Steam Engine You Won't Forget

Hi All,

Generally, my favorite steamer is the one I am on at the time, however that steamer that is most accessible rates pretty high as well. I am close to the Los Angeles Fairplex, and so Big Boy # 4014 is readily accessible. Next would be the big Northern, # 3751, the 4-8-4. The one I can get up close and personal with is # 2 a prairie, 2-6-2, out of Perris, CA, Orange Empire RR Museum. And then there are the visitors. First would be # 4449 Northern, from SP, it its daylight colors, and bringing up the rear would be UP's @ 3985 Challenger. Occasionally # 844, another big Northern from UP drops by. Lots of steam coming to the neighborhood, with time.

blw wrote:For me it would be the Flying Scotsman, despite the fact that I'm American and a big fan of the N&W and especially C&O. Back about ten years ago a friend and I were able to drive the Flying Scotsman for about five miles in Wales. At the time the Welsh museum offered these trips on the footplate for around $100 US or so. They were discontinued a couple of years later as the locomotive was sold, but it's an experience I won't ever forget!

Nice to see that our UK 'Superstar' engine 4472 has made her mark! In fact a lot of UK steam railways offer the opportunity to drive but as far as I know the runs in Wales were the only time this has been done with Flying Scotsman. Happily last year 4472 was bought for the UK national collection so is 'safe'. She has currently just started a heavy overhaul to ruturn to the mainline in 2007/8.

For me however the later A4 class are my favorites in particular 4498/60007 Sir Nigel Gresley.[/i]

Hi, Steam man

... b-u-t -- didn't they use any boiler water treatment from the beginning? or was it that the fire brigade's 'treatment' didn't blend well with the regular feed water treatment? Since this trip was made only shortly after ending steam's revenue running, one might think they'd have had some treatment chemicals left - no?
In Germany, with steam trips made by private groups these days increasingly far from regular steam traction times most absurd problems have turned up caused by mishandling due to lack of knowledge (although there are strict regulations on who's allowed to run a steam engine). Incident-free mileage of engines in 'preserved' running is usually much lower than it was in 'run-down' days at the end of steam - with a few notable exceptions.
Many of those running such engines seem to have a remarkable lack understanding of the engine and just no sensitivity for it. Yet by all their technical ignorance sport an arrogant attitude that is just mindbogling.
Since I do not like to see suffering engines, that's one reason I do not care too much about those events, the other one is that behaviour of some of those photographers notoriously showing up should be called but part-civilized, to put it mildly ..

Juniatha



Hi, Pennsy and Straßburg Fan

*g* hehe, guess, that would describe the attitude of some men to women, too, wouldn't it? - (quote: '.. my favorite .. is the one I am on at the time ..' / ... )
Reassuring, that steam locos fare no better than we do ... *g*
(in German / Italian / French and other languages - die Dampflokomotive / la macchina al vapore / la locomotive à vapeur - are considered feminine, by the way - but that's nothing new)


One of my all-time favorites: (although gone some twenty years before I was born)



Niagara, down the NYC mainline from Chicago towards the Cleveland lakefront - Rochester - Syracuse - Albany
and down along the Husdon to NewYork. How I would have liked to make these trips ...
(from NYC Steam Power, p.158 - slightly worked over by myself; if it should turn up too dark, please let me know)
-

Well---

Let's see: Over my 42 years, I've ridden behind several steam locomotives. Several times, I've ridden behind one that the amusement park who owned her called "Ol' Huff 'n' Puff". She was probably an American-type engine (I didn't know the Whyte system back then.). Twice I've ridden behind (ex-Southern Railway)#4501. Once I rode behind (Norfolk & Western) #1218, and twice I got to see (Norfolk & Western) #611 up close (Not much, I know, but one takes what one can get.). As for my favorite, I guess I have the most affection for "Ol' Huff 'n' Puff".

Just happened to see this thread. There have been a few locomotives that have inspired me. first of all, I remember the Erie commuter K 1 Pacifics from the late fortys to the very early fiftys in Paterson, NJ.
Remembered standing track side in Little Falss, NJ, and seeing the 759
come rolling through.
1223 and 90 got me hooked on steam in 1970.
What pushed me to become a life long live steamer and to build my own coal burning engine was the opportunity to ride behind 4501, twice.
The rest is history. That was 1976, and I'm still in the live steam hobby, up to my ears.

Take care,

Bruce

Juniatha wrote:Hi, Steam man

... b-u-t -- didn't they use any boiler water treatment from the beginning? or was it that the fire brigade's 'treatment' didn't blend well with the regular feed water treatment? Since this trip was made only shortly after ending steam's revenue running, one might think they'd have had some treatment chemicals left - no?
In Germany, with steam trips made by private groups these days increasingly far from regular steam traction times most absurd problems have turned up caused by mishandling due to lack of knowledge (although there are strict regulations on who's allowed to run a steam engine). Incident-free mileage of engines in 'preserved' running is usually much lower than it was in 'run-down' days at the end of steam - with a few notable exceptions.
Many of those running such engines seem to have a remarkable lack understanding of the engine and just no sensitivity for it. Yet by all their technical ignorance sport an arrogant attitude that is just mindbogling.
Since I do not like to see suffering engines, that's one reason I do not care too much about those events, the other one is that behaviour of some of those photographers notoriously showing up should be called but part-civilized, to put it mildly ..


