How many have seen a steam engine at full speed?

I  was fortunate enough to be around the DRGW before the narrow gauge ceased commercial operation.

I am not old enough to have seen a steam locomotive in service. The closest I have come to seeing a steam locomotive at speed was when I rode behind 614 about 17 years ago. She was about a mile away at what looked like a pretty good speed and then she slowed to stop at the station where I was. Unfortunately, the trip I was on she blew a piston ring not far into the trip. The rest of the trip was boring diesels. I got video of 614 on a siding as we came past on the way home. That was it. All of my other steam rides were slow ones such as the Strasburg RR.

I rode the Daylite with my dad in the early 50s and the engineer signed a Daylite post card for me.

Mikey

I recall seeing steam when I was small in the early 50s, mainly N&W on their mainline from Norfolk to Petersburg.  SAL and ACL was mostly under diesel by then but I seem to recall seeing some switchers in Portsmouth and Franklin at the paper mill.

When I was 5 my British uncle put me on a steam train that was suppose to go from London to Chester England, the train he put me on was actually non-stop going to Scotland.  They called and had them stop (not sure if they stopped in Chester or not, maybe Manchester).  He caught the next available train and picked me up at the station.  That train was going at a pretty good clip.

I've ridden and seen the N&W excursion trains back in the early 80s, not sure how fast they were going.

My father and I were standing near the N&W/NS mainline in between Bridge 7 and the Dismal Swamp the day the J wrecked.  It was moving fairly quickly at the time but not near full speed.

Don't know about full speed but in the 50's we lived a block from the N and W main line going thru Suffolk. My cousins from Texas used to visit and we would spend hours standing on the rails looking both ways for smoke to round the curve or appear from a train from the Dismal Swamp followed by seeing the engine when it got closer.

The Texas crowd would always go wild, especially when it was the J pulling the Powhatan Arrow or Pocahontas cars.

Before moving to Suffolk, we lived in Bluefield, W Virginia and used to hear the whistle at night. The tracks were further away and we didn't get to see the engines as often.

Great memories that my kids/grandchildren mostly only hear about. They love the steam engines 10 to 1 over the diesels but you have to take what you get. We deer hunt beside the NS right of way and traffic is down during the day from a few years ago.

I also was lucky to see and ride the D&RGW narrow gauge, Durango to Silverton and back, in the mid-1950's, but would not call that "speed".  When I was under 10 years old, I lived on  "depot lane", and hung out at the station, I watched steam roll by every day, but only remember special situations, such as my dad's buddy letting me ride the caboose platform while the engine switched coal hoppers for the general store.

I have. Even well into the 21st century.

About 15 years or more, 765 came through Beaver Co., Pa. on a fan trip and I videoed it at track speed going around the curve at New Brighton. That is a long down grade and it was moving !!   Still watch the video.

I saw the UP 844 moving at a reported 70 mph once, in Missouri.

Kent in SD

A few years back, old 4449 came blasting through my town on the way to Chicago Union Station via BNSF.  I stood near the edge of my commuter station's platform trying to get digital images.  The first I took, you could barely see her.  The second, she was almost filling the frame.  By the third, all I got was some part of the passenger train cars she was pulling.  Learned that day, but too late, to use the video function of my camera.  Later that night, very late, caught her on the move, but at far less speed, from BNSF to old IHB line to continue her run East to Michigan.  From those shots, I learned the value of lighting.

As a kid, I saw some old PRR moving at speed just outside Pittsburgh and later outside Columbus, Ohio.  It helped that my grandfather worked as a pipefitter at the Columbus shops before retiring.

PRR1950 posted:

A few years back, old 4449 came blasting through my town on the way to Chicago Union Station via BNSF.  I stood near the edge of my commuter station's platform trying to get digital images.  The first I took, you could barely see her.  The second, she was almost filling the frame.  By the third, all I got was some part of the passenger train cars she was pulling.  Learned that day, but too late, to use the video function of my camera. 

And the speed of 4449 on that move was only 60 to 65 MPH!

Later that night, very late, caught her on the move, but at far less speed, from BNSF to old IHB line to continue her run East to Michigan.  From those shots, I learned the value of lighting.

