96 replies to this topic

[Phil Hackett]

foamer.JPG

 

The term was started by railroad crews as a derogatory descriptive of people who watch trains. But there is something they forget. There is actually a large contingent of railfans who ride the trains for no other reason than to just ride the train. And with the railroads holding on by the skin of their teeth, every dollar coming in is lifeblood. Take those people away, and the railroad industry could loose 10 per cent of their income. Especially if those people decide to find some other way to ship their goods. A 1 per cent drop alone is devastating. The choice becomes to raise taxes to support the industry, or let it fail and rely on trucking to ship our goods. That could double the cost of shipping. 

 

Call me a foamer if you want, but I had a lot of fun restoring old trains. And they are still around because foamers continue to lust after seeing them.   

 

My sister once bought my brother and I tickets for traveling down the Feather River Canyon from Portola to Sacramento. That was fun.

 

Until recently, my sister lived at the base of the Keddie Y bridge and you could see the house from the bridge (it's pretty concealed by trees) and there's a long-standing rumor (it was true a long time before my sister bought the place) that there's naked hippies cavorting around the grounds. When the UP trains would cross we'd go out to the deck facing the bridge and wave and almost always the engineers and others would wave back. You needed to know where to look and it appears the engineers knew exactly where to look. I'm sure seeing fully-clothed senior citizens wasn't what they expected.

 

When I first went to her place there was a train every 45 minutes crossing that bridge. That was because UP was enlarging the Donner Pass tunnels for the double-decker container cars. Once that was done, the Keddie bridge crossings dropped to about trains about 10 a day (UP & BNSF).

 

The BNSF trains were very heavy and slow crossing that bridge. The trains, both UP and BNSF, averaged over 120 cars long.

 

Watching the trains full of Abrams tanks and other heavy military vehicles heading to Honey Lake was very eye opening. We figured out the "car carriers" heading the other way were re-freshed military equipment heading back to the SF bay facilities. Only car carriers on "manifest" trains were probably legit cars and trucks. 

 

For many reasons I will miss the Keddie house and trains were just one of them.

[Dave Crevie]

The Feather River Run is one of those trips I have always planned on doing in my "golden years". Won't happen now, but here is a taste of what that trip is like.

 

https://youtu.be/gAAhWCjRkcc?si=m-rGvEUSVYJh4Z74&t=6067 

 

Thank God for the Union Pacific, and it's foresight to keep ownership of it's rail lines. It allows them to present events like this. 

 

A side note; The Big Boy will never run this line due to the weight limits on several of the bridges. But the 844 will still give you quite a show.  

[Dave Crevie]

Hope I'm not making a bad assumption, but in case any of you guys actually like trains, the Canadian Pacific is going to make a foray south of the Can-Am boarder with their steam excursion loco, Royal Hudson number 2816. This 4-6-4 once headed up the CP's high end name trains that ran from the east coast to the west. I have the schedule.

 

The "Empress";

 

https://youtu.be/cLD...FT2nlNCFW&t=612

 

The schedule;

 

 

The route;

 

[Dave Crevie]

But wait! There's more! It seems we have been ignoring the eastern states. Here's some steam train events for y'all;

 

[Dave Crevie]

Well, I did meet-up with the Royal Hudson. The crowd was massive, so I couldn't get close. No crowd control. It came in from the west, when earlier we were told it would come in from the east. A lot of the confusion stemmed from the change in where it would be exhibited. Originally it was supposed to be on display in Bensenville, but the state police wouldn't allow it since it would tie up three major roadways during rush hour. So it was moved farther east to Franklin Park. Just the same, there was plenty of time to organize the event. 

 

I got this shot from an intersection near the depot. A cop came to tell me to move, and said that they had taken an aerial shot from their drone, and estimated the crowd to be over 5000. All stuffed onto a station platform designed for 500. Anyway, there are lots of photos and videos on the net, so I don't feel too badly. This shot was taken from the other side of the tracks from the depot.

 

[Dave Crevie]

4014 has won it's freedom. It is now equipped with full PTC, and no longer needs it's little diesel powered shadow. 

