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Old 08-13-2022, 06:50 PM
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I was browsing on YouTube and saw this video. I would like to ride on this train. Have any of you done so, or seen this one? Very Cool!!
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Old 08-13-2022, 07:54 PM
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Sweet.

Reminds me of the beautiful Allegheny steam-powered beast at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn MI.


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Old 08-13-2022, 08:12 PM
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Thank you for posting that! It brought a huge smile to my face. People build some amazing, truly audacious machines like space shuttles and 747s and that locomotive is right up there with the best of them!
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Old 08-13-2022, 09:12 PM
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If you're ever in New Hampshire, The North Conway Railway runs a steam train on one of their daily runs.
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Old 08-13-2022, 09:16 PM
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The Doobies wrote a song about that.
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Old 08-13-2022, 09:37 PM
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They certainly don't make 'em like that anymore. Too cool!
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Old 08-14-2022, 12:12 AM
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I`ve seen it a few times in the last couple of years. That video was last year when there was a broken valve on the boiler that kept dumping water. I think it was in Kansas City when they got it fixed.
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Old 08-14-2022, 12:31 AM
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The big boy comes through my town, usually once or twice a year, ( Union Pacific continental main line) It also tours all over the country. Yes, it is impressive! Lots of vids on you tube and several PBS Wyoming TV specials. In its day (WW2) that engine did what now takes 6 to 10 Electo Diesel engines to pull the load over Sherman Hill and in to Laramie WY.

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Old 08-14-2022, 01:18 AM
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OP, that was an impressive vid. I didn't know there were any more Big Boys still running.
We used to have a Norfolk and Western steam excursion called "The Autumn Leaf Special" run from Richmond to Appomattox every October.
The track right-of-way is the boundary of one edge of my home lot, so I got to watch it every year, and one year when my Dad was visiting we took a ride in the old-time, non air conditioned cars. I remember brushing cinders off my pants every so often.The engine was Norfolk and Western 1218, not quite as big as the Big Boy, but at 122' long, a monster nonetheless. One time I ran down and stood right alongside the track hoping to get a good pic as it came by. Big mistake. It was way too big to get in the frame, and the howling, screeching, rattling, clanking, roaring noise it made coming by me was augmented by the ravine I was standing in to the point of being painful. Shortly after our ride, N&W warehoused it in the midst of an overhaul at their shop in Roanoke. There's a rumor circulating that they might put it back on the road next year. Sure hope so.
Here's a few shots in a vid of 1218 operating.

There's lots more on Youtube if you want to look. Just enter Norfolk and Western 1218 or N&W 1218.
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Old 08-14-2022, 01:34 AM
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Quote:
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Sweet.

Reminds me of the beautiful Allegheny steam-powered beast at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn MI.
I saw it last year when I visited there...what a monster!
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Old 08-14-2022, 07:30 AM
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Not as large but Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock North Carolina has coal fired engines that pull passenger coaches around their mountain. Used to be train robbery and Indian attack, not sure about these days. Started going in 1957, took our kids and grandkids, lots of fun.
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Old 08-14-2022, 07:52 AM
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A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

From the days when rail was king.
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Old 08-14-2022, 08:01 AM
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An awesome steam locomotive. It was a brute.
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Old 08-14-2022, 10:56 AM
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Fantastic locomotive. When I was about twelve, steam engines were still running through town. My father's brothers worked for Nickel Plate. Once when visiting my Grandmother, my favorite uncle took us to the round house and we got to ride in a small switching engine. Got to ride when the turn table was rotated and the engine moved out of the roundhouse. The ride was in the cab of the engine and it was thrill. Ah the good ol' days.

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Old 08-14-2022, 11:16 AM
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The Grand Canyon Railroad here in Arizona features a steam locomotive that hauls folks from Williams to the Grand Canyon. We've taken that ride and it's very special.

John
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Old 08-14-2022, 12:04 PM
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The Big Boy comes through Arkansas every few years. One
year they were over night in Van Buren. We drove down and
took the tour, very impressive.
In the early 50's there were steam engines still running, those steam whistles blowing bring back fond memories.
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Old 08-14-2022, 12:45 PM
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Haven't been on that one, but I have been on this:

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Old 08-14-2022, 01:18 PM
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Not nearly as big but impressive never the less.
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Old 08-14-2022, 02:07 PM
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All the first hand experiences and the other added videos are appreciated. As a huge fan of the old western shows, being able to ride on one of these treasures would be amazing. It kinda surprised me when watching the videos that ALL the steam engines weren't pulling only passenger cars. I would think charging folks like me to have a chance to ride behind one of them would help to keep them going.

