Posted on 03/06/2019 2:36:06 PM PST by Texan4Life
The Glory of Steam Trains
Great Video
Thanks
Texas State Railroad in Rusk is cool.
I should add a description of the link I just posted: They’re rebuilding “Big Boy” for the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike. It will run from it’s rebuilding site to Ogden sometime soon.
I watched the famous Santa Fe heavy mountain 3751 chugging by both ways on the route of the San Diegan about ten years ago. What a sight! What really stuck in my mind was the orange glow flickering below the firebox at night.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_3751
It’s actually a heavy northern type!
Around 1990 I took several photos of Norfolk & Western number 610. It was pulling excursion cars near Old Fort N.C.
It looks fairly modern for a steam engine.
Back in 2000, when I still lived in New Mexico, we rode both the Cumbres and Toltec in Chama, and the Durango railroad. They both used to be part of the same network. Durango was funny because there’s a McDonalds right next to the station, so if you go in to order breakfast, there might be a steam engine warming up about 50 feet from where you’re standing.
One of the coolest places I’ve ever visited, was when we visited England a few years ago, and went up to York and went to the National Railway Museum, there.
Judy Garland - On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe (Harvey Girls, 1946)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qBBc4lgO9I
The steam power facility that used to lift Tower Bridge is open for public tours as well - amazing.
When I worked in China 1976 - 1977, I took a jet from Beijing to Chengdu and then a train to the village where I worked. It was pulled with a steam engine. About six months later, I had to go north to Harbin and then a LOT further north into Manchuria — all trains, all pulled by steam locomotives. It was really something.
Can’t wait for the return of the Big Boy. I watched vids of them pulling it to the shop. UP also had a working Challenger for a while but I think it’s down for repair the last couple years.
Bookmarked
“Full Steam Ahead” a 6-part British history of the railroads is a good watch on YouTube. From gravity powered trains to Victorian milk trains. Made only a few years ago. Great if you really like the age of steam.
Good stuff. Over an hour is more than I can sit through, though. I was hoping for more of the big drivers running the rails in the US in the forties.
Excellent video!
Anybody in the vicinity of Pennsylvania, don’t forget to visit the Railroad Museum down in Strasburg (near Lancaster).
Dozens of old cars, loads of memorabilia. https://rrmuseumpa.org/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.