Steam!

Inspired by the beautiful train photos of mSummers, I decided to scan one of my favorite train shots.

This is C&O 4-8-4 614 pulling an excursion east out of Cincinnati on a crisp November day in 1980.

 

Thanks. ; That's one of the few shots that qualified to hang on my wall.

I, too, miss the corporate excursions. ; An annual ritual during the 70s and 80s was riding or chasing the Southern Railway trips out of Louisville.

I'll have to dig through my 10,000 railroad slides and see if I have decent shots of some of the other major steam engines. ; I know I saw most of them; it's just a matter of getting a decent scan from contrasty Kodachrome 25 slides.

 

This is a great shot! ; Thanks for posting!

 

Love steam trains, and I'd give anything to photograph them. ; Alas, no steam trains down here in Florida - at least not running - other than Disney.

 

Yeah, I can understand. ; Our local one is under rehab right now (okay, rebuild, not rehab), so while their short-distance passenger excursions continue, they're using a 1960s diesel to pull.

 

Thanks, everyone. ; It's fun to dig through the archives and relive the memories. ; I've scanned several more shots and will be posting them over the next few days.

Here are a couple of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge from 1982.

 

OMG I got coal dust in my eye from that one! ; (I'd say it was 1987/88)

 

Cool shots! ; trains are cool, I wish I had some shots to post.

 

For today's tribute to air pollution, we have two shots of UP 3985 in Wyoming in 1985.

 

Today we see Nickel Plate 765 pulling freight on the TP&W in Illinois in 1980. ; They did this to break it in for a fantrip the following weekend.

 

Thanks for posting these Dennis! ; I had no idea there was so much difference in the way these old steam engines looked. ; My only real experience with steam engines has been Thomas the Tank Engine.

 

Cool, isn't it? ; And remember, these are just some of a handful that were preserved in museums and restored to working order. ; Back when all railroads used steam, each railroad rarely had more than 20 or 30 of any one type. ; It had to be a maintenance nightmare.