Vintage trains

[Dan Allen]

2-10-10-2 1911 "mallet" locomotive on tour in Booth Texas 1912

 

[Dan Allen]

a 1950's photo of a Texas short line railroad that ran between Grand Saline and Alba from 1902 to 1959

 

[GHT]

London to Edinburgh, non stop in the golden era of British train travel. A wonderful film, with poetic commentary, not sure by whom but it does have a sort of Betjeman ring to it. Enjoy.
[video=youtube;MYC6tEU9EA0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYC6tEU9EA0[/video]

 

[Dan Allen]

I am not sure what is going on here but I do know that who ever designed that bridge knew what he was doing. I count 16 locomotives and that is a lot of weight up there.

 

[Fading Fast]

Definitely an impressive feat of engineering, but just seeing the picture is making me nervous. That is an insane amount of weight on what looks like some spindly iron legs.

 

[Fading Fast]

London to Edinburgh, non stop in the golden era of British train travel. A wonderful film, with poetic commentary, not sure by whom but it does have a sort of Betjeman ring to it. Enjoy.

Wonderful. Thank you for posting. I just spent twenty minutes in another world.

 

[Blackthorn]

Great pics, everyone!

 

[Stearmen]

A resent TV show I saw, Ultimate Restorations-A Star Is born. The restoration of the most famous train locomotive ever in the world, Sierra #3, The Movie Queen. You may never of heard of her, but you have seen her, probably on multiple occasions. She was in most westerns starting in the 1910s, and even non westerns, Finian's Rainbow, The Great Race, even, Back To The Future III. Plus, TV, Rawhide, Lassie, and, of course, The Cannonball on Petty Coat Junction! Glad to see that she will be entertaining us for another 100 years! [video=youtube;tYIxTYFVYa8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYIxTYFVYa8[/video]

 

[Workhorse]

Hello-

Here are a few photos of one of my many trips to ride the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR between Antonito Colorado and Chama New Mexico. I really recommend getting down there. It is like going back in time.



Plenty of great scenery and diverse terrain to see from high plains desert to high mountain passes.



Well worth the trip in my opinion.

http://cumbrestoltec.com/

 

[Stearmen]

Colorado is spoiled for steam trains! Besides the one above, there is the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge, Georgetown Loop Historic Railroad, Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge, The Cumbres & Toltec, and Rio Grande Scenic Railroad. [video=youtube;fDhUu1Mv8rY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDhUu1Mv8rY[/video]

 

[Stearmen]

I just found this really cool video! [video=youtube;0bjrV2rjeSI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=35&v=0bjrV2rjeSI[/video]

 

[Fading Fast]

I just found this really cool video! [video=youtube;0bjrV2rjeSI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=35&v=0bjrV2rjeSI[/video]

It's all so visceral. You know the fire box is ablaze, the water is boiling, the steam is pushing the pistons to drive the wheels to pull the consist. You don't need an advance degree in engineering to understand the basic structure - there's no digital this, software that, interface connect here or download app there - it looks and feels like it is: a big powerful machine designed and built to pull big, heavy things.

That's its appeal to me. Sure, all those little digital switches on the gazillion microchips inside my computer are conceptually impressive, but they are ascetic - they are not pistons seeming to struggle to push connecting rods to drive the steel wheels. I am implying no moral judgement, just an emotional preference for the raw, unadulterated logic and power of a steam engine.

 

[Workhorse]

I'm pretty sure that the above video of the UP 844 is the Cheyenne Frontier Days train they run every July between Denver CO and Cheyenne WY. I ride this train every year. There is nothing like riding behind the 844 screaming up to Cheyenne at 65+MPH. It can go faster (clocked at 85MPH before) but the speed limit on the parallel highway is 65 so they keep it with traffic so no one gets a ticket. It is a real kick. Steam engines are really truly living breathing creatures and they all have different characteristics about them, sort of like "personalities".

The UP steamers 844 and 3985 are currently out of service so some vintage diesel E7's are being used until the UP Steam program gets one (or more) of its steam locomotives overhauled and back into service. The UP "Big Boy" number 4014 is being restored back to service as well. I have heard 2018 but who knows.

This is a really great thread by the way.

 

[Blackthorn]

This is a really great thread by the way.

One of my favorites, for sure, hence my signature line.

 

[Dan Allen]

AT@SF' 2-10-4 built in 1930, now on display in Amarillo Texas

 

[Blackthorn]

Beautiful!

 

[jamespowers]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XvNWIvDlQm0

I love going up there.

 

[Dan Allen]

Grand opening of Bellmead locomotive shop Waco Texas 1923

 

[p51]

I just rode the White Pass & Yukon RR for the second time in my life (my wife and I were re-creating our honeymoon trip on our 15th anniversary).
No steam running that day (73 was sitting outside the Skagway shops with her smokebox lid removed) but if you didn't look up front to see the diseasels hauling the train, it was easy to slip way past the golden area. Not much has changed up there since the 50s other than the massive 1901 cantilever bridge being abandoned in 1969...
Click here to see the photos I got...

 

[Blackthorn]

Excellent pics, p51! My wife has been bugging me to take an Alaskan trip...now I have a reason.