Steam & Excursion > C&O 614-T forty years ago

New Years Day 1985 found me recovering from a wild NY eve party in Istanbul, Turkey.  This was at the end of a month long steam chase all over western Turkey.  I was then on the way to Egypt to tour the pyramids, ancient temples et al.  A phone call home told me that the long rumored test coal trains utilizing C&O 614 were happening for the entire month of January 1985.  So,  as soon as my Nile cruise ended I flew back to California,  grabbed film and cold weather gear and was off to West Viriginia.  I was able to chase the trains for the last nine days of operation.  I had chased the engine from its first trips in 1981 but to see it hauling long coal drags in cold weather...wow!   The test trains operated between Huntington and Hinton, WV and the engine was renumbered 614-T.  Here she is at one of my all-time favorite photo locations,  eastbound with loads at Thurmond, WV   Jan 23, 1985.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/25 07:24 by masterphots.

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Both very nice photos.  I have seen many photos from those times with the 614-T pulling coal trains.  Happy New Year and thanks for sharing your photos.  Like many other steam lovers, we are all waiting for the 614 to be rebuilt and running once again in 2025.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Thanks for sharing your very nice photos of the 614-T pulling a test train through Thurmond W. Va. The 2 primary purposes of the month long test runs were !. to give the software design engineers from the Foster Wheeler Corp. extensive data colleted via over 40 sensors mounted all over the locomotive as to how the locomotive performed burning vastly different qualities of coal from 7,000 btu " brown dirt" to 14,000 btu Pochahontas W.Va. " black dynamite " which largely burned in the air as it came off the stoker distribution table, and 2. to recruit major coal industry companies to come aboard as investors alongside the then three ( Foster Wheeler, BN RR and CSX RR ) corporate partners and share in funding the building of the first ACE 3000 prototype. 

    The test runs were highly successful on the first objective and failed on the second.

   Only days before the scheduled signing of the agreement covering the building of the prototype the world price of crude oil collapsed from $ 32/barrel to under $ 9/barrel and the 2 railraod partners decided to make no further investment as the price they were paying for diesel fuel collapsed as well from north of $ 1.60/ gal. to $ 0.30/gal. which ruined the economic argument to return to coal.

   It turned out that Jan. 1985 was a record braking cold month with a few days recording remps. in the 15-25 below zero wind chill factor. but the 614 met all her assigned runs ( 6 days a week....eastbound with loads MWF, westbound with empties TTS, Sunday's off ) and on the coldest day she was the only run the made it over the whole division ( Huntington W. Va. - Hinton W.Va. ) as the diesels all had their fuel freeze in the line from the fuel tank to the prime mover. 

    Great memories, Ross Rowland 

Two photographic gems!
Bob

co614 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for sharing your very nice photos of the
> 614-T pulling a test train through Thurmond W. Va.
> The 2 primary purposes of the month long test runs
> were !. to give the software design engineers from
> the Foster Wheeler Corp. extensive data colleted
> via over 40 sensors mounted all over the
> locomotive as to how the locomotive performed
> burning vastly different qualities of coal from
> 7,000 btu " brown dirt" to 14,000 btu Pochahontas
> W.Va. " black dynamite " which largely burned in
> the air as it came off the stoker distribution
> table, and 2. to recruit major coal industry
> companies to come aboard as investors alongside
> the then three ( Foster Wheeler, BN RR and CSX RR
> ) corporate partners and share in funding the
> building of the first ACE 3000 prototype. 
>
>     The test runs were highly successful on the
> first objective and failed on the second.
>
>    Only days before the scheduled signing of the
> agreement covering the building of the prototype
> the world price of crude oil collapsed from $
> 32/barrel to under $ 9/barrel and the 2 railraod
> partners decided to make no further investment as
> the price they were paying for diesel fuel
> collapsed as well from north of $ 1.60/ gal. to $
> 0.30/gal. which ruined the economic argument to
> return to coal.
>
>    It turned out that Jan. 1985 was a record
> braking cold month with a few days recording
> remps. in the 15-25 below zero wind chill factor.
> but the 614 met all her assigned runs ( 6 days a
> week....eastbound with loads MWF, westbound with
> empties TTS, Sunday's off ) and on the coldest day
> she was the only run the made it over the whole
> division ( Huntington W. Va. - Hinton W.Va. ) as
> the diesels all had their fuel freeze in the line
> from the fuel tank to the prime mover. 
>
>     Great memories, Ross Rowland 

Great memories indeed, all thanks to you.   It was a bit chilly out there.....

As far as cold,  I recall one day when the eastbound passed through Chelyan, WV it was really cold (photo below),  especially to an interloper from SoCal.   As I scan these slides in 95 degree weather here in Chile this New Year day,  it's hard to imagine a cold January.

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Alan I also was a witness that day in Thurmond to hear the exhust bounce off the mountainsides seeing steam at its best working hard. It was well worth the trip and the fight trying to stay warm.

Another story I now recall was on one of the super cold nights the wash sink in my PV stopped up and wouldn't drain. We tried the plunger and no go, so I got bundled up and went outside to see what was wrong. Lo and behold it was so cold that the water had formed a solid icecycle from the bottom of the drain pipe to the ground. I broke that off and for the rest of the night we made sure we used extra hot water to rinse the dishes. Brutal cold !!!!  Great memories, Ross Rowland 

On the loaded trains, what was the avewrage tomnnage?

If I recall correctly, about 4000 tons.
weather Wrote:
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> On the loaded trains, what was the avewrage
> tomnnage?

I, and 3 of by buddies were down there and chased over January 14, 15, and 16, 1985. Got some excellent photos in spite of the cold. Nothing like steam power in the snow and cold.

Our loaded trains ranger from 2,500- 4,500 tons. At 4,500 tons she was on her knees fighting the river grade between Montgomery and Hawk's Nest and needed the booster cut in to make it. On one of those max. tonnage trips the booster broke a tooth off the bull ring, but fortunately we were beyond the top of the grade.  

      On the first westbound trip with 105 empties I could get no more than 45 mph out of her and wondered if there were stuck brakes somewhere back there??  No, it was the resistance caused by 105 empty hoppers soaking up all that wind.

     Great memories, Ross Rowland 

Doyle tells a similar experience ---- while engineer on N&W freights,
between Bellevue, Ohio & Conneaut, Ohio,, pulling empty auto-rack 
cars.... about 45 mph was all they could make.

Empty auto racks were all about hundreds, thousands of vertical wind-drag
creators.  He could accelerate the empties, fast.   But once they hit 40/45 mph,
he couldn't get them to go any faster.... even on the long, down-hills, 45 was IT!

Similarly, in the late days of steam, streamlined steamers were tried.
But, in early days of wind-tunnel testing ( models), it was found that 
winds across the tracks, at an angle, blew the coaches up against the 
down-wind rail, and the rubbing flanges caused a greater drag on the
engines, than a smooth-skinned steamer.

David P. Morgan, former editor of Trains magazine,  said that streamlining of
stramers had more to do with lowering customer-resistance, than wind resistance!

​W.