garr’s response to an earlier post got me thinking …
Is the “Steam Generation” dying out? Like the WWII generation (my Dad just passed away at the age of 86, and I don’t know any more living WWII veterans)?
I’m 45 years old. I guess I’m at the older end of people here. I don’t have any memories of steam engines doing actual work.
I was born in 1959, and grew up in what used to be the old industrial center of the universe…northest New Jersey. I definately remember the GG1’s on the PRR mainline which went through my town. I just can;t remember any steam.
Those of you that do remember steam are so lucky. What a sight that must of been. Having worked with industrial equipment for about 20 years, I’ve been to every industrial section in New Jersey ---- most of it closed up now. And everywhere I went, there was always RR tracks, or the remnants of them.
I would love to go back in time for a few days just to see the sight of big, chugging steam engines arriving with their trains on the PRR, Reading, Lehigh Valley, Erie, Central of NJ, Lackawanna … all whose tracks crisscross the area. Add the steam yard goats, 0-6-0’s and such, doing their jobs. All this going on near the smoke stacks of good 'ole American heavy industry!
I remember steam - in fact all my teenage and on years were spent chasing , photographing , looking at and generally being interested in steam . This was of course in the UK - where steam did’nt finally go till 1968. Many hours were spend wandering around loco depots - getting dirty & grimy walking around in the smoke and steam - there is no other place that has the same atmosphere! - Now I have to console myself in restoring what steam loco’s are left here in Canada . But hey that’s progress!!!
While there were still steamers on the road when I was born (1950), the only steam I can remember from my youth was at a museum (Rail City, Sandy Pond, NY) and an amusement park (Adventure Town, Alexandria Bay, NY). I’m sure my first railroad trip (NYC, I was one year old) was behind diesels, and I’m also sure that the C&O was running diesels through my old hometown in Michigan throughout my formative years.
I was born in 1943 in Erie, Pa and grew up near the New York Central tracks. I clearly remember steam in the mid-40’s, because my dad used to take me down to the tracks to watch the trains. At the time we were more interested in the new diesels, so steam wasn’t really appreciated.
We didn’t have a family car until ‘49, so trips to Grandma’ s house in Salamanca, NY were by train - Pennsy to Corry. PA and Erie RR to Salamanca. Steam was still king on the Pennsy so I remember not the sight, but the sound of the K-4, heard from our coach seat. The whistle was not very melodic, probably a banshee.
In the 50’s I was a teenager and much more aware of what was going on. And in those years what was going on was on the Nickel Plate. There were lots of Berkshires and an occasional Hudson. From Erie to Buffalo, they ruled the road. But then, seemingly overnight, they disappeared. But the sights and sounds still linger in my memory. So do the smells. Coal smoke has a very distinct odor which I like if it isn’t too concentrated.
Canada was also a hotbed of steam. I rode every CNR and CPR excursion I could find and was lucky enough to see Northerns, Hudsons, 4-4-0s and Ten Wheelers to name a few.
So if you were born too late you missed a great show. Fortunately we have Steamtown, Ohio Central, Union Pacific and and lots of other places to see steam in action. But their locos are not going to last forever. You had better get to one of them before it is too late, again.
Once a day a dilapidated Mikado chugged by my house on the C&NW. One day when I was 5 my dad stunned me with the news steam was finished and took me on the last run Chicago - Milwakee - Madison - Chicago. I was heart broken. But later the C,B & Q ran excursions with Hudsons, Northerns, and Texans and that was as good as it gets.
Most of my generation never saw steam. It’s too bad people don’t know how magnificent they were.
I am too young to have memories of Class 1 Mainline steam. [:D]
When I was very little I was allowed on a Frisco GP7 or GP9 hihood. I remember being in the cab them and talking to the guys. I remember the rope and wooden handle attached to the rope for the horn. But unfortunately I do not remember steam in the day that steam was king. [:(]
I have been fortunate to ride behind the 3985 and 844 on UP excursions, and even was a car host on the 844 while it was here. I have also been a car host for the 819 when it ran to Tyler, Texas. Steam is real cool. I wish more were available for us to enjoy.
I sure remember steam. I grew up along side the railroad tracks in Flagstaff, Arizona. My Mom and Dad made them off limits for me, but I would get away sometimes and end up at the tracks. I remember the troop trains. When they passed by some of the men would throw coins out the windows for me to pick up. I never quite understood why they did this. The grade was up hill out of Flagstaff. When the engines started from the depot they would take a few heavy puffs then loose traction and spin out until the engineer could get them under control. They would do this a couple of times, then finially move on down the track picking up speed and disappearing around the curve.