Yes, as that was a light engine move, so the speed had to be greatly reduced.

As a kid, I saw some old PRR moving at speed just outside Pittsburgh and later outside Columbus, Ohio.  It helped that my grandfather worked as a pipefitter at the Columbus shops before retiring.

I've run a Shay at full speed. 

My one of my crew said I was going too fast.  I replied: "This is a Shay, it doesn't have a too fast!"

Rusty

Besides seeing them at the Roanoke passenger station and chasing them to Hollins, Va., I rode on the K2 powered passenger train all the way from Roanoke to Hagerstown.

I have had the  honor of running the 765 at 79 mph on a deadhead move back in 1993. We used to run 60+ on the New River Trains...with a 34 car train! She's run many a mile above 60, but of course, that's just easing along in "Daylight speed." 

In our video "Queen of the Fleet"  there are some pacing scenes with the 611 going 75 mph on the NKP west of Bellevue. Very impressive.

OGR Webmaster posted:

I have had the  honor of running the 765 at 79 mph on a deadhead move back in 1993. We used to run 60+ on the New River Trains...with a 34 car train! She's run many a mile above 60, but of course, that's just easing along in "Daylight speed." 

Right you are Rich! I've been 87 MPH on SP 4449, and about 93 MPH on UP 844.

In our video "Queen of the Fleet"  there are some pacing scenes with the 611 going 75 mph on the NKP west of Bellevue. Very impressive.

When I was 5 my British uncle put me on a steam train that was suppose to go from London to Chester England, the train he put me on was actually non-stop going to Scotland.  They called and had them stop (not sure if they stopped in Chester or not, maybe Manchester).  He caught the next available train and picked me up at the station.  That train was going at a pretty good clip.

 

Up until I was 4 or 5 years old, I used to ride behind a coffee-pot British branchline tank engine that connected with mainline expresses when traveling to visit my grandparents. They lived in a little village on the British East Coast main line, so I have memories of steam and coal smoke deeply imprinted. I never knew what the fast engines were, but remember the blast of noise, smoke and steam as they flew by. They were probably Pacifics and 4-6-0s, but I didn't know it at the time. After steam was gone, it was the howling Deltics and coughing Sulzer diesels. Great sounds all.

When I was in high school I would watch the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal steamers in action every weekend. They were in revenue service until 1963, earning a living every day in New York City.

China.  December 2004.

I'll leave this with a memory. No photograph here, and it wouldn't have done any good to take one. The hotel at Reshui backs up to the hillside as the tracks climb Jingpeng Pass on three levels on their way to Shangdian. One night, I was awakened by the sound of an westbound freight ascending the grade with doubleheaded QJ-class 2-10-2s. Slow and steady, four exhausts per revolution of the drive wheels, and the slightly differing speeds took the engines in and out of rhythm every ten seconds or so. The sound fades, then comes back. They must be on the second level by now. Looking out the window, two headlights illuminate the darkness, steam plumes shooting high into the sky as they pull against a heavy train. Once again the sound fades, then comes back. They are on the third level, working hard. They will be in Liudigou soon. Five more miles, and they will reach the top. The sound, once loud, fades one last time. All is quiet. Soon, the spectacle will be repeated as yet another train ascends the pass. This scene has played out all over the globe for well over one hundred years, but not for much longer. March 27, 2005 marked the end of steam over Jingpeng Pass. By early December 2005, it was gone. The last mainline steam railroad in the world was now completely dieselized. This truly was the end of an era.

The photo below, at Tunnel 4, was shot a few days later on the same line...

I've seen a few hauling over the years. The NS steam program would pick up and haul if they could, back before the derailment that lowered their speed limits. I rode behind 1218 once and we must have been going well over 60 MPH. 611 went a little faster if my milepost counting was accurate.

844 and 4449 also stick out in my mind as the closest to going 'full speed' in that I saw each going the mainline speeds they likely would have gone back in the day.

Got blasted by both, doubleheading, at the Auburn, WA commuter station during 844's Pacific NW experience in 2007 (the photo below is not from that, but departing Centralia earlier that day). You should have seen the looks on the faces of the non-train-fan folks when they saw that zooming by!

