Steam & Excursion > AFT Move Notes- Dayton OH to Huntington WV

I do not have the AFT Synopsis for this move, so I do not have the exact info on service stops.
I would assume we took coal and water at Cincinnati, but I don't have the written records. If they ever come available, I will update this.


Dayton OH to Huntington WV
Tuesday June 22, 1976
218 Miles, B&O and C&O
Site still exists.

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I chased this trip at least from Cincinnati to Kenova en route to Huntington.  I just remember she was flying along Route 8 in Kentucky.  One friend said he clocked her around 75.  The exhaust was a roar!!!!  Nobody got a lot of pics on that day!!!!  And there were few chasers!
Greg

In this part of the country we didn’t seem to attract quite as many chasers, I’m not sure why that was.
75MPH would have to be a fairly generous exaggeration. It’s not that we couldn’t go that fast- it’s that we wouldn’t. Officially the AFT was limited to 45MPH per agreement with the Smithsonian and National Archives who’s artifacts we carried. I think this was cheated on by a bit quite often, but not by 30 MPH.
SR

The train was limited to 45mph.

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> In this part of the country we didn’t seem to
> attract quite as many chasers, I’m not sure why
> that was.
> 75MPH would have to be a fairly generous
> exaggeration. It’s not that we couldn’t go
> that fast- it’s that we wouldn’t. Officially
> the AFT was limited to 45MPH per agreement with
> the Smithsonian and National Archives who’s
> artifacts we carried. I think this was cheated on
> by a bit quite often, but not by 30 MPH.
> SR

Well maybe 75 was a stretch but 60+ for sure.  I have pacing of 8444 at 65 mph and this was nothing less
than that.  Amtrak was good for 79 on that trackage from Cincinnati going east.  There is a stretch of highway out of Maysville east to Vanceburg where you have to go out of your way a bit.  Most of us didn't make it to Vanceburg ahead of the train.  We were all very, very impressed as the engine seemed to be a whole different machine after coming out of Birmingham's Southern Shop. I know I didn't get more than a handful of movie clips or slides.
Greg

Rdeally enjoying the stuff I never saw as i only voluteered in the West.  Great Pics and great stories!

Greg

I noticed in some of your comments you mentioning having photos and movies of various movements of the AFT. Have you ever made any of your videos public in any form? As a former AFT employee, I for one would love to see them as I only got to see the train and engines from 20 or so cars back, except for one or two occasions. Considering how much film was exposed on the AFT over it's 21 months on the road, there is a relative dearth of any of it online or available in any form. 

    Tom


gregscholl Wrote:
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> BoilingMan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In this part of the country we didn’t seem to
> > attract quite as many chasers, I’m not sure
> why
> > that was.
> > 75MPH would have to be a fairly generous
> > exaggeration. It’s not that we couldn’t go
> > that fast- it’s that we wouldn’t.
> Officially
> > the AFT was limited to 45MPH per agreement with
> > the Smithsonian and National Archives who’s
> > artifacts we carried. I think this was cheated
> on
> > by a bit quite often, but not by 30 MPH.
> > SR
>
> Well maybe 75 was a stretch but 60+ for sure.  I
> have pacing of 8444 at 65 mph and this was nothing
> less
> than that.  Amtrak was good for 79 on that
> trackage from Cincinnati going east.  There is a
> stretch of highway out of Maysville east to
> Vanceburg where you have to go out of your way a
> bit.  Most of us didn't make it to Vanceburg
> ahead of the train.  We were all very, very
> impressed as the engine seemed to be a whole
> different machine after coming out of Birmingham's
> Southern Shop. I know I didn't get more than a
> handful of movie clips or slides.
> Greg

I do have a video on 2101, called "The 2101 Story".  You can find it in the eastern steam category on my website here.
http://www.gregschollvideo.com/steam-dvds.html

Scroll down until you see this cover, and there is a link to a preview of the show, which has one AFT shot.  There are a few more in there as the AFT is discussed in the history segment.
http://www.gregschollvideo.com/images/2101.jpg

I only chased the 2101 3 different days I believe, including Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati in 1975, and Evansville-Cincinnati-Huntington in 1976.  I believe there are a few clips of the Evansville to Cincinnati segment, which is footage east of Louisville as it went that way to Cincy.  I do have a bit more footage that is unused, plus a 3-day chase of 4449 after the AFT was over, from Miami-Birmingham in Feb 1977.  Also have some footage of 4449 in AFT paint on a 2-day excursion from Atlanta to Alexandria in 1976.  None of this has been put on dvd since there really isn't enough for a good sized show.  It may have to go in with some steam variety show.  Also the AFT is silent super 8.  I got sound in 1978 so the Chessie trips have sound for the most part.

I also have a bit of footage of the 1948 AFT in PA somewhere on display.  Its not moving but had an ALCO PA.  I used that footage last year in "Vintage Cab Units", which is all types of stuff from the film era per Amtrak.  The AFT is not very long, maybe a minute or so.

Oh I just realized there is a bit of sound film of #1 a day or two before they started the first official trips.  That is sound and got that from someone else.  It has a short passenger consist.  Been awhile since I watched "The 2101 Story" which has some really nice Excursion footage and rare one-way trip material Like 17-Mile grade and other places.  Sorry I don't have more AFT material for you.

