Steam & Excursion > N&W 611, just because I can.....

Hello, all stations...

With all the wonderful 611 photos that have been posted recently, I just had to have a go....

1. 611 smokes it up on the Tye River bridge during a 1985 excursion.
2. Night Time In The Switching Yard, with apologies to W. Zevon.
3. 611 was always run so clean-fired, smoke at this Gilbert, VA, runby was a rarity.

Enjoy! Those were very good times, indeed.

HRGXguy,
"Get it out on the mainline
Listen to the rhythm of the train go by
Listen to the train whistle whine
Nighttime in the switching yard...."

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I love photo #3, mainly because the photo line is very well set up with no one blocking everyone else's shots. That is something you don't see anymore.

Traingeek087

Very nice photos of a lovely lady. VERY nice!
And she was posed for the night shot with her
rods down -- great! Just perfect!

Do you have any pix of her running clean? Since
you said that was normal for her, I'd love to see
that! (I learned from steam-era engineers and
firemen that all that smoke that railfans and the
public have become so used to and now expect is
a sign of a bad firemen, as it is unburned fuel that
soots up the flues and tubes and inhibits heat transfer
to the water -- and is throwing the company's money
all over the landscape. In the steam era, a crew
would get called on the carpet for smoking it up
and would have to explain what they should have
done to correct the problem. Sometimes the best
answer was "Get another locomotive!" But NOT in the
case of the beautiful 611 - or in the case of the SP 2472,
who I am most familiar with, or any other modern main
line steam locomotive that I know of.)

The public really needs proof that a coal-burning steam
locomotive CAN burn CLEAN -- as the NKP 765 proved
on Horseshoe Curve a while ago. wow!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/14 15:15 by Margaret_SP_fan.

Lookie - not a diesel in sight.

Was it not the same risk then as it is now to run
a steam engine solo? Or at least solo with a protect
diesel set leading in the distance?

Nice shots - great to see her in action as she was
intended to run.

/Mitch

A photo line for a main line steam runby?
Hardly an issue these days ( sigh ). Maybe for the chasers.

The_Chief_Way Wrote:
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> A photo line for a main line steam runby?
> Hardly an issue these days ( sigh ). Maybe for the
> chasers.


Yes...and closed vestibule doors, so you don't get to hear it or take a photo (no photo runbys) if you buy a ticket to ride.

She usually worked a pretty clean stack...usually a slight haze most often, but there were those occasions.. :-)

To Margaret_SP_fan -

Clean-fired, aye!

1. Runby at Lowry, VA in 1985.
2. and 3. - Runby at Gilbert, VA in 1984.

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…and one more. On Sunday, July 17, 1983, the Old Dominion Chapter of the NRHS ran this doubleheader trip to Richmond, VA, to celebrate the running of their 150th Virginia Rail Excursion. Savannah & Atlanta 4-6-2 #750 and 611 did the honors. This Dutch door shot was just south of Fredericksburg, VA. This trip was one-way by steam to Richmond (Staples Mill Rd.) where we boarded an Amtrak train back north to Alexandria, VA, King Street station.

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Wonderful photos my friend...

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

Look at the crowd on the overpass in pic 6. 611 sure drew a lot of interest, and from not just foamers.

I love this photo! These are two of the first engines I ever saw in steam. I had no idea they had doubleheaded. They are quite the odd couple, but both beautiful engines. Too bad 750 is not as lucky as some of our other former Southern steam stars. I'm trying to determine what all of that stuff is piled up on 750s tender? Obviously its probably lubricants.

steam290 Wrote:
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> I'm trying to determine what all of that
> stuff is piled up on 750s tender? Obviously its
> probably lubricants.

The spike buckets (the big drums with lids) were probably stick grease to feed the Alemite gun. Other lubricants like journal oil were still available at terminals, so there was less of a need to carry it, but you couldn't get sticks of Alemite food anywhere, and spike buckets were a good way of storing the sticks so they wouldn't get contaminated with cinders.

There would also be rolled up fire hose up there, and a ladder.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/14 12:37 by johnacraft.