Well… Looks like I skipped school for this one… First of all, it was a little rainy to start…
Here is what almost ended the trip!
First picture of it… I got there about 7 seconds before it got there, due to K&O train holding me up…
Blowing the whistle through the crossing
The last car
Sitting inside hutchinson…
This was just a mess of people
Head on… Look at that crowd!
Its me!
Me by the boxcar thingy…
We left about 10 minutes before it did, and let me tell you, this thing was flying!
Notice the bi-plane flying around it.
Smoke going everywhere, and me recording sound…
The camera is a little slow, so here are the drive wheels!
Leaving us behind…
Overall, I had a good trip, but the chase ended there because I was late about 3 hours to school… hehe
You did the right thing. A day in school will be forgotten before the end of the week. Chasing 844 will be a lifetime memory. There are some things school just cannot give you. Congratulations on a great day. Reminds me of chasing NKP Berkshires through Erie many school days ago.
I never ditched school for steam,but one day I played hookey from work to ride behind ATSF 3751 over Cajon pass[:D][:p]!!! It was well worth it[:)][8D]!
The boxcar thingy is a tool car, they can rebuild/repair almost any component and repair most of the cars with the contents of that car…short of a rod or valve failure.
Ed
School will be out for the summer when it rolls through NE Oklahoma on the Coffeyville Sub. My two sons won’t have to miss any school. I would probably let them play hooky so they could see it. OK by me!
I would do the same thing you did. There is just one problem for me, I think the last time mailine steam ran in Alabama was the final run of the N&W 611. Have fun and if you can, do it again.
Terriific stuff. thanks. Click on the link of my signature & you will find pix of 3985 at Ogden & West Ogden last year[:D]
[quote]
QUOTE: Originally posted by trainman2244
Well… Looks like I skipped school for this one… First of all, it was a little rainy to start…
Here is what almost ended the trip!
First picture of it… I got there about 7 seconds before it got there, due to K&O train holding me up…
Blowing the whistle through the crossing
The last car
Sitting inside hutchinson…
This was just a mess of people
Head on… Look at that crowd!
Its me!
Me by the boxcar thingy…
We left about 10 minutes before it did, and let me tell you, this thing was flying!
Notice the bi-plane flying around it.
Smoke going everywhere, and me recording sound…
The camera is a little slow, so here are the drive wheels!
Leaving us behind…
Overall, I had a good trip, but the chase ended there because I was late a
When I took a chartered flight to visit Disneyworld during the end of October , I found the plane full of school-aged children who werer excused from school due to the educational nature of Disney World.
Certainly, your obsrvation of “Living History” should be considered no less educational.
GOOD for you. A friend and I skipped school when the old Southern 4501 2-8-2 was making it’s runs with the Independent Limited back in 73. I still have a head on shot of the old 4501 at speed taken outside Wheelersbug Ohio on the N&W mainline heading east.
Who would have believed that 32 years later I would find the 4501 in the back shops of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN behind several dismantled locos, forgotten and taken out of service due to bad main driver bearings. I actually got to sit in the cab at the throttle and thought back to the day I was chasing it across a hot Ohio dirt road when I was about your age.
You chose wisely, and you’ll remember it when you’re in your 50’s too, like I am remembering my train chases.
Nice photos. I would have ditched too (not that I ever needed a real excuse for that anyway). I would think that you could score some extra credit in history class by doing a report or something. Just a thought. Heck, You might even be able to teach the teacher a thing or two.[8D]
Did you actually skip school? Looks to me like you were in a very
mobile classroom;I imagine that you got a much better History lesson
by doing “hands on”,than listening to a lecture.[:D]
I normally don’t skip school for anything, but chasing steam would definitly be an exception.(Too bad it isn’t coming out to Washington. Playing hookie to watch a steam train would make a good story to tell my teachers.)
I’ve blown off work for NKP765 three times![}:)][}:)][}:)] N&W 1218 twice[}:)][}:)],611 once, tied with CN 6060,and the last day of electric operations on the former Niagara Junction RR. And I cut short a job interview when the Lehigh Valley’s NE1 rolled by the place I was trying to get hired at. Didn’t help, which is just as well, since that place closed for good three years later! Now, since schools seem to be paced for the slowest students (like me) I think you can make up the lost time without breaking a sweat![;)]