Greg
 

I would certainly second that!  My memories of AFT events are strongly influenced by my own photos, but it tends to be like looking through a key hole..  Other's photos are always a revelation- even things just outside the frame of mine are so easily forgotten!
So if you have photos, by all means- Please post them!
SR

Greg

  I actually own both of those videos, and quite a few others, as I was also crew member for a period when the 2101 was on the Chessie after the AFT. There seems to be more video of Chessie era of the 2101 than there is of the entire nationwide voyage of the AFT. I understand that video was a new technology at that time, possibly not even available yet at the consumer level, but movie film was still quite popular, and I witnessed thousands of people taking movies and videos. I, like BoilingMan, am just trying to shake the bushes to get more of it to see the light of day, before it's lost forever. 

      Tom

With all due respect there's no way the AFT ever did 75 mph. I ran many  ( not all ) of the legs powered by the 2101 ( AFT 1) and we were serious about honoring the 45 mph limit which was part ( in writing) of our deal with the 285 mueums and private collectors who loaned us the 512 ORIGINAL artifacts in the 10 display cars. Remember that included in those 512 items were 13 items marked as " priceless" on the insurance manifect ( i.e. Ben Franklins handwritten draft of the Constitution ( 1775), George Washington's copy of the Constitution with his notes in the margins ( 1787), the Louisiana Purchase ( 1803), etc., etc., etc) and we took our responsibility to heart.

   All 512 artifacts were insured for a total of $ 50 million ( 1975 dollars = about $  200 million 2021dollars) and thank God we returned every one of them without a scratch on them at the end of the 25,000 mile journey. 

  Thanks again SR for all the great memories. Ross Rowland 

Well I have one such photo on my computer so will post it for you.  Feb 1977, someplace on day 3 headed for Birmingham from Thomasville, GA, on the 3-day trek from Birmingham.  My dad rode 2 of the three days.  He didn't care much for the high speed chasing on day one.  My interesting story on day one was driving along the Bee-line Highway west of West Palm Beach.  We were just outside town and shot a runby there.  A whole big line of cars went flying by followed by the Florida Highway Patrol.  We got in the car and a mile down the road about 10-15 cars were pulled over by that Highway Patrol.  So we had clear sailing.  There is a 45 mile stretch of highway with no traffic lights, and a single flashing light at Indian Town about halfway through this 45 mile stretch.  We were pacing 4449 at 75 mph(No exaggeration....looked at the car speedo).  We had one other chaser, a single engine airplane which shows up in my pics now and then.  Anyway that was a cool experience, never to be repeated.
The weather was best on day 3 which is what the scene is below. A side note--I did not see 4449 in Daylight colors until 1989 when we chased it from Portland to LA and back to Fresno.  That was good since it hasn't been down there since.  Also saw it in 1990 on the Yakima Trips as well as 700.  Those were nice, and wish that was still Washington Central, cause it could have steam on it today that way, instead of being BNSF.  Had semaphores back then too.
Greg Scholl
 

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Oh, the 2102 and 4449 were both at home in passenger service, turning out passenger speeds, just not with the AFT in tow.
I just got off the phone with Doyle and he said pretty much the same as Ross- 45MPH was the agreement with the museum lenders and it was respected If anything went wrong and they were over 45, it would be an insurance hell storm.
SR

BTW: I fact check with both Ross and Doyle about this stuff. I’m trying to lay down a history that’s as accurate as I can make it.

Yes, we did take the 45 mph restriction VERY seriously as had we violated it resulting in an incident....well you get the picture. Now I also ran the same engine ( Rdg. 2101) the two years immediately following the end of the AFT's journey ( 1977-78) pulling the Chessie Steam Special all over the CSX system from Detroit to Miami and lots of towns in between and on some of those trips we did pin her ears back. 

   Can't share any details yet as need to let a few more innocents retire first. If you get my drift.

    Fond memories.  Thanks, Ross Rowland 

co614 Wrote:
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> Yes, we did take the 45 mph restriction VERY
> seriously as had we violated it resulting in an
> incident....well you get the picture. Now I also
> ran the same engine ( Rdg. 2101) the two years
> immediately following the end of the AFT's journey
> ( 1977-78) pulling the Chessie Steam Special all
> over the CSX system from Detroit to Miami and lots
> of towns in between and on some of those trips we
> did pin her ears back. 
>
>    Can't share any details yet as need to let a
> few more innocents retire first. If you get my
> drift.
>
>     Fond memories.  Thanks, Ross Rowland 

I know what I saw and perhaps it was not 70-75, but I can pretty much guarantee it was more than 45.  The first time I saw the train was Columbus to Springfield, then Dayton to Cincinnati.  It was more like 25 all day on that one.  So when we saw the trip to Huntington we were kinda shocked by how fast they were going.  A friend of mine from W.VA was also chasing and he is a renowned steam guy and owned a tourist line until recently. I get what you mean about running faster on the excursion trains.  Rode behind 8444 once in 1968 at around 90.  Guys were timing milepost markers.  I rode the cab of 2765 (Really 765) at around 65 west of Ashland in 1993. Another story.
Greg