Re: Extended Smokebox

weston1879 Wrote:
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> Remember that the Mason 2-8-6T Bogies had an extended smokebox.

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Did they ???

I am guessing that they refrained from putting big box headlight on top with a straight stack to keep some semblance of aesthetic balance.

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Chris, ... still not making a hard connection. You like the 460 ? You like the headlight/extension ? You like vanilla ice cream ?

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Being into design, I gave this some thought. We all start with an image of "good aesthetics" and it runs from there. For me, the image came from UPRR/CPRR transcontinental images and later, with the discovery of the South Park, DSP&P locomotives of the mid-1880's.

Cross that with the GP40/utilitarian box design of the diesels running the rails of the 1970's, and I had the bookends of good and bad aesthetic design. The closer in proportions to a locomotive like the 191 at CRRM, the better. The more smoothed over and box like, like a GP40, .... well you get the idea.

So, rounded, flattened domes, straight or short stacks, less horizontal or vertical texture, and it leans towards "ugly". An appreciation for fine Victorian scroll detail and design only ups the ante.

Conversely, I like the early diesel F-unit design. It was sleek, it was new, it WAS the period. But streamlined steamers ? Forget it. It is fake. It is making something look like something it isn't. Like putting lipstick on a pig and telling everyone it's Marilyn Monroe ! Design is about integration of engineering and aesthetics, not about remodels and facelifts.

I guess this is why I don't have much interest in most post-1910 steam beyond it being cool just for being steam. As is going on in another current thread, Corvairs are cool for being old and still around, but they ain't no 56 Caribbean or 58 Fireflite convertible.