The Best Steam RR in America, Full Of Coal and Water, Ready To Go

Probably a tie with the Strasburg Rail Road. But, the Strasburg also has revenue freight service to on line shippers/receivers, and sometimes mixed freight trains with steam power are operated, even in the winter!

In my humble opinion, the Cass Scenic Railroad is very high on the Best Steam RR in America list.

Bryan, we almost stopped there on one of our road trips. Wish we did. Only one short RR here and it's still not running. Don

ANY well-run steam railroad is a treasure nowadays, like the three mentioned above. I would add the Nevada Northern and the Durango and Silverton, which threads through the awesome Animas River Canyon.

scale rail posted:

Bryan, we almost stopped there on one of our road trips. Wish we did. Only one short RR here and it's still not running. Don

Don, the Cass Scenic Railroad is extremely unique and some railfans are slightly disappointed.
There is no high speed photo run-bys, no riding in a dome car and snacking at the Cafe Car...
Cass is a step back into time, where gear driven, steam powered Shays (and Heisler and now a 3 truck Climax) take you to the third highest point in the Great State of West Virginia.  (avg 9% grade with one place that is 11%)
The locomotive climbs these insane grades and you can watch them work, doing the type of work they were built for.
The scenery is breath taking to say the least.
I do love the NKP 765 and it's high speed runs, but riding behind the Western Maryland Shay 6 (The Big Six) is a real treat.

Bryan, there goes another bucket list item. I love geared locomotives. Years ago I did a video with the Sugar Pine lumber railroad. That was my first time around that type of engine. The owner was just great. His dad started the line and he keeps it running to this day. He even helped us dig a hole between the rails so we could run the engine over our camera. Don

scale rail posted:

Bryan, we almost stopped there on one of our road trips. Wish we did. Only one short RR here and it's still not running. Don

Which railroad is that, that is "Only one short RR and it's still not running"?

Well, government run over private enterprise in narrow gauge has its advantages in instances cited above.  But not in every case. The two footers are doing nicely, too.  Hope you got to Maine if not Cass.  The biggest problem with any of them is that they are all "a fur piece" from here.  I have been lucky to ride all, including the L,K, & P when it was running, except for NN.  Oh, have not ridden D & S; rode it when it was D&RGW.  And there are others (maybe many) l have not ridden, not mentioned above..is there a current list of STEAM roads published....suspect it changes..what is situation with steam on California Western?  Didn't get to ride Skunk, desired, much less Super Skunk (steam), either.

Don is talking about the Lahaina, Kaanapoli, and Pacific on Maui, Hawaii.

I only road the Skunk once. Went about half way on the line and they let me off to fish with the warning, if your not on the rails when we get back, you'll have to say the night in the woods. I was there about a half hour early with one of the biggest trout I ever got. But, I have to say our trip on the C&T was wonderful. Don

I agree how friendly the C&T is.  Never had a chance to ride it, but I did get this opportunity passing through Chama operations for the railroad were completed for the day back in 2005.  Wonderful people, friendly, and such wonderful country.  Cass is great.  Miss the East Broad Top.  Strasburg RR is great too.  Photographed the Skunk line from both ends but didn't get to ride that either!  Hard to choose a favorite.  They all are enjoyable for their own reasons.  I enjoyed the Steamtown ride two behind the CP Hudson when it was still in Bellows falls too.

Strasburg is okay, but way too short and the scenery is not that great.

I'd rather go to Cass, WM (if they run steam), Cumbres, Nevada Northern, and some others.  Just my opinion.

Standard Gauge posted:

Strasburg is okay, but way too short and the scenery is not that great.

I'd rather go to Cass, WM (if they run steam), Cumbres, Nevada Northern, and some others.  Just my opinion.

Well, you can't choose the scenery your railroad runs through nor necessarily the length of the run.

Frankly, any tourist road or museum that runs steam in the 21st century is pretty great.

Rusty

All I can say is that the C&T on "you tube" has been great fun to watch.

Here is one of my favorites, check it out. Cumbres & Toltec

Any steam is good, though!

Ed

My Dad took my brothers and myself on the Skunk twice for Summer vacations when we were kids.  Would've been the late 60s, early 70s or both.  We rode behind the steam locomotive on the outbound AM trim from Fort Brag to Willets and then the afternoon return trip on the diesel bus.  We'd finish the week with a camping trip somewhere in the Sierras, usually somewhere in the vicinity of Lake Shasta or Mount Shasta.

Haven't (yet) had a chance to try any of the ones listed above.

 Well, Strasburg is short but they run multiple times a day, two trains sometimes, and they always run steam on the public trains. But if you want longer excursions the Reading and Northern runs all day excursions this month and TVRM runs 100 mile steam excursions throughout the year. Great Smoky Mountains Railroad offers longer steam and diesel excursions on 53 miles of track. Grand Canyon is another longer tourist railroad with steam, but steam only operates a few times a year. Conway Scenic has just operated 7470 on longer excursions north to the end of their ownership several miles past Fabyan Station. 7470 just returned after an overhaul. Someday Steamtown will operate B&M 3713 on mainline excursions toward Moscow and beyond. Their 0-6-0 26 is pulling an excursion to Carbondale this month, 32 mile round trip. Everett Railroad in Hollidaysburg operates a longer 27 mile steam trip twice a year. Normal rides are about 10 miles.

Anyone been to Railtown 1897 in Jamestown, CA? They do steam excursions and best of all, they have a working steam powered turntable and roundhouse. Also, there's the Wilmington and Western RR in Northern Delaware that operates excursions on weekends often with steam

1. Be aware if you ride the Wilmington and Western that on some runs like Hockessin specials a diesel will pull the train on the return trip to Greenbank. Shorter runs might just have a caboose on the rear with a horn. Railtown has the Back to the Future III locomotive but it only runs six mile round trips I believe, the western end of the Sierra has a different operator for tourist trains and they are diesel.