Water at Matterhorn.Our Engineman stands patiently in the gangway, as his Fireman fills the tender cistern of Rio Grande Southern Mudhen #455 from the standpipe at Matterhorn.
Astute o... (more)
DRGW 484 and another engine are serviced at the Chama coaling tower in preparation for a trip west to Durango. This coaling tower still exists on the C&TS and while it is not used it is very clos... (more)
K-28 2-8-2 no. 478 just in off a passenger run to Silverton rides the table after servicing
#15 moves slowly past a water plug in the Rockhill Furnace shop complex.
Cold iron - With fires dropped long ago, EBT #17 and #18 wait on a siding next to the Rockhill Furnance shop complex.
The "Scranton Limited" powered by CN 3254 rumbles across Bridge 60 in Scranton while on it's final run of the day.
Historic Orbisonia..
A new day dawns on the EBT as a mixed train lead by #15 is first to depart while #17 and #18 sit idle and await their assignment.
Note: EBT 2-8-2's #17 & #18 were brought to "life" utilizin... (more)
The sun is up and #15 heads out of the yards to begin the days work.
After picking up a car from the repair shops, EBT mikado #15 makes her way through the maze of shops and back out to the main as a crew member waits to throw the switch after 15 passes.
Turning #15 armstrong style.
With a freight consist in tow #15 passes an idle #17 in the EBT yard.
With the days getting shorter, the EBT routinely finishes up their work after the sun goes down. Here we see EBT mikes 17 & 18 holding the siding with their mixed freight as #15 rolls past with a ... (more)
#15 rolls into the yard and heads towards the water plug and the coal chute.
EBT 15 rolls past the sand tower.
As the days get shorter in the fall and winter, the Mikados of the EBT continue to work into the night. A Lerro Productions charter.
EBT 17 and 18 wait for their assignments for the day while number 15 rolls through the yard with a hopper train bound for Mount Union. A Lerro Productions charter.
#17 sits silently watching as #15 and M-7 prepare for the day's events on a beautiful October morning.
Their servicing complete, four of the Rio Grande's 2-8-2 K-36 locomotives await their next call to duty at the Durango roundhouse. These days, however, the majority of their duties involve hauling... (more)
# 15 getting ready for the days runs
15 switches in the early morning sun.
Not much here looks out of place for 1950 as EBT 15 heads through the Rockhill Furnace yard in late afternoon sun.
Dollywood #70 pulls out of the yard for the first of the days excursions.
K-36 #487 leads the 10am train out of Chama, NM with #488 on the side track waiting to take the 11am train to Cumbres Pass.
The Durango and Silverton Railroad.
What was supposed to be a routine maintenance check turned into a 5 hour long repair of a drive wheel spring holder.
The primary power on Connecticut's Valley Railroad is this 87-ton Mikado, built in 1920 by Alco's Brooks Works for the Portland, Astoria & Pacific RR as their #101. In 1935, she was sold to the A... (more)
Two crew members grease up VALE 40 before the first run.
Valley Railroad #40 simmers in the yard posed next to the line's GE 80-ton switcher.
The NRHS special has unloaded and backs into Steamtown's yard tracks at sunset.
A DRGW train from Durango arrives past the stock pens at Chama. Or at least that what it looks like in this 1993 recreation by a Greg Scholl chartered freight. The scene is so convincing that wh... (more)
At 4:00am, crew members at the Durango and Silverton take a few minute break before going outside to ready the locomotives for the day's run to Silverton. In just a few minutes time, these same cr... (more)
Back in May 1950 the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club ran a charter on the D&RGW. For the occasion, the 489 was painted with a green boiler. In order to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the occasion ... (more)
At 4:30am, crew members at the Durango and Silverton begin their daily chores of servicing and preparing their locomotives for their daily run to Silverton. Seen here, a crew member walks through... (more)
What do you do when steam locomotive parts have not been made in over 50 years? If you are a lucky Chief Mechanical Officer, there is a donor locomotive on the property. Well, poor ole' 3377 is S... (more)
For my 100th RP image let me introduce a genuine steam locomotive engineer. This is Aaron Stout and he is about to unleash Canadian National No. 3254's 53,000 lbs. of tractive effort and thus prop... (more)
The wheels for the Valley Railroad's Tangshan 2-8-2 were refurbished by an outside facility and have recently arrived back in Essex. Soon the locomotive will be taken off blocks and be re-wheeled.
NYS&W No. 142's smokebox door is open while repairs are being done to her innards.
Midday activity at Esquel station. The Baldwin is ready to run the passenger service, behind a Henschel waits.
#18 takes a spin on John's first visit to EBT. For more color views of this trip, click here
While backing away from the photographer, Valley Railroad's No. 40 arrives in Deep River, Connecticut.
Not long after the sun cleared the mountains to the east, East Broad Top 2-8-2 15 emerged from the roundhouse and paused momentarily on the Armstrong turntable. The engineer now looks back as he e... (more)
Portrait of a working steam locomotive. DRGW #484 runs light in the Chama yard in the beautiful, late afternoon light. Most surviving steam locomotives are transplants to the lines they pl... (more)
Mikado 5506 had been converted to oil burner after being reassigned to the Casper sub in the '20s. Internet research indicates it was sold to the C&S by the Q, scrapped in 1960, but its hard to t... (more)
DSNG Roundhouse
Looking down from the the coaling tower, we see #17 preparing the morning photo freight while numerous other railfans look on.
Narrow gauge equipment was designed for tight fits and the north entrance to the Chama Yard is definitely in that category. In this illustration, the daily train from Antonito, Colorado em... (more)
Railfest 2009- Moscow excursion departs.
