Strasburg Rail Road #90: Steam and Snow

PennsyPride94 posted:

 

As a discussion point, what is your favorite memory of steam in the snow? 

Can't remember the year anymore, but returning from a Super Bowl display with UP 3985, the farther north we progressed, the colder and deeper the snow became. From Kansas City to Marysville, KS, to North Platte, NE, the temps kept going down even below zero. The layover in North Platte, NE was so far below zero the we couldn't drop the fire on 3985 overnight, and had to keep her fired all night. Readying for departure the next morning, the cylinder cocks were all frozen OPEN (they are steam operated", and we couldn't depart until the the big propane burned were used to thaw-out all four cylinder cocks.

Even with the UP fully enclosed "all weather" cab, we still needed thermal underwear, double wool shirts, and hooded parkas in order to keep reasonably comfortable at -15 degrees outside.

Love those b/w shop photos!

That loco spent a lot of its life in scenes like that in High Plains Colorado.

The only times I ever rode behind 90 at SRR, it was in the summer or early fall.

Thanks for posting these, I really miss being in that area to get to ride this!

Are there any other tourist operations that operate steam all the time and no diesel like Strasburg does? Maybe the Durango and Silverton?

Very well done!  I get to Strasburg at least 3 times a year and always enjoy the railroad.  It is a first class operation and you have captured the train very nicely.  My first ride behind a steam loco was Strasburg's No 31 back in 1964.  I was hooked!  I miss the PRR D-16sb American in operation.  That was a beautiful loco to watch in motion.

Thanks,

Joe Foehrkolb

Truly great!   Thanks so much for sharing these with us!!

Robert K posted:

Are there any other tourist operations that operate steam all the time and no diesel like Strasburg does? Maybe the Durango and Silverton?

Robert, there are plenty of steam tourist lines out there that operate in similar fashion to the SRC. Cumbres and Toltec, Durango and Silverton, Cass Scenic Railroad just to name a few...

Have any of you seen the GREAT video posted by the Strasburg Rail Road, including drone footage, of the diesel powered snow plow run?

colorado hirailer posted:

That loco spent a lot of its life in scenes like that in High Plains Colorado.

Yes indeed and add deeper snow drifts and an extended smoke box on 90 too. 

Hot Water posted:

Have any of you seen the GREAT video posted by the Strasburg Rail Road, including drone footage, of the diesel powered snow plow run?

Yep! Pretty neat to see the railroad from a bird's eye view. For such a short line, aerial shots make it look longer. 

Hot Water posted:

PennsyPride94 posted:

 

As a discussion point, what is your favorite memory of steam in the snow? 

Can't remember the year anymore, but returning from a Super Bowl display with UP 3985, the farther north we progressed, the colder and deeper the snow became. From Kansas City to Marysville, KS, to North Platte, NE, the temps kept going down even below zero. The layover in North Platte, NE was so far below zero the we couldn't drop the fire on 3985 overnight, and had to keep her fired all night. Readying for departure the next morning, the cylinder cocks were all frozen OPEN (they are steam operated", and we couldn't depart until the the big propane burned were used to thaw-out all four cylinder cocks.

Even with the UP fully enclosed "all weather" cab, we still needed thermal underwear, double wool shirts, and hooded parkas in order to keep reasonably comfortable at -15 degrees outside.

Hot Water - You remind me of the grandfather, who used to work on the Erie Lackawanna railroad.  When I was a little boy I loved sitting on his knee listening to his railroad stories.

Beautiful photos! I also saw a video on Youtube that showed when they brought out the snow plow. Great stuff. 

Great work as always.  And the fresh graphite on 90's smokebox sure looks nice.

Hot Water posted:

Can't remember the year anymore, but returning from a Super Bowl display with UP 3985, the farther north we progressed, the colder and deeper the snow became. From Kansas City to Marysville, KS, to North Platte, NE, the temps kept going down even below zero. The layover in North Platte, NE was so far below zero the we couldn't drop the fire on 3985 overnight, and had to keep her fired all night. Readying for departure the next morning, the cylinder cocks were all frozen OPEN (they are steam operated", and we couldn't depart until the the big propane burned were used to thaw-out all four cylinder cocks.

Even with the UP fully enclosed "all weather" cab, we still needed thermal underwear, double wool shirts, and hooded parkas in order to keep reasonably comfortable at -15 degrees outside.

I bet you remembered that night each time some knuckledragging foamer would come up and declare how 'cool' or 'fun' it is to run those things, huh?

Strasburg is great, nothing like seeing the steamers moving through the corn fields in the summer. My wife and I are moving about a mile off the track next month! 

Hot Water posted:

PennsyPride94 posted:

 

As a discussion point, what is your favorite memory of steam in the snow? 

Can't remember the year anymore, but returning from a Super Bowl display with UP 3985, the farther north we progressed, the colder and deeper the snow became. From Kansas City to Marysville, KS, to North Platte, NE, the temps kept going down even below zero. The layover in North Platte, NE was so far below zero the we couldn't drop the fire on 3985 overnight, and had to keep her fired all night. Readying for departure the next morning, the cylinder cocks were all frozen OPEN (they are steam operated", and we couldn't depart until the the big propane burned were used to thaw-out all four cylinder cocks.

Even with the UP fully enclosed "all weather" cab, we still needed thermal underwear, double wool shirts, and hooded parkas in order to keep reasonably comfortable at -15 degrees outside.

2004?

MATT A,

Yes, that is the trip, however that is the day before the serious cold overnight at North Platte. Note how much smoke there was in the earlier part of that video, as we had an Engineer that was not all that familiar with exactly were to set the reverse gear when not using full throttle. Thus, there was insufficient draft for firing properly, also note that the later scenes in that video was when Steve Lee took over as Engineer, i.e. much less black smoke.

The next day was even colder that that depicted in the above video.

>>Are there any other tourist operations that operate steam all the time and no diesel like Strasburg does?

I read that Cumbres & Toltec is required by its' charter to be 100% steam powered!

Great pictures Mike. Do you have any more to post?

Went out in August of last year, I would like to do a seasonal trip in the various different types of weather.