One thing that I was curious about. I would imagine that not just any train engineer can drive one of these engines. I bet you must be very experienced so you don't help to mess one of these gems up.

dhallz71, thanks for the explanation of what I was seeing. I wondered if all that water was supposed to be pouring out.
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Old 08-14-2022, 04:15 PM
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My great-grandfather, John Elmer Krause, was one of the last engineers to regularly run the Big Boys out of Laramie, Wyoming. He retired in 1965.
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Old 08-14-2022, 06:38 PM
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If you like railroad stuff, I recommend one of my favorite TV programs, Trains and Locomotives, on the RFD network. It airs on Monday afternoons, and each program consists of an hour's worth of videos of, well, trains and locomotives. Watching it must lower my blood pressure by at least 10 points.
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Old 08-14-2022, 06:45 PM
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They keep five or six of those Big Boyd up & running mainly for display purposes. It came through our area a couple of years ago, I think the whole county turned out to see it. Very impressive!
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Old 08-14-2022, 08:02 PM
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One thing that I was curious about. I would imagine that not just any train engineer can drive one of these engines. I bet you must be very experienced so you don't help to mess one of these gems up.

Qualified Fireman also Needed.

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Old 08-14-2022, 08:21 PM
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Details?
Where was the video shot?
Model and time frame of manufacture and use?
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Old 08-14-2022, 08:26 PM
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Never rode on a working model, but I did spend alot of time playing on this one.
Georgia-Pacific #5 - www.rgusrail.com
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Old 08-14-2022, 11:18 PM
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Not the Big Boy. I have ridden the Durango - Silverton steam train, the Chama - Antonito steam train, and the Texas State Railroad steam train, though.
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Old 08-15-2022, 03:01 AM
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One of those steam engines got me from NAS Norman to Camp Elliot out of San Diego. Rode the Southern Pacific back to Oklahoma a couple of times.
One of those times I had my wife and little girl(now 77 years old) with me. It was so hot that her milk would quickly spoil and it was hard to get on the train. Every time the train stopped for water if it was near any stores a mixture of service men would fan out looking for milk. They kept her in milk the whole trip taking nothing for their efforts but Thanks. When things needed to be done there was no inter service squabbling. That is something I will never forget. Something else, there was never a lack of someone to hold her while we took a short nap.
Another thing I will never forget was coming back over the Rockies on our way to get discharged we were held on some siding for hours while they searched for a drunk sailor. They found him run over by the train. He had been going between cars causing such disturbance that they figured some one threw him off. They first were going to route the train through Kansas City and take statements from every one but finally decided not to. Had that not happened I would have been discharged a day earlier.
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Old 08-15-2022, 03:12 AM
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[QUOTE=TX-Dennis;141540963]Not the Big Boy. I have ridden the Durango - Silverton steam train, the Chama - Antonito steam train, and the Texas State Railroad steam train, though.[/QUOTE}

I have ridden the Durango to Sliverton and back three times. Wish that I could do it again.
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Old 08-15-2022, 07:23 AM
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Back in the 1980s and 90s, CSX ran some steam train excursions out of Allen Park Michigan which is just west of Detroit. They were awesome to watch and ride.
My wife and I took a couple rides and can relate to the cinders getting into your cloths and hair. The sights and smells of that burning coal and that huge steaming, smoking beast as it shakes the ground are truly memorable and something to see.
Fortunately for me, we have a fine example of an operating steam train within driving distance.
Here's a link to the Steam Railroad Institute in Owosso Michigan. This is the home to the iconic steam engine Piere Marquette #1225 which was used in the movie The Polar Express and still runs excursions.
Steam Railroading Institute – Keeping Steam Alive
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Old 08-15-2022, 07:48 AM
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One of those times I had my wife and little girl(now 77 years old) with me. It was so hot that her milk would quickly spoil and it was hard to get on the train. Every time the train stopped for water if it was near any stores a mixture of service men would fan out looking for milk. They kept her in milk the whole trip taking nothing for their efforts but Thanks.

When things needed to be done there was no inter service squabbling. That is something I will never forget. Something else, there was never a lack of someone to hold her while we took a short nap.
Needed characters to post so Stan and Ollie

