I have a 45 minute video of my cab ride from Cumberland, Md up the mountain to Frosturg. It was the old Allegheny Central steamer that just recently went back to Canada. We weren't going real fast but as fast as she would go so, I guess, that equates to full steam ahead.
I got to see the Freedom Train as it left Sioux City, and of course the 844 down in Kansas about 10 years ago, we had the Challenger in Sioux City for a 3 day stop and the Milwaukee 261 as it left town in the 90s. I will never for get the Challenger as it ran under some overpasses leaving town and how the smoke and steam billowed as it ran underneath the bridges. WOW!
Dick
How's this?
Many moons ago, 675 came to Pgh. with an excursion. I videoed it on the Conrail(now NS) mainline at New Brighton, Pa. as she barreled along at speed towards Rochester. Then I got around the Conway yard as it headed east towards Pgh. He was waiting for a green signal at Leets going at a very slow pace so he didn't have to stop as the dispatcher read his Form D over the radio. The engine was barely moving but he repeated the Form D and opened her up as he hit the crossovers at Leets. There was a crossing there and ou could hear the whistle wail as he brought it up to track speed. Very cool.
Must have been the olden days Rich!!!! But if that don't get you going nothing will!!! thanks
Great shots, Rich. She's really pickin' em up and puttin' em down there. Great to see something like that in modern days with all the reg's that say you can't do this or that.
Paul Fischer
AMCDave posted:Must have been the olden days Rich!!!! But if that don't get you going nothing will!!! thanks
That 70 mph scene was shot this past June on METRA out of Chicago.
Just showing off !! I would guess that is the equivalent of going 100 Mph in a car.
fisch330 posted:Great shots, Rich. She's really pickin' em up and puttin' em down there. Great to see something like that in modern days with all the reg's that say you can't do this or that.
Paul Fischer
Paul,
Buddy of mine and I chased N&W 611 a year ago, and I rode twice with Clem Clement this year. No sissy diesel helping out, they really open her up coming out of Manassas. Really something to witness trackside.
Jim Waterman
Jim Waterman posted:fisch330 posted:Great shots, Rich. She's really pickin' em up and puttin' em down there. Great to see something like that in modern days with all the reg's that say you can't do this or that.
Paul Fischer
Paul,
Buddy of mine and I chased N&W 611 a year ago, and I rode twice with Clem Clement this year. No sissy diesel helping out, they really open her up coming out of Manassas. Really something to witness trackside.
Jim Waterman
When you say "they really open her up......", that only indicates that there must be an ascending grade there. Norfolk Southern has a maximum speed limit of 40 MPH for any and all steam locomotive operations on their system.
645 posted:Hot Water posted:OGR Webmaster posted:Think we'll ever see E.D. at the throttle of 844 at 90 mph?
Nope!
But now that 844 has been rebuilt with many parts replaced and/or upgraded it should be more than capable of doing so once more.
Not quite, as all the "many parts replaced and/or upgraded" were require for the boiler, as a result of all the mud/concrete allowed to accumulate inside the boiler, over three years.
And with the current downturn of freight traffic there should be less freights in the way to hold 844's speed down on the high iron too.
Most of the freights on the UP main line, i.e. intermodal/stack trains, run faster than 844 since 2011.
Should be a Dickens of a run, no?
Seriously, there is a difference between the designed top speed (or gearing in case of diesels and electrics) of a locomotive and allowable track speed. Obviously the track speed limit as prescribed in the employee timetable is what will govern how fast a train can go which also depends upon train type - passenger, freight, light engine, derrick with boom trailing, etc.
In 1950 or 1951 my father and I were at the Berkley Station on the SP mainline just outside of Oakland, CA. We were waiting for my mother and younger brother to arrive on the Cascade from Seattle. The train had through sleepers to and from Seattle back then.
A freight pulled by a steam engine came roaring by headed for Oakland. I doubt that it was going "full speed" but from my perspective as a 5 year, old it was going super fast. It is an awesome memory. A few minutes later the Cascade arrived in Berkley pulled by diesels. I believe that they were PAs.
I was also lucky to live in London in 1958 and 1959. I saw and rode behind many British Railways steam engines pulling express trains. Diesels were rare in England during the late 1950s.
NH Joe
Many times as a kid between Rock Springs and Rawlins, Wyoming. Very impressive as the road paralleled the tracks for a fer piece. This allowed one to encourage the driver of the car to keep up with that train. But times and technology have changed so I don't see them in service near as much as I did as a kid.
For that matter I don't see Edsels or 57 Chevys in traffic that much now days either.
I was fortunate to have grown up in Conneaut, OH and saw the final years of NKP's steam operations. One Saturday morning dad and I were driving north on Woodworth Road which meant crossing over the NKP mainline just east of the trestle. As we approached the crossing signals began flashing and one of the NKP Berks was accelerating a time freight as it came off the trestle . As she passed the crossing the resulting fury of steam, whistle, exhaust and ground shaking under my feet left an indelible impression on a 7 year old awestruck boy and at age 67 that impression is alive and well.
