"Blast from the Past" No. 1 - 2101 on 17 Mile Grade

Keep em comin', Rich.

Fabulous Rich, thanks for sharing.  The smoke and steam just seem to melt into the gray overcast sky behind.

It was a gray, overcast day. In fact, about 10 minutes before this photo was taken, it was raining.

I can't imagine the exhaust sound as most steam trains I have heard are hardly breaking a sweat. No real big grades that I have seen, and when 611 was out at Strasburg, someone commented that it was hardly breaking a sweat. I think I had seen a video from out west maybe in Nevada or Colorado with real mountains, but no idea if the sound of the exhaust would compare to what you are saying here Rich.

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

I can't imagine the exhaust sound as most steam trains I have heard are hardly breaking a sweat. No real big grades that I have seen, and when 611 was out at Strasburg, someone commented that it was hardly breaking a sweat. I think I had seen a video from out west maybe in Nevada or Colorado with real mountains, but no idea if the sound of the exhaust would compare to what you are saying here Rich.

You really have no idea of the sound volume. I remember when we took SP 4449 from Portland, OR to New Orleans for the 1984 Worlds Fair (New Orleans World's Fair Daylight Special), as one of the Fireman and relief Engineers, after the whole event, I really had trouble hearing from my left ear, as a result of the constant high speed Lima exhaust sound. Took quite a few months before the "ringing" went away, and hearing returned to normal.

@Hot Water posted:

You really have no idea of the sound volume. I remember when we took SP 4449 from Portland, OR to New Orleans for the 1984 Worlds Fair (New Orleans World's Fair Daylight Special), as one of the Fireman and relief Engineers, after the whole event, I really had trouble hearing from my left ear, as a result of the constant high speed Lima exhaust sound. Took quite a few months before the "ringing" went away, and hearing returned to normal.

That is definitely loud.

If I remember correctly they ran her thru Seymour In. Unfortunately I did not get to see her.

The overcast sky really makes this shot for me in how it really brings out the Chessie colors.  It is like a black and white photo with a splash of color in the middle which just makes the subject that much more interesting.  A deeply saturated blue sky wouldn't be nearly as dramatic as this image.  Thanks for sharing Rich!

Nice pic!  Thanks for posting..

Rich, it's good to hear from you.  Keep 'em coming!

Poor 2101!  At least she's hibernating and not junked.

Great image !!!! Composition and color contrasts really pops !!!!  
Thanks for sharing 👍😉

@Rich Melvin posted:

It was a gray, overcast day. In fact, about 10 minutes before this photo was taken, it was raining.

Fantastic shot, Rich.

The dew point had to be within a few degrees of the air temperature.

The only way you're going to get a massive, lingering exhaust plume like that is if the air is at or near saturation.

Shows that every beautiful shot doesn't have to be a 3/4 wedge with the sun at your back.

@Hot Water posted:

You really have no idea of the sound volume...I really had trouble hearing from my left ear, as a result of the constant high speed Lima exhaust sound. Took quite a few months before the "ringing" went away, and hearing returned to normal.

I had the same experience every time we ran 765. I would come home from a weekend with her and my ears would be ringing. By Wednesday or Thursday they would stop ringing and things would be back to normal. Then one weekend I came home with my ears ringing, and they never stopped. They still ring to this day (tinnitus), and I have to wear hearing aids to hear properly.

The hearing damage was caused by a combination of the stack sounds and the whistle. When we came in to small towns and I had to blow the whistle for grade crossings, there were often buildings close to the track. The whistle sound would reflect off those buildings and almost reach the point of pain, it was so loud. On the New River Trains we ran for many, many miles with the throttle wide open and the hillside right next to me on the right. All those loud high frequencies in the exhaust sound also contributed to my hearing loss.

@GG1 4877 posted:

The overcast sky really makes this shot for me in how it really brings out the Chessie colors.  It is like a black and white photo with a splash of color in the middle which just makes the subject that much more interesting.  A deeply saturated blue sky wouldn't be nearly as dramatic as this image.  Thanks for sharing Rich!