Oh yes! The C&O 614 blasting through Glen Rock, NJ on her NJ Transit runs in the mid 90s. Awesome, awesome show!

Rode behind Burlington S4 4-6-4 #3001 (1958) and O5b 4-8-4 #5632 (1961 AND 1962) at the steam maximum, 89 mph. With the '32, we were running up the mainline paralleling the Mississippi R in Wisconsin. My buddies and I were perched in an open dutch door, when we met the southbound Twin Cities Zephyr doing probably 100 mph. You can bet we jumped back from that door when the Zephyr slammed past at a combined 190 MPH!      Whew!!!

Also rode a number of Grand Trunk Western fantrips with U3b 4-8-4's #6322 and 6323 (1960 and 1961) , which ran at the GTW passenger max of 80 mph.

Hot Water posted:

OGR Webmaster posted:

I have had the  honor of running the 765 at 79 mph on a deadhead move back in 1993. We used to run 60+ on the New River Trains...with a 34 car train! She's run many a mile above 60, but of course, that's just easing along in "Daylight speed." 

Right you are Rich! I've been 87 MPH on SP 4449, and about 93 MPH on UP 844.

In our video "Queen of the Fleet"  there are some pacing scenes with the 611 going 75 mph on the NKP west of Bellevue. Very impressive.

 

Hot Water was the 93mph trip the time Mr. Claytor ran the 844 for awhile?................................

I had heard that the CEO of the UP got Steve Lee to let him have some throttle time, and had it above 90+ mph for a spell!

That was the story that Frank Collins told my step father and me, when he was into visit my folks!...............

I saw Long Island Rail Road rush hour express commuter trains of Ping Pong cars roar through Floral Park behind a G5s on the center track.

Yes, a few times. 261 does 50+ on her excursions. It is quite the rush standing near the tracks when she comes thundering by.

My wife snapped this one back in 2004 when the CP Empress was double heading with 261, from St Paul to Winona. I love this picture because the camera didn't quite stop the motion.

I've seen both the 765 and 611 at speed. Both real thrills, considering my "usual" steam experience is  an 0-4-0T or 0-6-0T putzing along at 10mph. Occasionally I get to see a 2-8-0 or something in that arena.

Can't wait to see the 1309 running out of Cumberland next year!

Long been fascinated with Chinese steam - would love to see Chinese railroading, steam or no steam, some day. Same for much of the European rail lines, especially steam in Germany.

PRR in Lewistown, PA in the mid 1950's for my earliest "at speed" live steam experiences.  As for my most recent; that would be the NKP 765 when NS ran the three Horseshoe Curve excursions in May 2013.  I rode the first one and chased the second.  Had to fly home on Memorial Day that year and missed the third trip.

Curt

Brandy posted:

Hot Water posted:

OGR Webmaster posted:

I have had the  honor of running the 765 at 79 mph on a deadhead move back in 1993. We used to run 60+ on the New River Trains...with a 34 car train! She's run many a mile above 60, but of course, that's just easing along in "Daylight speed." 

Right you are Rich! I've been 87 MPH on SP 4449, and about 93 MPH on UP 844.

In our video "Queen of the Fleet"  there are some pacing scenes with the 611 going 75 mph on the NKP west of Bellevue. Very impressive.

 

Hot Water was the 93mph trip the time Mr. Claytor ran the 844 for awhile?................................

No, as I was not firing on that trip. However, Mr. Claytor did indeed exceed 90+ MPH, and commented to Steve, "They won't let me run THAT fast at home!".

I had heard that the CEO of the UP got Steve Lee to let him have some throttle time, and had it above 90+ mph for a spell!

True. But at a stop, for something or other, the CEO of UP Mr. John Kennifick walked forward from his business car, and hollered up at Mr. Claytor, "****'t Bob, quit going so fast! We try and keep her below 85! I don't want to have to fire Road Foreman Lee for speeding."   

That was the story that Frank Collins told my step father and me, when he was into visit my folks!...............

You mature gentlemen sound like teenage hot rodders !!

Think we'll ever see E.D. at the throttle of 844 at 90 mph? 

OGR Webmaster posted:

Think we'll ever see E.D. at the throttle of 844 at 90 mph? 

