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Totally off-topic but .....

A

AndyG43

SOH-CM-2023
... thought people might be interested. On my way into work this morning, standing on the platform waiting for my train & over the tannoy came the regular "the next train will not be stopping at Platform 3" announcement which we get most mornings; what we don't get is this as the next train .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=378OurxcjwI

Luvverly stuff.
 
Great stuff Andy, thanks for sharing, we occasionally get steam specials running through Ramsgate, being born in 1963, i just missed steam, my elder brothers where both train spotters, in the days when there where decent trains to spot :jump:
cheers ian
 
As I'm a couple of years older than you Ian I can remember (just) both Waterloo & London Bridge stations full of steam locomotives. While I know that modern electric trains are cleaner etc, there is just something ... well, romantic I guess, about a steam loco; it certainly perked up everybody, man or woman, young or old this morning, we were all chatting away to each other.
 
I do love watching steam engines. All thru WWII watching hauling military equipment and folks. Remember after the War years moving to Northern California and riding with my Mom, Dad, and brother as Dad was driving racing the Steam Engines along the old Hiway #99 as me and my brother counted the hobos and waved at them. A more gentle time.

Jim
 
Boy, does THIS bring back memories. Grandpa was a locomotive machinist for the Grand Trunk Western and Canadian National. Dad did MOW work for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul & Pacific - better known as the Milwaukee Road - during the Great Depression. I was a yard clerk, then a train order operator for Chessie System. Chessie's engine 614 came through an interlocker I was operating one Saturday morning and we wyed the engine (sort of like a bootleg turn for a steam engine). It was coal fired, that's where I learned never to stand next to one of these things when they start from a dead stop, the fireman really shoots the coal into the firebox and the cinders fly out of that stack up front to settle all over you if you're too close. Well do I remember the smells of hot metal, hot oil, and steam from that day. There definitely is an atmosphere to these things. They're like an old propliner - all the mechanical action is on the outside where you can see it; reminders of a bygone era when things, and people, were different.

BTW re: chasing the train - 614 took an excursion train across the state to Grand Rapids one day. The district CSX railroad cops followed the train all the way to Lansing, end of their jurisdiction. On long straight stretches of track that engine and train left the coppers in its dust. The engineer just couldn't resist opening it up.
 
Blackbird686 said:
My grandfather was very much into the older locomotives of the American West and from around the world. He would have appreciated seeing that old steamer, Andy. Thanks for sharing, mate.

BB686:USA-flag:
Click to expand...

Bizarre thing is, she's a new steamer, only five years old. She's an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive; all of the 49 original Peppercorns were scrapped after British Rail switched to diesel and electric, and the Trust that operates her decided that such an important type needed to be resurrected. And she's earning her keep too, not just acting as a museum exhibit; there were 11 carriages being pulled yesterday, including 8 dining cars, forming the Cathedral Express an excursion running from Tunbridge Wells in the south of England up to Ely Cathedral & back - at 100 quid a seat that was going to pull in some decent money. Pretty tempted myself ......

Oh, and she's a wonderful example to use (along with the many tatlented aircraft restorers we have in this country) when people bemoan the fact that we've lost all of our manufacturing skills; no we haven't, not while we have enthusiastic and skilled people who can make beautiful creations like this.
 
Hi,

I first saw this train on a 'Top Gear' series, 'Race to the North'.

Always interesting to see it in action.

Best regards,
Volker
 
love that train, some of the parts had to be made from scratch, as if starting the production line back up, given enough time and resources anything is possible to accomplish...

such a lovely sight, reminds me that i really need to get back down to the Severn Valley Railway now i have my camera :jump:
 
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