I'd like to try something new here. Before going into detail, I, like Darren, feel the need to post this shot of Norfolk & Western 1218. It's history is complicated. I received it from my late friend Charlie Hall, who purchased it somewhere along the Norfolk Southern steam corridor. Credit on the back of the photo is to photographer Augustine Blackburn, Bluefield, WVa. Now, having posted that as a teaser, what I would like to do is post old shots of some of our (at least my) favorite operating steam locomotives from times past, and encourage you to post some of your railfan shots since these locomotives were restored and operating again. I'll start with Southern Pacific 4-6-2 2472. First photo is from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath, taken in San Francisco in March 1949. Does anyone have any "since restoration" shots of 2472 to contribute?
The other side: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/sp/sp-s2475ac.jpg http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/sp/sp-s2472aaw.jpg http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/sp/sp-s2472baw.jpg http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/sp/sp-s2472caw.jpg http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/sp/sp-s2472daw.jpg http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/sp/sp-s2472aij.jpg http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/sp/sp-s2472bij.jpg
Barb, that's quite a collection of 2472 photos--the one of 2475 can't count. Gil, that must have been taken on one of her break-in runs right after restoration. Good Job! I thought I would have to post my own, taken by my friend Fred Smith near Pismo Beach in 92? Earth Train to LA. Lets see some more!
That first shot is nothing short of spectacular. Good idea encouraging the posting of these old workhorses in action.
SP 4449. This one was taken by Mike Schafer in May 1984. [ 07. September 2004, 02:23: Message edited by: espeeman ]
Espeeman, nice shot! You got ahead of me. Here is the "before" or in-service shot of 4449, from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath, taken in San Francisco in August 1946. If I might make a suggestion, your photo of 4449 is in bmp format and is almost 1 meg in size. In contrast, mine is jpg and 14K. I know there is a definite difference in quality, but my sorry dialup connection took about 5 minutes to display that large file. Can you reformat it as jpg and size it down some? Thanks.
Alan, I, too would like to have seen the 1218 run, which I never did. I did see the 611, however. For the next "before" photo (here you go, hemi), this is UP 3985 in the deadline at Cheyenne in July 1969, from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath.
I was going to put another 4449 photo on but Railimages will not let me upload it. I will try later on.
Never had that happen before. I tried several times to upload but no photo ever showed up. I decided to try one more time and it uploaded along with 6 others. I deleted the extra 6.
Gil, you succeeded and 4449 looks good in that shot. Espeeman, yeah, she looks real bad in mine. I remember the engines in service on the NY Central looked terrible most of the time as well. It was getting close to the end of steam and they didn't run 'em through the wash rack that often, as they did in the heyday. That's one reason I started this thread. The restored engines look GREAT every time they run. Wonder what the NY Central would have done if Imron existed back then??? Espeeman, thanks for downsizing that file. It shows up immediately on the dial up now.
Darren, where the heck have you been?? I know, you had a vacation or something. Thanks for joining in on another steam thread. Is there anything else?
Oh I'm still here just work is keeping me more than busy so I haven't had much time to post How about this little one Cripple Creek & Victor NG RR
