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Trains Presents: 611 in winter
This is a great video as I have not lived through the steam era. I just want to know why there are two high side gondolas behind the passenger cars.
Zachary, the two gondolas are filled with extra coal for the 611. It is cheaper and easier for them to send the extra coal with the locomotive via rail then to have it trucked in wherever the engine goes.
Thank you for letting us hear all the important sounds of the trains as they passed, especially those of the 611.
Great video. I sure would have liked a longer look at those drivers going their dance with the side rods. I’ll have to see it in person.
Love to see this magnificent loco back where she belongs . The only US steam locos I have seen in England are two S160 US Army bought from Poland. They are running on our local preserved line, The Churnet Valley Railway near Stoke-on-Trent England and I spent a day riding behind them recently. Ray
carry coal for the engine
UP Challenger another great excursion, I wish I knew when it was coming back to Chicago area, many years back I was on it and went up to Wisconsin on it…Great time
Great visuals! Please do not take offense, but that folksy, twangy narration just doesn’t work well. You need to dress up the script and hire a professional voice over announcer.
Terrific footage of a magnificent steam locomotive…thanks for the video!
Excellent video
Thank you! This is an excellent video of a wonderful steam engine!
N&W’s 611 is the finest 4-8-4 steam locomotive ever constructed in the USA. Coal built 611 to transport the people in Cen, App. that mined the coal that N&W transported. Seen it in the 50s on The Arrow, seen it in the 90s running on The Pokey Main in WVA, and rode behind it in 2015 to Petersburg, Va. But there is one thing, 611 may have to be switched to oil because of the lost of mining coal. Of course as long as Consol’s Buchanan #1 Shalf Mine in Cen. App. Va. is running coal, they could burn Buc 1’s Pokey #3 seam of coal. (Low SO2 and High BTU. Met Coal)
GD Street
Grundy, (Cen. App.) Virginia
Would really like better video for the details. This is great, but it could be absolutely stunning if plans were made to wait on the sunny side of the track where the running gear doesn’t disappear into the shadow that massive engine causes. There was at least one place where an attempt might have been made to film driving parallel on the road - but Safety First! The camera was absolutely steady (on a tripod?), but to get some more looks, I think everyone would have tolerated a little shake - for example, as 611 pulled into the museum. At that speed, the running gear’s action would have been clear to future generations.
Photos or videos necessit operating with sun light in is back (first rule - forgotten) - however the angle of view gives nice perspective here (second rule - well done).
Anyway, “611” steaming so white in the freezed winter atmosphere is so nice to see and to heard for sure.
(French Steam Fan, from France)
Interesting set of comments. Where does the water get renewed during the trips?
great video. must see