I nearly got run over in 1993 by the highballing 2765 between Akron and Pittsburgh.
Here's the 611 returning to Greensboro from an excursion to Roanoke in April. I rode on the trip the day before.
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Thank you for that video. I never get tired of watching 611 videos. It brings back the memory of standing next to that awesome piece of machinery.
It always gets the hair to stand up on the back of my neck when watching films of these big steamers at speed. Thinking about all of the heavy pieces (side rods) moving at such tremendous speeds is an engineering marvel to me.
This some older footage of the 611....she is moving pretty good in these clips....jump a head to the 1:36 mark.
The heck of it is, the Pennsy 4-4-2 in the above tape is a recreation (believe the actual 7002 went to scrap) of Pennsy 7002 that did 127.1 MPH across a part of Ohio in 1903. That was the "unofficial" US steam speed record (timed on stop watches and mile posts). At least in an article I read in Railroad Magazine in 1957.
It is amazing to think of all the rods, levers and such moving so fast at that speed and on jointed rail !! Now with all the technology etc that is available we can only match them. What have we lost over the years ??
I have ridden behind a NYC Hudson with a PT tender at 94 mph. Don't know whether it was a J-1 or a J-3....too young at that time. I did see trains operating between Bay View tower (Buffalo) and WX (Wesleyville) that were operating in the 90's. The speed limit after WWII in this area with 16 cars or less was 90 mph-with a 6 mph "allowance". Most of the ones I saw as a kid were Hudsons.
I photographed NKP 700's at 60+ mph in revenue service in 1957-58. (I took a 8mm movie of NKP Berkshire #763 coming down the grade at East Avenue in Erie. By reviewing the movie frames and specifically where the driver counterweights were in each frame, I was able to determine that the engine was traveling between 62 and 66 mph. (All frames were slightly blurred.))
In 1972 on a ferry move from Cheyenne to Denver for a fan trip, I photographed UP #844 at a place called Desoto leading some E7 or E8 diesels at what I thought was 100 mph. When we caught up with the engine in Denver, one guy hanging out a dutch door told me he timed the engine at 98 mph. The gearing in those trailing E units was really screaming!
More recently, I rode behind C&O Greenbrier #614 on NJ Transit and timed the train at 79 mph. Quite a ride.
I know that these engines were all capable of higher speeds, but were governed by timetable speed limits.
Remember plenty British Railways steamers at speed here in Scotland when I was a boy. Great memories !! Also travelled behind big French steam at speed in 1965 in Northern France.
I have seen 3751 doing 70+ MPH in LA
Hi Guys,used to watch abundant steam action on the mainline between Glasgow and Aberdeen mainline here in Scotland back in the 60s. Watched many of the A4 class 4-6-2s on passenger and fast fish trains, was particularly exciting to watch them at night. Many of the A4 class finished their days between Glasgow and Aberdeen after being displaced from the London-Edinburgh run by the new Deltic diesels. This loco "Union of South Africa",is preserved in running order and still runs across the UK regularly,here she is at speed... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75zCi-0OM9U
I don't think it was full speed,but it was still pretty fast.The only other steam engine I saw go by fast was the UP 3985 back in the early 90s.
In the early 1950s I saw Long Island G5s Ten Wheelers going full throttle pulling rush hour commuter trains on the express tracks through Floral Park.
Bobby Ogage posted:In the early 1950s I saw Long Island G5s Ten Wheelers going full throttle pulling rush hour commuter trains on the express tracks through Floral Park.
That must have been before they elevated the tracks going through town. When I was first married in 1974 our first apartment was on the second floor of a building on South Tyson Ave which paralleled the elevated tracks. When an express went through the entire building shook. I remember reading in Ron Ziel's Steel Rails To The Sunrise that, when they switched from steam to diesel for commuter trains, they had to lengthen some of the schedules since the early diesels could not accelerate the trains as rapidly as the G5's.
Great Video of British Railways 71000 "The Duke of Gloucester" at speed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE7cgsq9sIk
I've seen many shay's at "full speed"....
The year was 1949 and my train trip was from Los Angeles Union Station to San Francisco on the then steam powered Southern Pacific Daylight passenger train. The Daylight was every bit as impressive as the historic videos and photos show today. As a young child I will always remember both the overall size (very large) and noise (loud start) of the GS-4 that headed our train. As for speed I really can't say how fast the train actually traveled but needless to say it was a truly fantastic trip up the SP coastline route to SF which I'll never forget - great memories!
GVDobler posted:I wondered how many here have actually see a revenue generating steam engine earning its money.
My family lived on the PRR main line (Huntingdon, PA) in the early Fifties, so I saw many PRR heavy steamers in revenue action. Standing on the station platform while one of those monsters thundered through, just yards away, was an experience I'll never forget.
