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Steam Locomotive

msell66

msell66

The party’s over
Donator
Deb and I went for a train ride yesterday on a restored coal fired, steam locomotive. What a cool piece of machinery! It wound through the Iowa hills and valleys and was quite fun. At the halfway point, the loco swapped ends and was one car away from us as we rode in the open valley car. Damn cool way to spend a fall afternoon, IMHO. The only part that surprised me was the amount of coal bits that fell down on us as we traveled.

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Here's video of it switching ends.

 
What is with the Chinese flag? An hour after your train ride you want to go again? :p

fd
 
I've rode one also. Learned my lesson to get in the covered cars lol. There is tons of coal ash that falls.

Bill
 
Fst Blk said:
I've rode one also. Learned my lesson to get in the covered cars lol. There is tons of coal ash that falls.

Bill
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Didn't mind it all, actually thought it was a cool part of the ride! Hell, Deb didn't even care, she was happy to be out of her office and in the fall air.
 
cool, my wife and I rode a steam train from Durango to Silverton CO. I love the old trains! My grandpa worked for the L&N railroad on steam trains
 
The old steam engines here in Kalifornia have all been converted t oil fired. In truth, any Kalifornia rail line would have been wood fired, and later in the 1930's and 40's coalpowered monsters would have been out here. Thanks for sharing, Mark!
 
opentrackerSteve said:
The old steam engines here in Kalifornia have all been converted t oil fired. In truth, any Kalifornia rail line would have been wood fired, and later in the 1930's and 40's coalpowered monsters would have been out here. Thanks for sharing, Mark!
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Not true. Being a railfan as well as into Mustangs, my favorite (now "fallen flag"), railroad has always been the Western Pacific. It operated between San Francisco and Salt Lake City, operating from 1903 (when started, though an earlier RR by the same name previously existed), until 1983 when it was taken over by the Union Pacific.

During the steam era the WP operated strictly oil fired locomotives from San Fran out to the Nevada area (approximately Winnemucca IIRC). From there to SLC it operated operated on coal. It was the last major railroad built in CA. and never operated on wood. Many CA. railroads that were wood fired in the very early days experimented with coal as a replacement in the late 1800's. Due to the quality of CA. coal though, most were oil fired in the early 1900's.

The WP operated on coal as a cost saving measure to prevent the need to ship fuel oil further east to their refueling stations. The coal that was used actually came out of UT due to it being better quality. BTW, the WP was the first major US railroad to completely dieselize. Many railroads utilized a mix of diesels and steam in the 50's but by the middle 50's steam was off of the WP's roster.

And therein ends today's history lesson! :rolleyes:
 
Did a little searching on # 8419. Not a restoration at all! The BSV RR bought it new in 1989. They do have another steamer that they are restoring, it's a 1940 Canadian built steamer.

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Found this on the web:

"8419 was built by Datong Locomotive Works, Shanxi, China, in October 1988. It was one of the last batch of JS (Jian She, or "Construction") class locomotives built there"
 
msell66 said:
Found this on the web:

"8419 was built by Datong Locomotive Works, Shanxi, China, in October 1988. It was one of the last batch of JS (Jian She, or "Construction") class locomotives built there"
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They thought they were buying the plans for the stealth fighter....they didn't realize it until the damn thing never flew:rolleyes:
 
There are several steam locomotives that take tourists through the Redwood forests around Roaring Camp into Santa Cruz and to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Looks like a lot of fun, and is a bit surreal seeing such a huge beast coming down Beach St.
Here's a video:
 
If you REALLY want to step things up a notch, visit the Feather River Rail Society Museum in Portola. They have a "Rent-A-Locomotive" program which allows YOU to drive one!
 
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