Just got back from a Photo Special that may have broken a record. This past weekend the Iowa Interstate Railroad and the owner of the Chinese QJ’s Henry Posner hosted a Photo Special put together by steamspecials.com. The doubleheaded QJ’s pulled westbound on Saturday. They pulled a 4212 ton revenue train. This might be a record for modern steam revenue freight. The train went from Des Moines, IA to Council Bluffs, IA with return on Sunday. Sunday’s train was much lighter.
The weather Saturday was AWESOME !!. Not a cloud in the sky. Sunday was still nice but it was mostly cloudy with some breaks of sun. On Saturday the QJ’s were working hard. The combination of the heavy train and decent grades in western Iowa even caused there to be an extra water stop and they cut the train to make sure they could make it all the way to Council Bluffs.
Here are some photos from the trip.
Westbound just west of Booneville, IA
At Casey, Iowa
Westbound at Hickory Ave west of Adair, IA
West of the waterstop at Anita, IA
Atlantic, IA
On the bridge at Hancock Junction, IA
Second waterstop west of Hancock, IA
One Sunday June 10th Eastbound on High Bridge over McPherson Road in Council Bluffs, IA
I don’t think so. I believe UP #3985 or #844 pulled either an autorack train or a doublestack train that had stalled out in Wyoming where one of the steamers was doing some break in work or returning from an excursion.
Actually, didn’t UP 3985 pull a 142 car (or unit) double stack train to inaugerate some service? I think this must have been 20 years ago, but I am almost positive I saw it somewhere.
Since 1990 UP 3985 pulled several trains with more tonnage like the train the QJs pulled few days ago. The 144 car double stacker in 1990 was the heaviest I believe - more than 7000 tons. And I think N&W 1218 has been used on coal trains of comparable or even larger size, too.
However, the photos are very nice and show a great happening! Thanks for sharing!
Several years back; it was a “Calendar Shot” publicity for Maersk Lines, and it was, I think in the vicinity of El Cajon, one of the video companies used to run an add with a photo of the train.
Chinese steam or not, I bet they sounded great. By the way… There are some pretty sweet videos of the QJs floating around on Youtube made by a Japanese fella. Look 'em up and crank up the volume. You will be impressed!
So let me get this straight …the goods are made in China, loaded into containers built in China, shipped on a Chinese container ship, then loaded on a train pulled by two Chinese steam locomotives… man Wal-Mart is really going all-out with this China thing to lower prices.[;)]
Lowering prices is all hot air and cooling steam. Let’s not go there. It is my belief that Wally is hurting and fighting for every penny they can get to the profit side; an example was they stopped giving coffee and doughnuts in the breakroom because cups were too expensive. No I dont work for them, I know folks that do.
In the early 80’s the C&O 614 pulled a number of revenue coal trains unassisted, some in excess of 5500 tons, at full track speed in West Virginia. Even though the 614 could produce 83-84,000 lbs tractive effort, she was designed for 100 mph passenger operation, not pulling coal trains around. There was talk among the senior Chessie guys of unleashing the 614 on a Trailer Jet up on the B&O Pittsburgh line just to show what she was capable of at 70 mph, but it never came to pass.[:(]
During the same time period, the 614 was leased by Amtrak to pull 80 mph revenue passenger runs, the only steam engine ever to do so in Amtrak’s history.
