Trains, at night!

SpeedPagan

SpeedPagan

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Last night I went to a photoshoot session at the North Carolina Transportation Museum where I was able to get tons of pictures of not only the Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western #611. But also Southern Railway's #6133, an FP7A unit.



CZiT0pT.jpg


L36n5rF.jpg
 
SpeedPagan said:
Last night I went to a photoshoot session at the North Carolina Transportation Museum where I was able to get tons of pictures of not only the Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western #611. But also Southern Railway's #6133, an FP7A unit.



CZiT0pT.jpg


L36n5rF.jpg
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Very nice, wish I could have been there to see them
 
kyle18fan said:
Is it coal fired, oil or what ?
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Coal fired. What's interesting is that it seems like East Coast is coal fired while the Western states is oil fired. I prefer coal myself, mainly because of the smell. I rode behind an oil fired steam locomotive in Alaska last August, and it reminded me of movie theater popcorn.
 
SpeedPagan said:
Coal fired. What's interesting is that it seems like East Coast is coal fired while the Western states is oil fired. I prefer coal myself, mainly because of the smell. I rode behind an oil fired steam locomotive in Alaska last August, and it reminded me of movie theater popcorn.
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Maybe it was running on cooking oil, that is what a diesel truck smells like when using recycled cooking oil. Might be too cold in the east to reliably use oil. We switched some of our off road heavy equipment over to cooking oil until the supply ran out.
 
kyle18fan said:
Maybe it was running on cooking oil, that is what a diesel truck smells like when using recycled cooking oil. Might be too cold in the east to reliably use oil. We switched some of our off road heavy equipment over to cooking oil until the supply ran out.
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I know there's been some experiment with Bio-Diesel, dunno if that's still ongoing or not. I'd imagine steam locomotives and diesel engines are more accepting of alternative fuel source than gasoline engines are.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I know there's been some experiment with Bio-Diesel, dunno if that's still ongoing or not. I'd imagine steam locomotives and diesel engines are more accepting of alternative fuel source than gasoline engines are.
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I think oil fired burners can do about any fuel, including really low grade stuff. We quit the cooking oil experiment because the availability went to hell practically overnight and the cost went up as well, it just wasn't practical. The stuff solidifies in extreme cold, much like diesel but worse.
 
@kyle18fan Was thinking about this today as I was working on the wiring of my model railroad. I'm kind of surprised the White Pass & Yukon Railroad is using cooking oil as fuel for #73. I mean, Alaska is oil country, bunker oil from the Alaskan oil fields can't be that expensive, can it?
 
I love those big old steam engines. I've ridden a number of the remaining ones out West.
The Georgetown Loop is still on my list --- that Shay is intriguing.
The White Pass & Yukon was a blast. The steam is used just briefly, then uncoupled and the diesel takes over.
 
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TexasRaceLady said:
I love those big old steam engines. I've ridden a number of the remaining ones out West.
The Georgetown Loop is still on my list --- that Shay is intriguing.
The White Pass % Yukon was a blast. The steam is used just briefly, then uncoupled and the diesel takes over.
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So far I have ridden on the follow tourist railroads

Great Smokey Mountain RR, Bryson City, NC
Tennessee Valley Railroad, Chattanooga, TN
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Durango, CO
Cass Scenic Railroad, Cass, WV
White Pass & Yukon, Skagway AK

While not a Tourist railroad, my entire family (Parents, brother, sister-in-law, their kids) went to Disney World and I did the Behind The Scene tour of their steam locomotives that they use at the Magic Kingdom portion of Disney World.
 
SpeedPagan said:
@kyle18fan Was thinking about this today as I was working on the wiring of my model railroad. I'm kind of surprised the White Pass & Yukon Railroad is using cooking oil as fuel for #73. I mean, Alaska is oil country, bunker oil from the Alaskan oil fields can't be that expensive, can it?
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I can't figure large quantities of cooking oil being very cheap, not as cheap as that low refined nasty stuff made from crude. Must be so they can tout being " environmentally aware " ......... Or, maybe they are concerned about a major spill, like from avalanche damage or something. I mean, hell, they could probably use after shave lotion if they wanted to
 
Back in Colorado when I was a kid, they used to let the diesel electric engines sit and run for days on end, we used to get on them and check them out. Those gigantic Detroit diesel engines are music to my ears just sitting there idling. During Christmas break one year, they had two of them together and they idled away for more than a week. I contemplated driving away with one of em but decided that was a bad idea.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I have a long history with 611, starting back in 1994 when I rode an excursion pulled by her.
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Where was the 611 at before the museum? i feel like ive seen this one before...

It's been a few years since i've taken the boys up there, might need to do that again.
 
Go Panthers said:
Where was the 611 at before the museum? i feel like ive seen this one before...

It's been a few years since i've taken the boys up there, might need to do that again.
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She was at the Virginia Transportation Museum. She was on static display between 1994 and 2015 where she was restored to operating condition and is now used for steam excursions.

611 is the steam locomotive I operated in my Behind The Throttle experience in 2017

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