 

 

 

 

On it's western states tour last year, 4014 earned another feather in it's cap when it was diverted to push a stalled freight over Blair Hill. One of the engines on the freight failed, and the 4014, with it's full consist, was brought up from behind to help the freight over the hump.

 

This was not a publicity stunt. Just watch for the wheel slip and black smoke from the stacks, proof the Big Boy was earning it's oats.  

 

https://youtu.be/icg...52N8O7Yrxi9m6id

[Dave Crevie]

Scheduling for the Big Boy for this year.

 

 

 

 

 

I guess I'm not surprised by the cut back on the tours. "My" engine, Milwaukee Road 261, cut it's schedule down last year, and didn't run any tours this year. The loco is now stored in Silvis, IL., where the UP is restoring Challenger 3985. There is some hope that these locos will still be able to run through Illinois, but we train nuts have been through all this before. 

[Dave Crevie]

Vay, I feel for you. You are so remote from all of this. I was crushed to hear the rumor that CPKC was going to retire the Royal Hudsons. Everyone should have the opportunity to stand up close to one of these machines while it is under steam. 

[Half Fast]

4014 has won it's freedom. It is now equipped with full PTC, and no longer needs it's little diesel powered shadow. 

 

 

 

alone4014.JPG

alone40141.JPG

 

On it's western states tour last year, 4014 earned another feather in it's cap when it was diverted to push a stalled freight over Blair Hill. One of the engines on the freight failed, and the 4014, with it's full consist, was brought up from behind to help the freight over the hump.

 

This was not a publicity stunt. Just watch for the wheel slip and black smoke from the stacks, proof the Big Boy was earning it's oats.  

 

https://youtu.be/icg...52N8O7Yrxi9m6id

 

 

The Old Boy still got it!

 

 I wish most of us could say the same!

 

Cheers

[Vay Jonynas]

Fun fact: the railroad crews call the rail fans that line the rails "foamers".

 

 

foamer.JPG

 

The term was started by railroad crews as a derogatory descriptive of people who watch trains. But there is something they forget. There is actually a large contingent of railfans who ride the trains for no other reason than to just ride the train. And with the railroads holding on by the skin of their teeth, every dollar coming in is lifeblood. Take those people away, and the railroad industry could loose 10 per cent of their income. Especially if those people decide to find some other way to ship their goods. A 1 per cent drop alone is devastating. The choice becomes to raise taxes to support the industry, or let it fail and rely on trucking to ship our goods. That could double the cost of shipping. 

 

Call me a foamer if you want, but I had a lot of fun restoring old trains. And they are still around because foamers continue to lust after seeing them.   

 

Those railroad crewmen sound like the kind of unionized employees who regard their jobs as naught but drudgery and thus sneer at anyone who shows any enthusiasm for railroading. Somehow I doubt such rail "workers" had any kind words for the job Hunter Harrison did to revitalize any of the railroads, e.g. Illinois Central, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, for which he worked. 

 

[Dave Crevie]

The Big Boy passed through my town, Elmhurst, on Monday. I didn't go, even though it was only about a mile from my house. (health issues)  I did sit out on the front steps to hear it go through.

 

At Walnut Street;

 

https://youtu.be/6i_...b4Cf8o0_pf46v-i

 

 

 

At Prospect Street crossing;

 

https://youtu.be/ugc...weqoY1LtQWx9W0j

 

 

 

From the Larch Street parking garage;

 

https://youtu.be/sie...eBORU9WAlsqzn_B

 

 

At the Elmhurst station;

 

https://youtu.be/fje...FyRsMeBwk&t=212

 

 

From my front steps I could hear the whistle plainly, starting when the train was at the west end of Villa Park, (about four miles), and even the bell once it got into Elmhurst. 

[Bill from NH]

I noticed a few passenger cars, what else would that train be hauling?

[Dave Crevie]

A small number of lucky U, P. employees got to ride the train during it's tour. There also is a general maintenance crew traveling with the train. So there are coaches for day travel, and sleepers for night. A diner and usually two dome cars. The rest of the train includes the exhibit cars for the public to view history of the railroad, and some artifacts from when the railroad was started. At the head end there are two water cars, and a generator car that powers all the lights and displays in the exhibit cars.