Hi, Pennsy and Straßburg Fan

*g* hehe, guess, that would describe the attitude of some men to women, too, wouldn't it? - (quote: '.. my favorite .. is the one I am on at the time ..' / ... )
Reassuring, that steam locos fare no better than we do ... *g*
(in German / Italian / French and other languages - die Dampflokomotive / la macchina al vapore / la locomotive à vapeur - are considered feminine, by the way - but that's nothing new)


One of my all-time favorites: (although gone some twenty years before I was born)



Niagara, down the NYC mainline from Chicago towards the Cleveland lakefront - Rochester - Syracuse - Albany
and down along the Husdon to NewYork. How I would have liked to make these trips ...
(from NYC Steam Power, p.158 - slightly worked over by myself; if it should turn up too dark, please let me know)
-

Thank you for the wonderful photo.

Can't believe they let a fire department put liquid dish soap into their engine.
Many fire departments addish soap to make the water "wetter".
Wonder if it broke down lubrication oils in the steam - if they put oil in the steam.

My FD does not put soap in the tank until we need it.
Then we flush the pump afterwardso that soap will not breakdown pump lubrication.

Could they have damaged the engine?

Thank you,

Robert Gift wrote:Can't believe they let a fire department put liquid dish soap into their engine.
Many fire departments addish soap to make the water "wetter".
Wonder if it broke down lubrication oils in the steam - if they put oil in the steam.

My FD does not put soap in the tank until we need it.
Then we flush the pump afterwardso that soap will not breakdown pump lubrication.

Could they have damaged the engine?

Thank you,

And what came out of the stack? Bubbles?

My favorite is the ex SP 4449.I am a long time SPfan and my first train ride was on the San joaquin Daylight.I first saw the 4449 in june 1975,on its way east to join the American Freedom train.I chased it from just south on Dunsmuir into Sacramento.Then after a day layover in Sac'to. followed the 4449 over Donner pass.In Trukee I was offered a ride on the 4 car train to Sparks. This was a fantastic end to an awesome weekend.which was my introduction to main line steam.

My favorite has to be Arcade & Attica 2-8-0 #18. I first encountered the A&A in 1984 when I was three, and I have been a lifelong steamer ever since.

I've been in the cab of A&A #18, Middletown & Hummelstown 2-6-0 #91, as well as numerous DASH-8's, DASH-9's, Evolutions, SD40-2's, 50's, 60's, 60M's, 70's, 70M's, 70M-2's and 80MACs, and absolutely nothing compares with the feeling of being in the cab of a steam locomotive as it thunders down the line... every joint, every frog, every low spot in the rail, you feel, but you also feel the very soul of the engine as her pistons pound back and forth, converting the very elements of the earth itself into tremendous power, brute strength, and elegant speed.

Anyone out there been in the cab of UP's # 3985 as I have ? Now there is a steam locomotive that catches your attention really fast. And yes, it is warm in that cab, big as she is, with that fire blasting away. And to get a chance to lean on the whistle is something else. The sound just ricochets off everything around it. That is one BIG Challenger.

Without question, the DM&IR Yellowstones, particularly 222. As a kid I rode a couple of excursions pulled by 222, and in the late 1950's and early 1960's my Dad and I used to go watch the Yellowstones working ore drags on Proctor Hill. Gawd, I wanna go back. I can remember standing in the vestibule of a baggage car directly behind 222's tender as we ambled through the woods, with that deep, thunderous whistle shaking the leaves on the trees. The sight, the sounds, the smells are there as if it had happened days ago, rather than almost 50 years ago.

I have had several cab rides on steam at various museums and tourist lines.At one time one could get a cabride on the Virginia & Trukee 2-8-0 by buying an all day pass.I don't know whether they still offer this or not.It was a great experience!

One of my first memories was of my father getting me a cab ride in Battle Creek, MI on a GT steamer, backing out of the roundhouse. http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/gtw/gtw-s6330alr.jpg In the late 40's, I remember the "spit and polish" green with silver smoke box, Southern steamers http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... isplay=310 pulling out of Birmingham, Alabama's long gone and wonderful Byzantine-inspired Beaux-Arts Terminal Station. http://bplonline.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_ ... OX=1&REC=4 A bit later, I remember well the IC 2-8-2's and 4-8-2's hauling 100 car coal trains north on the slight uphill grade through Tuscola, Il in the early '50s. http://www.illinoiscentral.net/steam/IC2600.JPG Spewing smoke (and cinders) all over the place!! By mid to late 50's they were all sadly gone.

For me I really can't name just one. Let's see.....
Engines I have ridden behind in no special order:
1. PRR/Strasburg 4-4-0 1223 - graceful beautiful engine to watch run.
2. PRR 4-4-2 7002 - My fathers favorite PRR engine type. It was a big thrill for him to ride behind it when she ran at Strasburg.
3. When the D&H borrowed Steamtown's CP Pacific and made her look like one of theirs, elephant ears and all.

My father and I chased N&W #1218 once. When she took off, light, and picked up speed like (like my father said) "a dragster", we were both stunned. That sucker could get up and go! My Dad was a machinist mate on a destroyer, and then made his life as a stationary engineer, so steam was his life.

Again with my Dad, at Waverly NY on the Southern Tier, as #261 went west home from Steamtown, blasting by at about 60. Everyone else at that location had their eye stuck to a viewfinder. Dad and I didn't take any pictures, but the memory was forever cast in our minds.

Myself, firing and running Pine Creek's Shay #6, Prairie 2-6-2 # 26, and Lady Edith 4-4-0T.

Firing BR&W's #60 and #148, New Hope's #1533, and EBT's #17.

A rare cab ride at Strasburg in the #90.