Big Boy In Denver

My brother sends us some nice human-interest pictures of the ever-popular Big Boy on its current visit to Denver.   This is probably about two miles from his house.

All photos by Brian Hicks

It's rather tough to get a good picture of a locomotive that's almost always surrounded by fans.  We were lucky to get to see it up close two years ago.  Anyway, with luck it will be returning to this area again.  Soon.

Smoke Along the Fox

Today I had an opportunity to stop out at the Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin, where Dave Kloke and a crew of workers were testing and adjusting the world's newest steam engine, Northern Central 17 "York."

It's a beautiful engine even in slightly disassembled state, missing its pilot, headlight and some covers.  The locomotive was built by Kloke for Steam Into History Inc., which plans to operate it in southeastern Pennsylvania near Gettysburg.  The crew working on it were making adjustments to the engineer's side slide valves while I arrived and then took the locomotive out on the FRTM line for a test trip.  A small platform with two crew members on it was bolted to the side of the cylinder to aid in inspecting the motion. At top, the engine departs Castlemuir on a trip; middle, the locomotive sitting prior to its trip with the platform in the foreground; bottom, the locomotive returning to the FRTM property with the inspectors riding on the platform.

N.C.&St.L. 576

Work recently took me to Nashville, Tennessee. Located in Centennial Park, just west of downtown is Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway locomotive number 576. The 576 is a 1942 Alco product, and was one of "The Dixie Line's" J-3 class of 4-8-4 locomotives. The railroad had a couple of classes of dual-service 4-8-4s which the railroad called "Dixie" types. The ones built during World War II, like the 576 did not have the skirting of the pre-war engines, but did originally have a cone shaped smokebox front that covered the entire front, as well as a Commonwealth cast pilot with swing coupler, like Union Pacific 844. These locomotives were very successful for the railroad, but the N.C.&St.L. was an early adopter of the diesel, making the full switch by 1952, four years before its parent the L&N finally dropped the fires.

The 576 has been in Centennial park since 1952, and only recently received a covered shelter. The condition of the locomotive is fair, at best. Still, it is a very neat looking locomotive, with clean lines. There have been several attempts to "rescue" the 576 from the park and restore her to operation. The most recent attempt was announced several years ago. I haven't heard anything of recent, and 576 sits as she has for nearly sixty years.

Steam at Monticello

We went downstate to see the Monticello Railroad Museum's rebuilt steam locomotive Southern 401 in operation, and also to visit relatives. A good time was had by all. Here the train is loading in downtown Monticello. A good crowd was on hand, including many enthusiastic railfans who came from all over.

(Two photos by Margaret Miller)

This is the flat car arranged for tourist service, which I rode. It's very effective. The train must have gotten up to 35 or 40 mph on the main line.

I had a chance to briefly discuss some issues with my old friend Kent McClure, who is the CMO at Monticello and was the engineer that day.

As I might have mentioned before, I was a member there in the mid-70's while I was in graduate school, and worked briefly on the original boiler for the 401. It now has a brand-new welded boiler.

This is a great accomplishment on their part. I'm glad to see that this experience will be returning soon to a museum near us!












The new boiler was designed for oil firing, for several practical reasons.

Incidentally, their Halloween operation uses a different plan than ours. Various sets are arranged along the main line. Here we see what appear to be a couple of switch heaters on either side of the track, attached to propane tanks so they burn in the dark. With a few adjustments, this would be a good way to burn old paint off steel equipment.

And here's a ghost town. The two figures next to the track are also attached to propane tanks, so they must emit fire also. Yikes!

Meeting the Challenge(er)

Union Pacific had their Challenger, number 3985 in the St. Louis area all week. On Friday, she was on display all day in the Mill Creek Valley, the "railroad gulch" that lies just south of downtown. Since I was over at nearby Saint Louis University all day for a continuing legal education program, I decided to stop by in the afternoon. Lots of people came out to see 3985. I last saw her in 1992 when she came to Louisville on her way to Clinchfield territory to pull the 50th anniversary of Clinchfield's "Santa Claus Express." As always the UP steam employees were informative and helpful. I even got a chance to say hello to Steve Lee, the boss of the program. Steve, like me is a native Kentuckian. My neighbor growing up was a childhood friend of his. It's a small world indeed.

While we were waiting to view the cab, a trio of Alton & Southern Locomotives passed by.

Stay tuned, in two weeks, I'll get a rare chance to ride along with the Saturday morning crew of the Manufacturer's Railway Company in St. Louis. The MRS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser Busch, and does a lot of local switching for the brewery and other industries in my neighborhood.