Steam Engine You Won't Forget

Mine is the SP 4449. I first saw this engine in June 1975 on its trip east to pick up the Freedom Train. I first saw 4449 south of Dunsmuir and chased it to Sacramento,then over Donner pass to Reno.I have chased 4449 on the Freedom Train,and have ridden and chaced a number of trips over the years since then. This engine made me a confirmed steam fan!

My vote is for the present Valley RR engine #97 at Connecticut. I joined the Connecticut Valley Railroad Association in 1968 when we ran steam trips on the New Haven RR out of Hartford and Danbury. VRR # 97 is till running today 40 years later. That a long life of service for a locomotive that was built in 1926

My favourite locomotive is Taw Valley, a West Country pacific. I was on a mainline excursion behind her from Paddington to Bristol.

msernak wrote:I would most surely say a PRR T-1 had I seen one run however missed them by a few decades. I would have to say the most special engines I saw operate had to be the N & W J 611 and A 1218. I used to travel to Alexandria VA every year to ride the excursions. I also remember the C & O 2716 (correct number?) that ran in the mid to late 1980's.

I'm retired from Southern/NS and was around 2716 (and the others) in the heyday of Southern steam operations. I met quite a few of the people involved in the steam program such as Mr Bistline and Mr Purdy along with many of the trainmasters and road foremen. I rode the steam trains, cleared them to go to work, handed up orders to 'em. I rode on the footplates of 4501, 630, Canadian Royal Hudson 2839, 611. I once used 2716 to get home from an assignment where I was working 1st trick Op at Hayne (Spartanburg, SC). Somehow my car ended up in Charlotte, NC and I was to deadhead back to Charlotte on Amtrak that night. My tour was up and I was going back to the Extra Board. I saw that 2716 was on the Division, and when it arrived in Spartanburg, I collared a friend of mine who was aboard and was a Road Foreman of Engines. He readily agreed for me to catch up on the engine. This was quite convenient as it would allow me to retrieve my car and bring it back to Hayne if needed. I found 2716 to be really hard-riding, and it "loped" along at 55 or so bouncing us all around. You really needed to hang onto something if you were standing up. I have a photo of "Southern" 2716 in my hall at home. (we know it was never a Southern engine, but why would the fans care: it was steam, right?) I was aboard 2839 once when it slipped down to a stall in the rain. "Slippy-est" engine I ever saw: you could pee beside the drivers and it would slip! It delighted the foamers, but evoked quite a few less-than-nice words from the crews! We never thought that slipping was funny--especially the Track Supervisors, but, BOY! Did it ever cause the militant railfans to "foam up"! LOL! Old 4501 was a pretty good,old workhorse. Coming out of Charlotte, NC southbound one time, it was uphill past the Feed mill and really caused it to struggle with those heavy coaches. I saw it get down to 8 MPH one time, and I thought 4501 was going to lose the battle. However, with the exhaust barking and echoing off the surrounding buildings, it refused to give up. I did wonder what would have happened if it had been wet. I remember stories from my older friends that worked at Roadway Shops in the 40's about the struggles the old 4800's used to have on that hill and the helpers that were assigned to shove trains south out of Charlotte! One of my personal friends on the Piedmont Division was usually the one that ran the steam trains as he was the senior engineer on the division AND qualified on steam. Normally, he ran the Southern Crescent (Trains 1 & 2), but he would "claim out" to run the steam extras

So I got to see a lot of the steam trains back in that era. One side note, tho. We , believe or not, would often mark off (if we could) if a steam train was going to be on station. Why? Because it was a MADHOUSE in the yard office and the passenger area. The only refuge was the Freight House where the fans couldn't get in to "bug" you while you were doing your job! It was ONE thing to observe the steam trains, ride ON them, and quite another to have to work AROUND them! LOL!
At least, in retirement you can rememinensce (sic) away from the hustle and bustle.

Gadfly

For me the special one is 1218 - but then I never saw an Allegheny in steam.

I didn't got around 1218 much. It came thru here a few times. I saw it come past our shops when they took it down to Irondale to rebuild.

Gadfly

I don't know how many appearances she made in Birmingham after NS rebuilt her. I only remember seeing her under steam once. (Of course, they had the news story on one of the local stations about her being rebuilt, and I saw the story.)

I could never forget C&O 1601 and 490. I will never forget the yellowbellie of 490 at the B&O museum. And the lenght and size of the 1601 at the Henry Ford Museum.

The first steam locomotive I ever saw in operation was the former Escanaba & Lake Superior Baldwin 4-6-0 No. 14 (circa 1917), which was then, and remains, the Arcade & Attica No. 14. What a grand and elegantly designed locomotive it was. Sadly, it wastes away in the railroad's engine house today, gathering rust and cobwebs.

No. 14's whistle and her tender live on, however: they are now paired with ALCO 2-8-0 number 18 (circa 1925), formerly of...oh I can't remember; some bloody short line or other somewhere, which, recently restored to service, herself, today pulls the Arcade & Attica's seasonal excursion train.

Another steam locomotive I'll never forget is Canadian National #6060. I was fortunate enough to ride on an excursion train pulled by that goliath back in the mid-1970s. It was so enormous and so loud and so fast it literally terrified me. What a locomotive.

I've only ridden behind one....C&O 614 on the '98 Erie Limited from Hoboken, NJ to Port Jervis, NY. My GF and I got tickets for the open window car...we didn't realize the ramifications of that until the sun went down and we went back into one of the Comet cars....and people were commenting at how black our faces were!!LOL. I was in total amazement as we were walking away from NYS Thruway traffic(parallels the Southern Tier for quite aways)with a 17-car train in tow. I was just checking out YouTube at all of the footage shot of it in the 3 years it ran here......what a machine. Hopefully we all get to see it again....