 

Our police chief said there were probably over 50K people lined up along the tracks from West avenue east to Berteau avenue. (roughly two miles ) It wasn't a total loss for me; the guys I was going to ride with brought me one of the 4014 lapel pins that the crew were throwing out to the crowd as they passed through the downtown area. Very nice pin. Flash gold plated with enamel background. These couldn't have been very cheap, as promotional items go.

[Vay Jonynas]

Yes, the Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 is certainly a fabulous locomotive! But:

 

 

[Dave Crevie]

Biggest one running. Just like they advertise.

[Dave Crevie]

There is a rumor that Milwaukee Road 261 will make a fall colors tour from Clinton, Iowa, to Omaha, Nebraska some time this month. I'll try to keep everyone informed if it pans out. 

 

Last week someone left this photo in my mailbox. No return address, and no postage. But I'm pretty sure I know who. It is a shot of the 261 while we were restoring it. Such a good time in my life.

 

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/34O...vhGacRi7tMA90ma

[Dave Crevie]

Ha! The old muscle saves the day again. My baby, the Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 number 261, is called in to help a coal run up a long grade. One of the four diesels crapped out, and the 261, returning to Milwaukee after an excursion trip, was called in to pull the train back to town. Who said us old folks need to be put out to pasture?

 

https://youtu.be/kWm...qYXGFJ60tD6M_MW

[Bill from NH]

Nice video Dave. When I was a kid, my dad worked for grain & coal company with its own siding. I recall seeing Maine Central RR steam engines pulling cars & moving them around at the mill where he worked. Not nearly as big as the 261, none-the-less they were big & black to a 5- or 6-year-old kid.

[Dave Crevie]

When I worked at the railroad museum, we would use the LS&I 2-8-0 to pull an old side dump gondola up to Reuse Coal to get a load of coal to use in the steam engines. We used the old Milwaukee Road spur line to get there. We would change off guys to crew the engine each time, rotating so everyone had a chance to take a train out on the high iron. The line crossed a couple of farms en route. At one farm, the farmer had made his own crossing over the tracks. On a particular morning I was running the train, I saw the old guy coming in from the right. We were real close to the crossing, and this old codger couldn't wait the 30 seconds it would have taken for us to pass, so he darted across. The rails curved to the left there, and I couldn't see the crossing past the boiler of the loco. I assumed he had made it across, but his old truck got stuck on his crossing. So I hit it. Didn't feel a thing, but the face of the fireman on the loco turned white. And I knew what happened. Luckily the farmer escaped the truck before I hit it, but the truck was reduced to scrap. The museum bought him a new top of the line Chevy truck, but he always complained that it just wasn't as good as his old truck.  

 

Bill; by the way, do you remember if any of those steam engines looked like this?

 

 

These were called "camelbacks", or more often "mother hubbards" by the train crews. They are an odd design, found mostly in the northeast. The idea was to place the cab in the middle of the loco so it could have a bigger firebox. But they were killers. Anytime it would throw a rod, it would take out the cab on that side, killing whatever crew member was sitting near the window. Most of those types were demoted to switching duty.

 

 

[Bill from NH]

Dave, I don't actually recall. The one I got within 20' of when it was stationary seemed longer. If my old friend Jerry Cook is still alive, he'd know. Railroading anything was his hobby. He was a native West Virginian who stuttered, always wore bib-overalls, & smoked a huge corn cob pike. My mother's grandfather worked for a Northwestern Maine narrow gauge railroad called the Sandy River Line. After telling Jerry this, he came back with a book that mentioned the railroad, indicated what he actually did his actual salary. I could tell Jerry Cook stories all day. While in school, my part time job put me in daily contact with him for about five years.

[Dave Crevie]

I model the Maine two-footers, and the SR&RL is one of those. A large part of my layout is devoted to two foot gauge.

 

[Dave Crevie]

What an insult! I can go along with some commercial Christmas chinz, but this has gone too far. How could they doll up my baby like this? 

 

https://youtu.be/dT-b1nAspEM?si=hpQy037-xLOEupmE