Nope!

In 1984, on the Brooklyn Sub south of Salem OR, 4449 was on the first leg of tHE WORLD'S FAIR DAYLIGHT.  HOW FAST WAS SHE GOING?

Now when UP steam runs on the line along the Hardy Toll Road from Belt Jct. to Spring Jct north of Houston, how fast are they going?

Dominic Mazoch posted:

In 1984, on the Brooklyn Sub south of Salem OR, 4449 was on the first leg of tHE WORLD'S FAIR DAYLIGHT.  HOW FAST WAS SHE GOING?

At least 70MPH.

Now when UP steam runs on the line along the Hardy Toll Road from Belt Jct. to Spring Jct north of Houston, how fast are they going?

What UP steam? They haven't had any for more than 2 years.

OGR Webmaster posted:

I have had the  honor of running the 765 at 79 mph on a deadhead move back in 1993. We used to run 60+ on the New River Trains...with a 34 car train! She's run many a mile above 60, but of course, that's just easing along in "Daylight speed." 

In our video "Queen of the Fleet"  there are some pacing scenes with the 611 going 75 mph on the NKP west of Bellevue. Very impressive.

So in 1993, when she was in need of work, I bet it must have been a rough ride in the cab at 79 MPH, right?

Hot Water posted:

Dominic Mazoch posted:

In 1984, on the Brooklyn Sub south of Salem OR, 4449 was on the first leg of tHE WORLD'S FAIR DAYLIGHT.  HOW FAST WAS SHE GOING?

At least 70MPH.

Now when UP steam runs on the line along the Hardy Toll Road from Belt Jct. to Spring Jct north of Houston, how fast are they going?

What UP steam? They haven't had any for more than 2 years.

 

When 844 came to Houston for the 150th signing of the Pacific Railroad Act.  

Yes, UP has not had a steamer on the system after that event.

Have two steamers not running, yet are rebuilding a BB.

Go figure.

Having grown up during WWII, I saw much steam:  The switchers working the yards in Weehawken NJ, and Erie commuter trains. When windows were open in summer, I fell asleep to the sound of NYC freights a couple of miles west.

Standard Gauge posted:

So in 1993, when she was in need of work, I bet it must have been a rough ride in the cab at 79 MPH, right?

Yes, it was a rough ride. We didn't stay at 79 very long on that day. We dropped back to 60-65 mph for the rest of the trip. She felt much better at that speed.

GVDobler posted:

. . . I wondered how many here have actually see a revenue generating steam engine earning its money.

In revenue service:

1949  La Mirada, CA, ATSF 3460 4-6-4 making speed eastward.  Max. Authorized speed at this location was 100 MPH.  Also, several 4-8-4's on passenger and 2-8-2's/4-8-2's on freight at Santa Fe Springs and Los Nietos, CA, plus a 2-8-2 on the East Whittier Spur.

1950  Fullerton, CA, 2900-Class 4-8-4's on passenger on several occasions.  Union Pacific engines under steam, East Yard (L.A.) roundhouse, most likely 4-8-2's, and/or 4-10-2's.

1951  Orange, CA, 4-8-4 substituting for E1's on San Diegan.  Southern Pacific 2-8-2 on freight working hard at 25 MPH, El Monte, CA.  Black SP 4-8-4's on passenger trains, Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal.

1952, more ATSF 4-8-4's on passenger, first train ride on Train 124, Fullerton to Kansas City, with a 4-8-4 double-heading a bobtail rednose F7 (steam engine was removed at Barstow).  Great Northern 2-8-2's and 2-8-0's under steam at Willmar, MN, moving in yard.  2-8-0 working hard at 25 MPH near Litchfield, MN.

1954  Omaha Road 2-8-2's on freight, Sibley, IA.

I grew up watching Espee's cabforwards pulling sugar beet drags North in California's Central Valley.

was born to late for steam, 1969. I do have several DVD's from old 8mm movies showing plenty of DL&W, UP, SP, NKP, NYC, B&O, ATSF, RI, PRR burning up the rails. Don't know if I really want to stand next to the tracks watching a huge piece of fire breathing steel pass by me at 90 mph...