Steam & Excursion > 4501 in the fog at Grand Junction

Over the weekend my sons and I chased the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum / 4501 trips from Chattanooga to Summerville Georgia. 4501 looked great and her whistle sounded even better! We didn't make it to Grand Junction to see the departure on Saturday so we decided to start out there Sunday morning. We got there just in time to see 4501 put on a good show in the morning fog.


Photo 1: This photo shows 4501 and train in the fog in front of the station.

Photo 2: 4501 making a move to make a last minute addition to the consist prior to departure. Unfortunately the addition to the train was the SR 2594 (a GP30) but I never heard the diesel doing any work on the trip. It seemed like 4501 sounded even better on Sunday than it did on Saturday, maybe because of the additional weight of the train due to the diesel it was pulling.

John

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Very nice.

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

Amazing images! They really did a marvelous job on her.

She is a beautiful locomotive. I never see her when she was green. We lived on the west coast at the time and never made it to see any steam in this part of the country back when 4501 was running mainline trips in green paint. So I don't have anything to compare with but one thing I do know for sure is that the crew at TVRM has sure done a great job with her restoration this time around! Like I mentioned above the whistle they've got on 4501 now sounds amazing.

John

JS_IN_KY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> She is a beautiful locomotive. I never see her
> when she was green. We lived on the west coast at
> the time and never made it to see any steam in
> this part of the country back when 4501 was
> running mainline trips in green paint. So I don't
> have anything to compare with but one thing I do
> know for sure is that the crew at TVRM has sure
> done a great job with her restoration this time
> around! Like I mentioned above the whistle
> they've got on 4501 now sounds amazing.
>
> John

How ironic, I'm moving out to the west coast this weekend and I'm very bummed out I won't be able to take a roadtrip out that way to see her, 765 or possibly 611 operating next year. NS has been booming lately. At least I got to see 765 this year. Also I agree that TVRM has done a marvelous job on her and 630 also. From some of the vids I've seen she does sound amazing and has quite a bark to her!!!

Posted from Android

While 4501 was waiting departure on Sunday, an N.S. freight pulled to a stop on the adjacent mainline. Noticing a "bumblebee" front end, I realized it was the Nickel Plate heritage unit on the point and mentioned it to another photographer standing nearby. Word spread like wildfire, and to my great amusement a hoard of photographers forgot about 4501 and rushed to get shots of a diesel.

The GP30 had been standing by on the N.S. interchange lead as protection power. 4501 was having some trouble with the feedwater pump and with the possibility of being left with only an injector to keep water in the boiler, they took the safe route and added the Geep to the train. While my understanding is that there were problems with the pump en route, the diesel was never used for more than a few more tons of dead weight for 4501 to drag around.

Mary McPherson

MaryMcPherson Wrote:
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> While 4501 was waiting departure on Sunday, an
> N.S. freight pulled to a stop on the adjacent
> mainline. Noticing a "bumblebee" front end, I
> realized it was the Nickel Plate heritage unit on
> the point and mentioned it to another photographer
> standing nearby. Word spread like wildfire, and
> to my great amusement a hoard of photographers
> forgot about 4501 and rushed to get shots of a
> diesel.
>
> The GP30 had been standing by on the N.S.
> interchange lead as protection power. 4501 was
> having some trouble with the feedwater pump and
> with the possibility of being left with only an
> injector to keep water in the boiler, they took
> the safe route and added the Geep to the train.
> While my understanding is that there were problems
> with the pump en route, the diesel was never used
> for more than a few more tons of dead weight for
> 4501 to drag around.
>
> Mary McPherson


Mary,
I didn't see that Nickel Plate heritage go by there but later in the day when 630 was returning from it's last local trip the Wabash heritage came by leading a coal train. I think you are the one I talked to a couple of times over the weekend aren't you? I was the one that had my two little boys along with their cameras out getting their own photos of 4501.

John

All 6'5" of me. lol

Mary

> Mary,
> I didn't see that Nickel Plate heritage go by
> there but later in the day when 630 was returning
> from it's last local trip the Wabash heritage came
> by leading a coal train. I think you are the one
> I talked to a couple of times over the weekend
> aren't you? I was the one that had my two little
> boys along with their cameras out getting their
> own photos of 4501.
>
> John

Steam in the fog . . you just can't beat it!! Timeless photos . . . well done.

Craig
http://mcmrailvideos.com/

Very nice images...

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com