Many years ago the old southern shops in Irondale, AL-- a suburb of Birmingham-- did a lot of the repairs/maintenance and restoration of the 611 and the 1218. I got my courage up, and drove into the yard to see what I could see-- and after spotting the back half of the engine sticking out of the shop I stopped and got out to take a closer look. I asked one of the workers if it was OK to nose around-- and he said as long as I did not go inside the shop building it would be OK. Seems like I shot some photos, and when the 611 made her maiden voyage as a test pulling a freight-- I loaded up the boys and my wife and we chased it from B'Ham all the way to above Attalla Alabama filming with a cam corder. Lots of pacing, some crossing shots, etc. I remember my oldest son was about maybe 7 at the time, and we stood by the track at the first crossing as it came around a curve and came blasting by. Scared him to death and he burst out crying-- this is one awesome piece of machinery at speed. We followed it until it stopped on a siding and just stayed there, and later we found that it had some problems with Rod Bearings over heating, and possibly they were waiting on a diesel to help get it to Chattanooga or back to Birmingham. To see this monster at 60 or 70 MPH, and those huge rods moving up and down is pure magic to a gear head. That's when I remembered the phrase "noting but teeth, hair and eyeballs" would be all that was left if that rod gear came apart at speed. They ran many excursions back then, and the son and I rode behind the 1218 from B'ham to Chattanooga and back. Really great memories, and with those engines coming back into service maybe a whole nuther generation can see what big steam is all about here in the east. Not just the UP/SP folks.
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