I totally agree, Jonathan. Some of the best video and stills I've ever shot in my career were on days like this. The signal lights, which are almost invisible on a sunny day, pop out on days like this. Same for headlights and markers. There are no deep shadows to worry about. And if you process the 35mm slide scan properly in Photoshop, the colors stay as they should.

@Nick Chillianis posted:

The dew point had to be within a few degrees of the air temperature. The only way you're going to get a massive, lingering exhaust plume like that is if the air is at or near saturation.

I suspect you are right. It had been very foggy earlier, which means the temp and dew point were the same. By the time of this photo the temp had come up a couple degrees and most of the fog had dissipated, but there was a small bit of lingering fog in the area. It had been raining all morning prior to our arrival at this location. In fact, we set up to shoot the pacing scenes with the camera inside the van, shooting out the back doors because of the rain. I would normally have shot pacing scenes like this from the roof of the van.

Shows that every beautiful shot doesn't have to be a 3/4 wedge with the sun at your back.

AMEN!

@Hot Water @Rich Melvin

I have tinnitus as well, although not from such an exotic source. Mine is attributable to playing in rock n roll bands, hammering on metal, e.g., breaking auto brake drums loose from their hubs and train flange squeal. Exposure to all three of those have caused periods of ringing and diminished hearing, and on occasion, pain.

If you go to any concert venue or nightclub today you will see the musicians and the staff wearing hearing protection. Not so back in the day, when my friends and I were young and dumb.

In my next life, I plan to take better care of myself.

Nick,

Surprisingly at 81, I still have what I consider VERY good hearing, with only occasional rare "rushing" in my ears. The VA Doctor attributes that occasional "rushing" to my time in the Army , back in 1965 & 1966 (Headquarters, Division Artillery, 2nd Armored Division), even though I used hearing protection (shooter's 'Ear-Valves') when visiting various howitzer units practicing/firing.

Rich Great Photo can I save it and it it to my PC Screen Saver album? I have the same tinnitus/ hearing issue as you do but I wish it would have from steam locomotives and whistles instead of aircraft turbine engines(PT6 & Garrett 331 series) with screaming propellers. Been wearing the hearings now for almost 15 years.

On a computer you can right-click on the image and save the file from there.

On a tablet, just touch the image, hold for a moment, and a menu will appear with a save option.

Enjoy it.

Whatever hearing loss I have can be attributed to Funny Cars and Top Fuel Dragsters. I wish I could have heard 2101 though.

@Hot Water posted:

Nick,

Surprisingly at 81, I still have what I consider VERY good hearing, with only occasional rare "rushing" in my ears. The VA Doctor attributes that occasional "rushing" to my time in the Army , back in 1965 & 1966 (Headquarters, Division Artillery, 2nd Armored Division), even though I used hearing protection (shooter's 'Ear-Valves') when visiting various howitzer units practicing/firing.

Thank you for your service Hot Water.

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

I can't imagine the exhaust sound as most steam trains I have heard are hardly breaking a sweat. No real big grades that I have seen, and when 611 was out at Strasburg, someone commented that it was hardly breaking a sweat. I think I had seen a video from out west maybe in Nevada or Colorado with real mountains, but no idea if the sound of the exhaust would compare to what you are saying here Rich.

Think of shotgun blasts.  That is close.  I'm not sure where you are, but find the Reading 2102 Iron Horse Rambles excursion schedule at Reading & Northern in eastern Pennsylvania.  Find a spot between Tamaqua and Barnesville, PA on the morning leg, or between Jim Thorpe and Haucks, PA (near Barnesville) on the afternoon leg.  Pick a trip when they have a long excursion.  Find a crossing, and be prepared for a show like you've never seen before.  Or, better yet, ride the train and get a seat near the front.  The 2102 and 2101 are identical, and having seen a lot of engines running, a Reading T-1 under load is as loud as anything I've ever witnessed.

Kgdjpubs, your "shotgun" analogy is a good one.

Watch and listen to this video. It's only 37 seconds long, and I actually did it for video illustration purposes. However, listen to the "shotgun" exhaust as the engine accelerates. Now picture yourself in the cab as those blasts resonate off the hillside to the right and come back into the cab. And imagine listening to this almost constantly for two hours or more.

