Steam & Excursion > 614 - The Erie Expess - 20 Years After The 1996 Inaugural Trips

Yesterday, October 26th marked the 2nd of two arial charters I invested into to shoot what I hoped to be some outstanding fall color foilage images of Ross Rowland's C&O #614 working hard on the return leg of the 1996 Erie Express Trips which ran from Hoboken, NJ to Port Jervis, NY and return. My 1st charter had been on October 12th and yielded some great scenes, but two weeks later on the 26th it was obvious that the peak color was at hand. With another beautiful weekend forecast on tap & cash in hand I took to the air again. Fortunately, I was not denied as demonstrated by multiple rolls of Kodachrome dripping with great fall color.

What follows is/are two of the frames from the first weekend as my pilot and I hovered over the Delaware River near the point where New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania come together. This was during the two photo runbys which Ross had scheduled that day and it made for a great public relations shot for both Rowland's 614 Iron Horse Enterprises as well as the Port Jervis, NY & Matamoras, PA tourism entities.

The 2nd frame was shot east of Otisville Tunnel and the station stop located about half a mile from the tunnel portal. 614 visible in the lower right center of this frame is about a half-mile east of the station stop heading towards Middletown, NY. The colors are looking real good in this frame.

The third frame is from the weekend of October 26th, and is the prize that I had visualized in my original planning. To this day, I believe it's one of my prize captures over the years.

The companion video is now live. You will find the link in the fourth (4th) post below.

Bob Lyndall - aka Trainmaster Bob - Who still has never worked a day in his life for any railroad!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/16 08:48 by classiclights.

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These are exceptional !  Thanks for posting !

those were spectacular trips I think I made three or four of them-and received the rare privilege of having a CAB RIDE in 614 on the runby after I had one of the winning raffle tickets. I wish I could see this locomotive run again and Ross Rowland ever the show man made sure the locomotive ran at track speed-up to 80MPH.

Thanks Bob. Great pics and great memories. Those were great trips and the last " full Montys " in the mainline steam excursion world ( track speed, open windows, no diesel, run on schedule etc.) and sadly maybe the last ever??  Let's hope not. 

    Hope springs eternal.

   Ross Rowland

Ross, you previously said that you were "Saving The Best For Last"; and I'm confident you'll pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat once again! That said, if any one can pull it off, it will be you, or someone with your knowledge, persistence & resources, etc.

While we all know the reality that pulling something of this magnitude off is an extremely complex proposition there are many here who would be ecstatic, none more so than yourself, should we actually see it become reality again!

For those who are not T.O. members, or those have trouble opening the Train Orders video file, the slightly longer version is located at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8Ay5UtyjOQ

Bob



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/16 07:33 by classiclights.

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Very nice video.  Will we all live long enough to see 614 steam again?  Not as long as that CSX attorney still rules the company, and we are not talking about Michael Ward the CEO.  There is one attorney in CSX who is adamant about not having anything to do with a steam locomotive as he does not want the liability and worries that he would have to go to court to defend the railroad from someone who would bring a law suit against CSX.
John

From what I know of CSX i think they have a lot more serious liability problems than operating a steam engine.

Great photos!

Thank you Robert for posting those spectacular photos, and thank you, Ross, for all that you have done, not just with the beautiful 614, but the AFT and all else.

The video is "LIVE", lol - great job, Bob!

And, should anyone wondering, when it comes to my photographs and Bob Lyndall's creations,
I long ago gave him all thumbs up!  Honored to be featured along side and within any Classic
Lights production!  Back in the 1990's, Ross provided the locomotive and Bob provided the
photogrpahic inspiration!   Thank you both!

/Mitch

Great images, great memories, great engine, great crew, and a great run while it lasted. I wonder who was firing over Moodna that trip (ha ha)?

Thanks for sharing with all of us Bob; we had a GREAT time! God bless and be well.

scoopdejour (aka Hank Webber)

Outstanding photos Bob, thank you for sharing them!

WauhopM Wrote:
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> From what I know of CSX i think they have a lot
> more serious liability problems than operating a
> steam engine.

Then you don't know very much.