I have never seen this before in a lifetime of ferroequinology: the view from a locomotive window on a spinning turntable. I can tell you, it was easy, it didn't take long and it was fun. I recomm... (more)
The crew of the East Broad Top turns #14 during the Fall Spectacular weekend.
After throwing the switch, a crew member gets ready to climb back aboard CN 2-8-2 3254 and head to the warm, dry shop on Steamtown's last day of operations in 2009.
3499 and sister 3415 wait for work. 3499 was built by MLW and 3415 by Alco in the WWI era.
Photographers line up to shoot EBT 15 and 17 side by side in the Orbisonia Yard in the pouring rain.
Got Steam? The Durango & Silverton sure does! In fact, a quick visit to the DSNG yard has been known to cause serious cases of "Roundhouse Envy" among officials of other tourist railroad... (more)
The brake man sits on the tool box inside Sumpter Valley Railway locomotive #19.
Back In Black... Pitch Black. In Steam and able to move under her own power for the first real time since going on the ground at Los Pinos Siding which resulted in a broken trailing Truck. Looki... (more)
Movin' on. Having just taken water at the McEwen Tank, Engineer Eric Wunz eases Locomotive 19 and her mixed freight out of the yard to begin the roughly 20-mile eastbound run to Baker City.... (more)
Two engines at Steamtown... In a scene that will only be available for a few more weeks, Canadian National 2-8-2 3254 eases through the yard to pick up her train, while Canadian Pacific 4-6... (more)
Engine being turned on turntable at Lackawanna Railfest 2009.
After performing an excursion trip to Moscow, PA and back, CN 2-8-2 3254 takes a spin on the turntable to conclude the day's activities for Steamtown's Lackawanna Railfest.
Note N&W 611 simmering in the background
Fuxin remains the industrial steam capital of the world. It seemed to me, during the two days of my visit in 2004, that every new location in the area presented wonderful opportunities. Seeing ste... (more)
A little cleaner than the majority of Benxi's fleet of SY's, No.719 performs a light engine movement in the yards approaching the steel furnaces. The backdrop of enigmatic-looking industrial build... (more)
Yuanbaoshan JS 8418 is nice and clean on Easter Sunday morning. The 2-8-2 was one of five JS class engines on the Yuanbaoshan coal mine railroad and is serviced for the day's work. Sister JS 8419 ... (more)
K&T #10 moving coal loads around the yard at Stearns, KY in July 1963.
Rockton & Rion 2-8-2 #19 sits alongside a 0-4-0T shop switcher in Anderson, SC. [7-65]
C&TS 487 is coming into Chama at the end of today's run. It's a national holiday and American flags are flying on the 487.
Kentucky & Tennessee 2-8-2 #10 working at Stearns, KY.
On the pass at Lizard Head.... The long-extinct Rio Grande Southern railroad ran from Durango to Ridgway, Colorado, a distance of about 162 rail miles. Like the D&RGW Line between Chama a... (more)
Its not too often one gets the chance to photograph three locomotives steamed up all himself. Being there at night really made it feel like the 1950's.
It is January 1958 and steam is dead almost everywhere; except here on the CNR! I've got a Leica, Kodak Panatomic-X and I am not too late! Actually I was a child in long ago '58 with no knowledge ... (more)
The railroad is suffering the nation's economic downturn. It's equipment is stored while awaiting to be called back for service. Actually, at Steamtown I was able to recreate a shot of how the Mil... (more)
CNR 3254 engineer Aaron Stout is patiently waiting for the go ahead to the station platform in Scranton this below freezing day. The air was perfect for steam effects and the light was unbelievabl... (more)
En route to load up with coal for tomorrow's Ice Harvest excursion.
After setting down passengers for lunch at Moss Vale, 5917 on loan to 3801 LTD from Lachlan Valley Railway in Cowra is being prepped by crew for the return journey of the Cockatoo run back to Sydn... (more)
A scheduled train leaves Chama for Antonito. The 484 will battle the four percent grade to Cumbres and then will continue downhill the rest of the way to Antonito. There is a scheduled lunch stop ... (more)
SY #1395 storms out of WuLong Mine on a sunny May morning with a train full of coal bound for the National Railway. This train has only a short 5 mile trip behind SY1395, as it will be interchange... (more)
The crew holds a briefing before the trip begins.
Many thanks to Lerro Photography for the lighting and the East Broad Top Foundation for letting us play with their Mikes. EBT 12 "Millie" sits on the turntable outside the roundhouse in ... (more)
C&TS K-27 463 sits outside the Chama shop waiting for its turn inside for restoration. 463 had been stored at Antonito until just a few days before this photo when it was brought back to Chama for... (more)
A stop on the inspection pit before she is put to bed for the night allows for this night shot of East Broad Top 2-8-2 15 surrounded by the classic shop buildings. Note the ghostly crew member by ... (more)
Here is the East Broad Top's last operating steam locomotive getting it's fire cleaned. I well remember when no less then three locomotives would be hot here. When 15's time runs out, there will b... (more)
Yreka Western #19 sits near LMLX 439 at the north end of Montague yard during a brief break from switching the Blue Goose passenger train. 439 had been in service to Yreka Western for some years,... (more)
Engineer Tim Smith puts the finishing touches on attaching the original whistle to 190 for the first time in years. http://www.jasonbcagle.com
Westbound at Scranton! Steamtown's big Canadian National Mike pulls the NRHS "Pocono Express" past the University of Scranton as she approaches her final destination: Scranton's Lackawanna ... (more)
Under steam giving train rides with two coaches at Lackawanna Railfest 2008.
Long after the large crowds leave for the day work goes on to keep D&S's fleet of steam locomotives ready for service as seen here with a night hostler going about his work along side K-28 473 at ... (more)
