Steam & Excursion > Clifton Forge-Huntington one way 10/15/1978

1) Filling the tender at 7am.
2) Train pulls forward to get the car hosts who had been sleeping in passenger cars all night.
3) Clifton Forge Yard.

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4) Local cousins come to visit in Covington, VA.
5) Guess who the altitude impaired person is....

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6) Car hosts waiting for the train to come up. (Clifton Forge station)
7) Car hosts waiting to load.
8) C&O Geep used to shuffle the train around.

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9) Pulling out of Clifton Forge Yard headed for Huntington... And it's still raining.

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Wish I had been a fan back then. Some serious steam stuff there. Who owned the twin CP Pacifics back then? Jack Showalter? We caught them some 15 years later in Clifton Forge when they were running from Charlottesville and return, as Virginia Central.

nycman Wrote:
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> Wish I had been a fan back then. Some serious
> steam stuff there. Who owned the twin CP
> Pacifics back then? Jack Showalter? We caught
> them some 15 years later in Clifton Forge when
> they were running from Charlottesville and return,
> as Virginia Central.


I thought they ran on the Alleghany Central, but I am probably wrong. Their home base was in Covington at the time if I remember correctly.

milfordgap Wrote:
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> 4) Local cousins come to visit in Covington, VA.
> 5) Guess who the altitude impaired person is....


Who is he?

Thanks for sharing these. Are you sure the last shot (and maybe the last couple) aren't actually at Hinton? The mountain looks like its in the wrong spot to be Clifton Forge in the last shot.

Some very nice stuff! Thanks for sharing.

A fine collection here. I like the grittiness of some of the scenes. Thanks for sharing!

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

> > 5) Guess who the altitude impaired person is....
>
>
> Who is he?
Bill Howes.

Thanks for the memories! I was on that trip, riding in the "Brothers Two". I was amazed to see so many working waterplugs on C&O (we watered at Bremo Bluff the first day, from a waterplug).

The two CP Pacifics were then running on the Hot Springs branch, from Covington to Intervale (border of the Hot Springs Resort property). I always wanted to ride that branch, never did.

Into the mid-1960s, C&O ran a through sleeper to Hot Springs off the "Fast Flying Virginian". The local would pick it up at Clifton Forge and take it up the hill. That remains the only mixed train I've ever heard of that carried a sleeping car.