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Old 08-15-2022, 09:06 AM
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Guy Clark, Texas 1947, a new era, Larry
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Old 08-15-2022, 03:08 PM
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One of those times I had my wife and little girl(now 77 years old) with me. It was so hot that her milk would quickly spoil and it was hard to get on the train. Every time the train stopped for water if it was near any stores a mixture of service men would fan out looking for milk. They kept her in milk the whole trip taking nothing for their efforts but Thanks.
My dad's family moved from ND to OR in late '41- early '42. I forget the exact reason why, but the family split up, with my grandparents and their firstborn driving trucks loaded with gear. My father, who was 4-5 at the time rode the train with his 3 sisters, the oldest of which was 14. Of course they didn't have any money, and little food. Just some veggies from the garden. When they heard about this, the train staff, porters and such, fed them some of their meals.
My father remembers that his first meeting with a black person, he sat in the man's lap while eating half of the guy's sandwich. Then the man sang him a lullaby and rocked him to sleep.
Different times back then. I'm not saying there's less good people now, just that people were more willing to help their fellow man back then. Of course, a world war does tend to bring folks together.
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Old 08-18-2022, 07:43 AM
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They keep five or six of those Big Boyd up & running mainly for display purposes. It came through our area a couple of years ago, I think the whole county turned out to see it. Very impressive!
There is only one Big Boy that runs. It was just restored a few years ago. Union Pacific had three steam engines, the Northern 844, the Challenger 3985 which was recently donated to a museum that is going to get it running again, and the Big Boy 4014, which is touring. It sat on display for about 50 years on the L.A. County fairgrounds.
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Old 08-18-2022, 11:11 AM
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A group on Pennsylvania is building a new Pennsy T-1 and hopes to break the land speed record for steam locomotives with it.

140 mph, anyone?

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Old 08-18-2022, 12:20 PM
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I hopped a ride on the 1940s domed passenger car named Columbine pulled by steam locomotive Challenger, No. 3985, a 4-6-6-4, and the largest steam locomotive operating at the time, out of Cheyenne in July 2002. Challenger is the next size down from Big Boy. The guys told us they were in the process of rebuilding Big Boy 4014 at the time.

We climbed outta Cheyenne (6,500'), reached Sherman Hill -- the highest point on the Union Pacific RR -- at 8,000', and the engineer let us out so he could back up, get up a head of steam, and let us do a photo shoot as he passed by with the black smoke bent back over the coal tender, baggage car, and 14 vintage passenger cars. He stopped after several runs, picked us up, and we twisted down the mountains to drop into Laramie (7,220'). We could walk from car to car and even stare out the baggage car's open windows. Coal embers ruined my shirt and hat as I leaned out the windows on a corner to capture shots of the tender and Challenger. The engineer decoupled at the rail yard in Laramie, turned that huge locomotive around, coupled up, and headed back to Cheyenne.

A wonderful experience.

It's 45 miles on I-80 from Cheyenne to Laramie. The round-trip took nine hours -- worth every cent of the $250 ticket. I'd go again, no matter the price these two decades later.

(My slides of the experience are locked away in plastic bins in the basement, but the memorable scents and images are ever present in my mind.)
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Old 08-18-2022, 01:03 PM
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I haven’t ridden on Big Boy but I have seen him. This photo was taken near Wilcox on the UP line north of Laramie. That was the site of the famous train robbery by The Wild Bunch, Butch and Sundance, where they blew up the express car.
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Old 08-18-2022, 01:21 PM
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I have ridden on a few trains pulled by steam engines.

The last one was in Ft.Worth




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Old 08-19-2022, 01:05 AM
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boykinlp boykinlp is offline
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Originally Posted by two-bit cowboy View Post
I hopped a ride on the 1940s domed passenger car named Columbine pulled by steam locomotive Challenger, No. 3985, a 4-6-6-4, and the largest steam locomotive operating at the time, out of Cheyenne in July 2002. Challenger is the next size down from Big Boy. The guys told us they were in the process of rebuilding Big Boy 4014 at the time.

We climbed outta Cheyenne (6,500'), reached Sherman Hill -- the highest point on the Union Pacific RR -- at 8,000', and the engineer let us out so he could back up, get up a head of steam, and let us do a photo shoot as he passed by with the black smoke bent back over the coal tender, baggage car, and 14 vintage passenger cars. He stopped after several runs, picked us up, and we twisted down the mountains to drop into Laramie (7,220'). We could walk from car to car and even stare out the baggage car's open windows. Coal embers ruined my shirt and hat as I leaned out the windows on a corner to capture shots of the tender and Challenger. The engineer decoupled at the rail yard in Laramie, turned that huge locomotive around, coupled up, and headed back to Cheyenne.

A wonderful experience.

It's 45 miles on I-80 from Cheyenne to Laramie. The round-trip took nine hours -- worth every cent of the $250 ticket. I'd go again, no matter the price these two decades later.

(My slides of the experience are locked away in plastic bins in the basement, but the memorable scents and images are ever present in my mind.)
Your experience sounds extremely awesome, and something I wish I could have done! Thanks for sharing.
Larry
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Old 08-19-2022, 01:37 AM
54ball 54ball is offline
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My uncle worked at the Norfolk/Southern steam shop at Norris Yards, Birmingham AL.
I got to go on this trip. It was my 14th birthday and I got to ride in the cab of the J 611 from Atalla AL to Chattanooga TN.
It was something else!
Not my video but this is the trip I was on.

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