This is why I can't hear very well today without hearing aids.

@kgdjpubs posted:

Think of shotgun blasts.  That is close.  I'm not sure where you are, but find the Reading 2102 Iron Horse Rambles excursion schedule at Reading & Northern in eastern Pennsylvania.  Find a spot between Tamaqua and Barnesville, PA on the morning leg, or between Jim Thorpe and Haucks, PA (near Barnesville) on the afternoon leg.  Pick a trip when they have a long excursion.  Find a crossing, and be prepared for a show like you've never seen before.  Or, better yet, ride the train and get a seat near the front.  The 2102 and 2101 are identical, and having seen a lot of engines running, a Reading T-1 under load is as loud as anything I've ever witnessed.

Interesting. I'm in NJ, and do plan on getting out there at some point. I have to see what the schedules are as well as figure out when it is best to have time to get out there.

@Rich Melvin posted:

Kgdjpubs, your "shotgun" analogy is a good one.

Watch and listen to this video. It's only 37 seconds long, and I actually did it for video illustration purposes. However, listen to the "shotgun" exhaust as the engine accelerates. Now picture yourself in the cab as those blasts resonate off the hillside to the right and come back into the cab. And imagine listening to this almost constantly for two hours or more.

This is why I can't hear very well today without hearing aids.

Rich, was this an uphill/grade run? I imagine if it isn't, that it is tamer than the stresses of the grade runs? Granted it is still loud as heck. My grandfather had this mean blue Ford tractor that when running certain equipment, would be a ton louder than normal because of the stresses of what the equipment was. You could try and talk right next to him on one side by the fender and it would be almost impossible to hear what either of you said. Granted I would wager that the tractor is somewhere around a car motor revving, and the exhaust from a steam locomotive closer to a jet engine. Heck, what do I know though.

Great video BTW.

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

...Rich, was this an uphill/grade run? I imagine if it isn't, that it is tamer than the stresses of the grade runs?

The video clip I posted above was starting out from a passenger stop in Charleston, West Virginia. That's why the engine is working so hard in that scene. The scene is from the Hopewell Video, "Runnin' That New River Train" which is available in the OGR web store.

Here's a somewhat longer excerpt from this video that explains things a little better.

Very interesting Rich. Question, at 29-30 seconds, there is a skip in the chuffs. Was that wheel slip, or something else? I remember the 611 video you posted a bit ago with it stalling. Is it something like that but was able to recover?

That moment at :29 into the video is a wheel slip. The drivers lost traction and started to spin. With the throttle almost wide open, a slip like that can get out of control very quickly. I slammed the throttle shut and then came right back out on it again. That’s why you hear the exhaust stop momentarily.

You can see what that looks like from the cab at :45. I slam the throttle shut to stop a slip and then immediately open it back up again so we don’t lose any speed.

@Rich Melvin I sort of thought that that was what you were doing in the cab, but being I don't know squat about the workings of steam locomotives, I thought it best to ask. I would hate to hear what out of control is.

Here's what can happen with a slip goes out of control...

The drivers reached an estimated speed of 140 mph before the valve gear came apart, stopping everything. The R1 driver moved on its axle, the valve gear was totally destroyed, and the engineer was badly injured when he tried to wind the screw reverse gear back towards center.

Holy .... That is some very serious and scary things.

Chessie at that time and 1980-1981 was steam friendly. As well as through 1994 even after the creation of CSX Transportation in 1986-1987, CSX Corp. was formed in 1980. Mainline steam 1995 and up was basically non-existent in the east except for tourist lines like Reading and Northern with 425 which was out of service after 1996 until 2008, and Steamtown in Scranton. From 1997-2007 the only big steam in the east with longer excursions was at Steamtown in Scranton. Reading and Northern was diesel only during that time. Then there was Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam from Sept. 2011 to May 2017. 2101 is no longer operating, but 2102 at Reading and Northern is and 2100 is being restored in Cleveland, OH.