Join the discussion on the following article:
Southern Railway excursion favorite restoration moves forward
GOODSEARCH.COM’s Board of Advisory
Nice! I rode behind 4501 in the late 70’s from Memphis to Corinth, MS. Would enjoy doing it again.
Like Nancy, a chance to even see 4501 under way would bring me back east. Kudos again to NS management.
After a steam excursion out of Mobile, AL in the late 70’s, a buddy of mine and myself were invited up into the cab of 4501 by the late Bill Purdie to look around. After a few minutes he asked if we wanted to stay on board as they backed the train out and turned it on the wye. I’ll never forget how the engine felt like it was alive. I’m glad to see she’s coming back and can’t wait to take my grandson to ride behind her.
Talk about a southerns dream, the locomotive and steam in the South go hand in hand. I am getting excited like a kid before Christmas. Couple this together with 611 and 610 and wow! Can’t you see the next family portrait event at Spencer with it being all steam.
This is great news. My grands and I got a good look at 4501 this summer and we are all looking forward to seeing her under steam soon. New memories to create:)
This is great news. My grands and I got a good look at 4501 this summer and we are all looking forward to seeing her under steam soon. New memories to create:)
I hope it is green!
Go 4501 ! Im looking forward to riding it. All Aboard!
It would be quite a thrill to see the 1401 steam again. These heavy Pacifics were a sight to behold and ride years ago. If the Smithsonian would permit doing so it would be a tribute to the nation of actually operating one of their museum artifacts.
I guess I will need to dream on.
Great news! Can’t wait to see her running again. In addition to seeing her run in person, the prospect of having 4501 shot in BluRay, Hi-Def, or whatever, etc. is exciting!
Chris, you’re right about the engine feeling “alive”. That is the best description of a steam engine. I cut coal on 4501 for three run seasons R/T between Knoxville, TN. and Asheville, NC in the late 60s; early seventies. One trip double headed with other engines (can’t recall #s now), and even had to wait as a (right) driver and bearing had to be replaced mid tour on one trip. Nearly choked going through the Swanannoa Tunnel near terminus in Black Mt. Great fun for a U.TN.college boy!
To steal a line from an old car commercial, this is not your father’s 4501.
Once this ol’ girl gets out of the shop, you could say she’s been souped up like a '69 Charger out of a Street Machine shop.
Prior to this rebuild, the 4501 was hand-fired and pretty much a basic locomotive. In fact her simplicity is probably what resulted in her being saved, as it is doubtful the Kentucky & Tennessee would have been interested in buying her off the Princeton, Indiana, dead line if she’d had all the extra appliances to maintain.
When she emerges from the shop, she’ll be stoker and feedwater heater equipped for the first time. In effect, she will be a more potent machine than she ever has been before.
While this may horrify a few purists out there, it’s a small price to pay to get her back out on the mainline!
Great news! I rode behind her back in the '70’s in the original Southern Railway steam program. Would love to see NS partner with local (NRHS, etc) groups to have excursions on the scale of the ones 40 years ago. I’d enjoy giving my kids and grandkids the opportunity to experience steam the way I did.
We have a photo of the 4501 in Kinston, NC hanging in our model railroad room taken in 1988. (passing by our old historic Atlantic and Carolina freight
station…since demolished). We would love to see her under
power once more. Beautiful engine !!