Convert here.

[Mgoldman]

Rail-videos.net
Now taking applications from former diesel (aka: dismal and diseasel) fans.
We are in the process of converting all of ya to mainline STEAM fanatics.

Step one, seek out and watch MAINLINE steam, or a descent run on a tourist steam line.

Step two, watch a dismal run by.

Done.


Thank you for your time.

/Mitch

(I'll admit, watching a dozen diesels making thier way up Soldier Summit in Utah, complete with mid train and rear end helpers is a close second).

[Walter S]

I hear ya Mitch.

[Mike B.]

Steam is dead in the US. Travel to China (Wish I could) or some such country to truly experience steam.
Watching a steam pull excursion trains will never excite me. I don't like "fake" trains.

[Mgoldman]

Steam is dead in the US. Travel to China (Wish I could) or some such country to truly experience steam.
Watching a steam pull excursion trains will never excite me. I don't like "fake" trains.

UP never retired 4-8-4 #844 - is that fake?

New Hope and Ivyland makes a profit hauling freight with diesels and hauling passengers with steam. What's fake about that? It was Cliffside, then Lancaster and Chester and now it's New Hope.

Are NS's F's fake?

Regardless, it the excitement of the motion, sounds and sights of all the moving parts and billowing smoke rather then the droan of an electric motor powered by larger versions of essentially truck motors. Granted, 6 or more at a time is pretty impressive going upgrade.

/Mitch

[Mike B.]

UP never retiring the 844 doesn't mean anything. It's still stored and brought out for excursion type service when the UP wants to. If the UP kept it running daily in passenger service or freight (not excursion or tourist service) then that would be OK. But they don't, so...fake.

A railroad using steam to haul a handful of people 20 miles away only to turn around and bring the people back to where they started on the weekends is hardly something to get excited about. Fake.

NS F-units aren't steam in case you haven't noticed. Regardless, the NS just parades them around on OS trains and the units, like steam engines, are not being used for what they were originally made to do. Fake.

So much has changed since the days when the railroads actually used steam engines to make money that steam engines appear to just be out of place in todays railroads. If I could go back 55 years to when steam was actually in widespread use I'd love steam, but the days of steam are long gone.

A couple of weeks ago a double-header ran in my area with the CP 2816 and MILW 261. I'm sure it would be cool to see, but I highly doubt that the 261 and 2816 ever coupled together to pull a mix-matched passenger train. Add to that the hundreds of people that will be out there shooting it makes me say "no thanks." I enjoy shooting trains that no one else gets and there is zero chance of that with steam.

The main reason I dislike the steam engines that are running in the US is that there are literally millions and millions of photos of each unit. Plus, when the steam engines actually do run, you're out on the road with 200 other people and the chance of getting a unique shot is almost zero. I enjoy photographing railroads doing what they were intended to do, and running excursion trains isn't that. You can go out and chase the 844 (or any other steam engine) and I'll gladly take a set of matched SD40-2s on a freight over it.

[Mgoldman]

Double header mixed livery steam irks me a bit - I am hesitant to shoot it, but I have no problem what so ever watching it go by at 80 mph. Alot of folks are saying don't bother, it's Mikey, he don't like anything to which I say, Try it Mikey, you'll like it. Ha ha ha ha, that commercial is almost as old as steam.

Next time some mainline steam is in town, get youself trackside.

/Mitch

[Chris Kilroy]

I love mainline steam, but to me, nothing's sexier than a quintet of matched Alaska Railroad SD70MACs hauling heavy tonnage through the great white north! A product of being from my generation, I guess... ;)

[ottergoose]

You guys (who don't give credit where credit is due to mainline steam) are nuts. I didn't quite see what all of the commotion was, but I recently went out and shot UP 844... it totally changed my perception of steam (and of UP, for that matter).

It's also possible to get unique shots, even when there's a herd of people chasing. Two examples:

[photoid=201357]

There were a ton of people getting ready for a shot of the train going over this bridge, but I was the only one who got this angle - everyone else was going for a head on shot (I'm still annoyed by the soft focus... but that's another story)

[photoid=201360]

There was another guy shooting video at this location, but not a single other still photographer.

There's something to be said for SD40-2's, ACe's, and the like, but the notion that it'd be more fun to watch, photograph, or chase something with internal combustion over 844, 261, or any of the other big steam locomotives is crazy, IMHO.

I'm also pretty sure that big mainline steam is dead in China now...

[Mike B.]

Next time some mainline steam is in town, get youself trackside.

/Mitch

I have seen steam at mainline speeds many times, but I soon began to dislike it more and more. I'd rather see a set of SD40-2s, or even better SD45-2s (20 cylinders!) in notch 8. That in my opinion is a much better display of power. :-D

[Joe the Photog]

Next time some mainline steam is in town, get youself trackside.

/Mitch

That was 1994 in South Carolina, Mitch. I'm lucky when I can afford to go see any steam. Not all of us live in Pennsylvania and most of us can't go to where the 844 is. Given the choice, I would rather see a steam engine pull tourists 20 miles than see another god forsaken AC4400CW lead one of 20 daily CSX coal trains through Columbia. I guess I'll just have to wait for the NS Fs to come back through.


Joe

[Strasburg_fan]

IMHO, I would take a 70-ton steam locomotive creeping along at 15 mph with a six-car train of 1900s passenger cars on a four-mile route over a modern "diseasal" anyday (notice I said "modern"... we steam fans also have a soft spot for the ol' first-generation units). Ya'll don't know what you're missing! :-P

Then again, wouldn't this world be a dull place if we all liked the same thing? To each his own... whatever "floats your boat" I suppose!

-Christian S.

[mute]

Then again, wouldn't this world be a dull place if we all liked the same thing? To each his own... whatever "floats your boat" I suppose!


No, dang it! This is the internet and we are going to argue about it!