Once, the men on the switch engine let me ride around the yard with them. The fireman ask me if I would like to see in the fire box. I sure did! Well he opened the fire box door ,shot in a little oil, the flames came right out in my face removing my eye lashes ,eye brows , scorched some of my hair and burnt up his work orders that was hanging on a clip board above the firebox door. I thought it was great to see the fire box until I got home and met up with dad , he showed me what real fire felt like on the other end. We also had two logging companies which had steam locomotives and every day at noon they would bring sawdust over to the city power plant which provided electricty and steam for flagstaff. They were also used to bring logs in from the forest. Two of these engines are on display in the city now.
Remember torpedos? Well that is another story.
During the late stages of WWII my Dad was stationed at Camp Kilmer, and one Sunday we went to the beach at Seabright.
To my amazement as we were leaving, we went up the stairs of the dune between the beach and the tracks and road, and there was a CNJ Camelback 4-6-0 on a passenger train. Only one I ever saw, and I wish I had known to write down the number.
I wish. Sadly my experiance with steam is limited to UP 844 & 3985, then an assortment of Durango & Siverton and Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Guage Railroads that still opperate here in Colorado. All I can do is imagine what it would have been like to see a steam freight going full boar down tracks that are now full of Powder River Coal drags. …not that I’m complaining…[:)]
I got to know real steam on the DDR narrow gauge lines in the early 90’s. I was born in 1968 just after steam finished on the mainline in the UK although there are photos of me aged a very few months on the Farewell to steam tour at Corby Iron Works
There is something incredible about steam in use for real day to day operation - people going to work, commercial freight and as for the atmosphere in a steam shed - unbelievable.
I love diesels as well but steam is just the best - one day I hope to see some of your preserved stuff.
Iwas born in 1948 in Sydney, Australia. Steam lasted until 1969-70 on main line passenger trains and until 1973 on freight. Until the mid 1960s, steam was seen regularly seen on most duties, and was pretty familiar.
I visited Germany in 1974 and 1975, and China in 1980 and 1985 where regular steam operation was still common.
In China I was struck by the similarity of the sounds of steam locomotives with those I recalled from home, and it struck a quite unexpected chord in my memory. I guess this is something that people who haven’t experienced regular steam operation would not feel.
It’s hard to remember that far back; but, I THINK when I was in first or second grade,
and we took a school field trip for a train ride, that it was a steam engine. I vaguely
remember a whistle being blown, and not the horns you hear now. I can’t even
remember how far we rode the train that day. But I do remember that we ate our
lunches (we brownbagged it) on the train while riding. Wish we had more steam
trains to ride today. [angel]
I’m considered a “Young-ung” at 41, but I was fortunate to have been able to see the Chessie 614 in action back in 1981. Beautiful locomotive. A trajedy that she’s not operating now.
Really made me appreciate what this country could produce years back when we were the industrial muscle during and after WWII.
Well,like Larry, I also was born in 1950. I grew up all around the East Ky. coal fields,
even though I was young,do remember seeing steam engines,and even being in
the cab of one at the Jenkins,Ky station. And in later years,moving to Raceland,and
then on to Russell,the C&O had plenty of the steamers on the backside of Russell
Yard,just waiting to be scrapped.[:(] My C&O history is slipping a bit,but I don’t think
C&O totally dieselized until 1956. Really do wi***hey were still around in mainline
service. I have had the privilege of seeing 614 & 2101 running the steam specials.[:)]
In my hometown in Michigan (where did you live, Larry?), we had GTW steaming into town until I was about ten. I seldom went to see them then, but do remember hearing the whistle often (and watching them turn the engine on the turntable at times).
My only memories of “C&O” steam were a long line of Pere Marquette 2-8-4s sitting at New Buffalo awaiting scrapping, many years after their retirement. Ironically, my home town is now home to one of those Pere Marquette Berkshires on display (the PM line through town was never used by them).
I lived in Milford. It’s possible that GTW had steam in Pontiac when I was young, but Dad wasn’t a railfan, so we never went looking for them, and I don’t recall seeing any.
As a toddler, I watched the action on ghe Chicago Great Western from the dining room windows of my parents’ house in the Chicago suburbs. All during World War II there were trains loaded with army goods: I remember seeing big guns, tanks, half-tracks and jeeps.
The Great Western’s, philosophy, at least dating to the 1930s, was to run long trains, less frequently, than most railroads, and accordingly they bought thirty-six large 2-10-4 type locomotives in 1930 and 1931 from Baldwin and Lima. These engines were huge by prairie standards.
Shortly after the war, the Great Western quickly dieselized. They were the first railroad of my acquaintance to do so. Soon I started seeing the big steam engines, scattered mid-train behind the diesels, being hauled dead to the scrap yards of Chicago. This was about 1948. I never got over the sense of loss I felt; I have been a devoted steam fan ever since.
