Anyone like steam locos?

[ElAurens]

I shot these this morning outside of Toledo Ohio. The former Nickel Plate Road #765, (Built 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works) now run by a museum group, pulling an excursion train for employees of the Norfolk Southern Railway.







There is a lot going on in this pic. The railroad man in the hard hat is worried about his track, as the curve they are backing down to turn the train around is an 18 degree turn, and the loco is only rated for 20 degree turns. She did spread the rails a bit when pulling ahead on the left side.



The instrument with the red pointer is the speedometer. If you blow up the pic you will find it is calibrated to 120mph. This is not optimism on the part of the builder. Although this class (2-8-4 Berkshire) was designed for fast freight they went over 100 mph on tests when new. It was not uncommon for them to pass passenger trains on the double track mainlines that were common in the day.

[Trumper]

What a monster,looks impressive.
We still have quite alot of preserved steam loco s over here and preserved railway lines,infact the diesels are becoming rarer than steam.
Lovely stuff,what speed does it run the special trains at?

[s8n]

my dad,grandad,and uncle were all engineers of these beauties. i got to ride on them alot in the engine and cabooses when i was a kid.

[Ploughman]

Fabulous looking machine there. I love steam locomotives, they seem so alive compared to diesel or electric. My local heritage steam line, maybe a mile up the road, is very much the opposite end of the spectrum, a Welsh highland railway originally designed to move slate from slate mines. The engines are only the size of a small car with a top speed in the single digits.

[AndyJWest]

Nice photos. How could anyone not like them? Definitely elegant for a freight loco, too.

For more on the Berkshire's (including a Video - turn the sound right up, and frighten the neighbours ) see here: http://www.american-rails.com/berksh...comotives.html

[arthursmedley]

Cor! Nice pics EL. I thought the 'states had gone all Diesel by the mid-forties. Infact why is it double-heading with a Diesel engine?

A couple of winters ago I was on my way to a conference at a country hotel, passing what I thought was a disused railway line when this steamed past;

I nearly crashed the car!! I got ahead of it as it was chuffing along fairly slowly and took these from an overbridge for Blairgowrie. It's a Gresley A4 pacific, don't know which one, but the kind of engine that took him from Edinburgh to London when he was a kid.


Found out later it was running on the West Somerset Railway, a preserved branch line.

[ElAurens]

OK, It is common practice over here to dead head with a diesel in tow, because the freight railroads will not tolerate blocked tracks if there is a breakdown on a 60+ year old locomotive, but on this occasion there is also another special reason. The diesel in tow is a brand new GE built unit that is the first in it's class, hence it's number 8100. It is painted in the vintage livery of the Nickle Plate Road, which is now a part of the Northfolk Southern system of roads. For a modern diesel it is very cool.


Today the 765 was running in a totally urban setting so she was kept to a mere 15 mph. When out in open country they will let her have her head and 60+ mph is not an issue for her.

I do believe she is the last of her type that still can operate.

Steam was not fully replaced in the US till the late 50s. Most roads stopped in 1956, but the Norfolk & Western, predecessor of the Norfolk Southern, carried on into the early 60's and maintained a limited steam shop for two locomotives till the 90's. The Union Pacific Railroad still maintains a steam operation for two of it's steam locomotives out west. A 4-8-4 Northern type and a 4-6-6-4 Challenger type.

[ElAurens]

A few more pics...

[Moggy]

Originally Posted by ElAurens

OK, It is common practice over here to dead head with a diesel in tow, because the freight railroads will not tolerate blocked tracks if there is a breakdown on a 60+ year old locomotive, but on this occasion there is also another special reason. The diesel in tow is a brand new GE built unit that is the first in it's class, hence it's number 8100. It is painted in the vintage livery of the Nickle Plate Road, which is now a part of the Northfolk Southern system of roads. For a modern diesel it is very cool.


Today the 765 was running in a totally urban setting so she was kept to a mere 15 mph. When out in open country they will let her have her head and 60+ mph is not an issue for her.

I do believe she is the last of her type that still can operate.

It's common practice over here too to have a diesel helper when running a steam loco on the mainline, it's common sense I guess.
I took a trip from London Waterloo to Swanage last year on a Black 5 with a class 37 diesel on tow, took about 5 and a half hours to get there and was a great experience. On the way back, it was the Britannia class Oliver Cromwell taking us home and I even got to go on the footplate at Waterloo. I'll post a picture or 2 tomorrow.

[Al Schlageter]

Originally Posted by ElAurens

I do believe she is the last of her type that still can operate.

One of 20 still in existence.

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/berkshire/