows steam lines, rivet detail, and the ivory Goat logo of the Great Northern Railroad, surrounded by mother of pearl, inset into the tender. The thin ivory bell chain looping down the top of the boiler, he only carved on Sundays so if it broke he wouldn’t swear.



The 8-foot long Empire State Express is carved from ivory, while the stone arch bridge it sits on is made from blocks of ebony. The "mortar" is inlaid ivory.



The "Big Four" 4-4-2 Atlantic topped 100 miles an hour in 1904. The photo shows Mooney's daughters Florence and Alice at his workbench while he carved it in 1920.



The Lincoln Funeral Train was completed on April 14, 1965—the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. Carved from Ebony, Ivory, and mother of pearl accents at the bottom of each car. Lincoln's body rests in a casket in the center car.



The Union Pacific "Big Boy," Burled walnut and ivory, carved in 1953, completed on his 68th birthday. The carving consists of over 7,000 pieces of Burled Walnut, and Ivory. It’s mechanically accurate and carved 1/2 inch to the Foot. Wheels, Pistons, Flyrods, Driving Arms, and Valves all operate, and the bell swings.
“Big Boy weighed over 600 tons, had 6 foot tall drive wheels, and burned 22 tons of coal per hour. There were 25 built in the l940's, and used mostly west of the Mississippi.



New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson type locomotive consists of 7,332 pieces. A top view of the tender of the shows a secret compartment hidden under the coal. In each tender he hid a time capsule with notes from the children present when he finished the project along with the last piece of sandpaper he used. On the back of the sandpaper he wrote the start and finish dates, the number of pieces and the total hours to carve it.



Mooney died so he finished his training.
Link

I would love to see those in person.
Big Boy was big.
Coal capacity was about 25 tons, water capacity 100 tons. At full steam it used those in an hour.
Refueling must have presented huge logistic challenges.
The engine and tender together weighed about a million pounds, the space shuttles four million at launch.

There are 8 remaining Big Boys are scattered from PA west, wiki has the locations.
Plan your next vacation now, and while you're at it, see the carved model in Ohio.

Actually, I have seen a Big Boy Locomotive. It is the carvings I would like to see in person.

100 tons of water seems like a lot. It is also the amount of highly radioactive water released from the Fukushima nuclear plant every eight hours.

That's ~25,000 gallons of water, given 8lbs per gallon.

How on earth did they move 50,000 lbs of coal per hour?!

Nice pictures Gravs. I can see them. I remember the phosphate trains that used to rumble through the middle of downtown Tampa, FL. White dust was everywhere.

tarheel

Thanks! Glad you like them.

I didn't have anything to do with them, but, I'm glad you like them.

TRAINing... I get it.


please don't tell me it's already left the station

I though that was a high fly over everybody's head.

awww, thanks.

You *do* have to get up pretty early in the afternoon to sneak something like that past me.

I just found a nice 17 minute video about Big Boy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR5dEc5VeNw

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gravdigr How on earth did they move 50,000 lbs of coal per hour?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim I just found a nice 17 minute video about Big Boy

I ran across these pictures of monster locomotives in South Africa, but can't find any information about them.





Looks like coal tenders on both ends, and at least 16 drive wheels on the green one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim I would love to see those in person. Big Boy was big. Coal capacity was about 25 tons, water capacity 100 tons. At full steam it used those in an hour. Refueling must have presented huge logistic challenges. The engine and tender together weighed about a million pounds, the space shuttles four million at launch.