611 In Manasas, VA SAT

I will be taking some pictures/video when it passes through my hometown this AM. Tomorrow the family and I are taking the afternoon excursion, see you in the OB car!

Through The Plains

John, did you run the camera slow or was it really going that fast?

Looks to be only about 40MPH to me.

Well hot water would know but it sure looked fast in that clip.  had the pleasure of catching her this morning in Manassas.   Dang! now I have to buy one.

There are several grade crossings in The Plains, and blind curves.  FYI, a few decades ago, a loco hit a fuel truck and several buildings were burned where track crosses Route 55.

What are they using for electric power in the cars?  I didn't notice a generator car and I would guess that by now all the cars would have been converted to HEP.

One of the NS cars is a power car. The whole train is HEP.

That run by looked like 40 mph to me, too.

I'll be on the Sunday AM excursion with my family, as with Paul, this is also my "hometown".

I was on the 611 today with my sons, we had a great time. What a beauty, a historic railroad icon.

Bravo to all the people involved in the planning, funding, and restoration of the 611.

Here is my best photo from today:

Knowing the streets, grade crossings, and sharp curve along Stuart St. in The Plains, I'm surprised that NS permits 40 mph .  Of course, the video may not have been taken in town itself.

Here are some photos I took today.  I think I got all the cars in the right order....

Thanks for shooting the cars!   Sure are some great ones on that train ! WOW !!!

I rode behind the 611 today and it was an experience I will never forget.  I am tempted to write an extended account of what I saw and felt during the course of the excursion but I have decided to let my thoughts simmer for a bit before sharing them.  Suffice it to say it was a great day and a remarkable trip. 

I took a whole raft of photos from the time the 611 slipped out of the morning mist and glided into the Manassas train station at 7:00 AM until she returned around 1:00 PM in the bright sunshine.  The following are just a few.  Some good and some not so good.  Anyway, here they are.

In regards to the top speed acquired by the 611 on today's trip there were a group of engineers riding in my car, car #12 the Wabash Jackson Square, who had some kind of equipment with them which enabled them to establish the speed of the locomotive.  According to them the top speed acquired was 43 mph which was fairly early on the trip but I do not recall the specific location but it did feel we were moving faster at that point than at any other time on the excursion.

That's about right.  It was a great ride today.  According to my GPS recording, the max speed was 43 mph this morning with a moving average of 28 mph to Front Royal.

OKHiker, we were in the Wabash dome as well up front.

I was able to see this beaut in person! Such an awesome experience to see such a beautiful and historic piece of the railroad back to life!

 WOW!  Wish I was there to take that in

Al

Here are are a few other pics I took on Saturday:

My wife and stopped this morning on the way to church to shoot a few pictures of the 611 passing Gainesville.

611 Leaving Front Royal Sunday.

611 arriving Front Royal Sunday afternoon 

Other side of the track along Happy Creek Road in Front Royal

oops, video file too big.

If you're sitting in the 10th car, with sealed windows, can one really get the feel of steam as much as if they were parked on Happy Creek Road?

The logistics of this run would be interesting.  How often are water stops needed and how are the tenders filled?  What about refueling?  Etc.

We were in car 11 St Austine on Saturday. You could not for the most part hear the locomotive, only two curves you could view the 611.  No stops to Front Royal or back to Manassas other than backing and turning at the Manassas and Front Royal wyes.  Very smooth ride.

Thanks for the Happy Creek videos, W&W.

Great pictures and stories everyone.

Hope to make it Manassas or Front Royal next weekend to see her in person.

Heard that she roared right through my town (Culpeper) on Thursday but found out after the fact.   Does anyone know if she will take that route again or if it was a one and done scenario?

Believe 611 will be running out of Lynchburg next weekend.

We were in the 5th car. Heard her chugging the entire trip, every blast of the whistle, and majority of curves provided great views of the locomotive and rods whirling around. 

No water stops are needed on these trips. They are way too short to require a water stop. When it's time to water the engine, a fire hydrant and some 2-1/2" fire hose does the trick.

Coal is loaded in gons at the mine. Those gons (9 of them) move with the train when it deadheads between cities. A backhoe is inside one of the gons. It has equipment that allows it to get up on the side sill of the car to load. Put the steam loco on one track and the coal on an adjacent track and you're in business.

As the gons are emptied, they are either released back to the mine to be re-loaded or held out empty.

Thanks, Rich.

I think the kids that get to see the few surviving steam engines go by in real life are good candidates to become model railroaders at some point in their lives.

What a treat!

Unfortunately in Texas, we have to wait for the UP to get something back to operational status.

I saw lots of little kids along the tracks today (with parents or grandparents, of course) and they seemed genuinely excited. That old Amtrak jingle still holds true: "there's nothing like a train!" 

Ron H, you might want to consider taking the kids to ride the Cumbres & Toltec.  You don't ride in air-conditioned splendor, but you can hear the chugging (sometimes double headed up the steep grade out of Chama) and smell the smoke, and tour the yards.  The locos aren't all shrouded, either.

I shot this by leaving my running camera right next to the track in Gainesville, VA. The vibrations from the locomotive were so strong that they shut off the camera!

Blasting through The Plains on Saturday. I'm off to chase the Lynchburg - Petersburg trips next weekend...

That accident happened in February, 1967. There is a remarkable color film of this fire available through Fauquier Times, which did an article on 7/2/2013, or through Statter911.com.(7/7/2013)  The film is a treat for fire truck lovers like me.
The video mentioned early in this thread was shot behind the old Southern station, which indeed is in the center of town.