LIRR steam loco article

I recently got re-interested in LIRR steam operations, reading thru some of the LIRR books I have and some of the websites. One of these mentioned an article in TRAINS as THE reference for LIRR steam. It might have been specifically about the G5. I think it was around 1946. I can't find the reference to it. Would anyone know what I'm thinking of?

I also never realized how many details changed on one type of steam loco over time. I guess I only looked at diesels in detail. Since I never saw them in operation, they seem to be quite complex, especially maintenance and upkeep. And I can't imagine how it was running one in the heat & humidity like we've been having these past few days. It says alot about the men who ran them.

The guys early on who worked in the steam locomotives must have truely had a love for railroading. As you mentioned, the heat....on top of that you had the noise, and the smoke that would come out of the firebox as well as blowing back from the smoke stack. I have this picture that I found about a year back of a Big Boy 4-8-8-4 pulling a string of freight cars...the engine was filthy, there was a HUGE cloud of thick black smoke coming out, and it was just scooting along, and you could see the fireman leaning out of his window and you saw how dirty he was.

One of the engineers I work with used to operate a steam locomotive at some tourist railway somewhere out west, and he hated it lol. The heat was the main thing he didn't like....but also the previously mentioned dirt and soot as well.

I tip my hat to anyone who worked on a steam locomotive for a full career, it sure took a lot.

I' rode behind steam from Jamaica to Greenport a few times before diesel took over.. T'wasnt fun... I remember the heat of the car which was replaced with the soot when the windows were opened... Name your poison..hot or soot...
I think it was Mel Allen, who told of his father who ran steam, Mel [Maybe it was Mel Ott] [baseball sports fer either bkln or yankees]... He said he tried to get into steam, and his father told the RR that he would quit if the RR hired his son... Anyway, Mel rode on steam with his father and said another problem was that the cab went left and right as the drivers pulled, not pleasant..
Wish I could find the article, think it was in the Readers Digest sometime in the fifties..... Ed

I did a search on the TRAINS website for back issues and I think the article I was thinking of is from the 10/73 issue, Mass Production Ten Wheeler by Bert Pennypacker. If this is the article then I was far off with the year!

Steam engines are very labor intensive,
so anyone operating them has to charge folks a lot of money for a ride.

Most steam operations (RxR sponcered or museum/tourist) are increasingly
having trouble makeing ends meet.

In the past few years the number of active engines has dwindled

- Steamtown USA has had to cut back operations because a new Director
took over who feels their prime mission is a museum not steam operations.
- East Broad Top used to have several active engines, now they are trying to keep one at a time running.
- Conway Senic uses diesels now.

As Jules Krzenski wrote in his anecdotes (posted on my website) about growing up in Southampton and riding with the H10s engine crews on the east end freights in the late 1940s, when you looked down the track through the front cab windows, on either the engineer's or fireman's side, you would see the track then you'd only see the boiler. Then you'd see the track, then the boiler, and so on all along the trip.

Quite a bit of rocking that most people would never imagine or assume unless they've experienced it.

Just think: one minute the track ahead is visible and clear. Then it's gone and only the boiler is in view. Then the tracks are visible again and someone's walking across!

Yikes!!!!

Dave Keller

I just re-read Richie Harrison's book and it's amazing he was on the job for 38 years (although not all steam). Even more amazing is that all there was were steam locos for 100 years or so. You'd almost think they would have given up on that technology way back. With all the recent publicity on #35 & #39 these past few weeks, it will be really great to experience a steam loco up close once they are finally running. For you members off LI, visit newsday.com for some articles, although short, on both locos.