When I was a kid, I thought one of the greatest jobs in the world must have been to be a steam loco engineer - or train driver as I called them back then.
But now I know there was a lot more to it than just sitting up there and driving the loco. It was a dirty, cold in winter and hot in the summer, dangerous, demanding job of having to stay alert and pay attention not only to the loco, but the entire train, signals and possible dangers down the line, etc… But in spite of all that, I’d still have to say YES!. I’d still want to be a steam loco engineer.
Heck yes! Sometime this year I hope to get involved in Michigan Steam Railroading Institutes’s Engineer for an hour program and take the throtlle of Pere Marquette 2-8-4 Berkshire #1225.[8D][yeah]
If every run involved a free-steaming, well-performing loco, adequate in speed and power for the job at hand, serviced with well-compounded water and Pocahontas coal, running in the cool of Autumn on a visually interesting route, a resounding YES!
On the other hand, if the loco was a superannuated, undermaintained traveling steam leak, serviced with bad oil and hard water, overloaded and slippery, on an overcast-night run in the Mojave desert in August, no way, Jose!
The more I learn about real railroading, then and now, the more I realize that it was (and is) hard, hot, dirty, dangerous WORK. (And the more I respect the people who did it then and do it now.)
The one time someone let me touch a throttle was on a superannuated, undermaintained traveling steam leak, serviced with bad oil and hard water, overloaded and slippery, on an overcast and rainy June afternoon in the Andes.
And it ROCKED. It was unbelievable: one hand on the throttle, one hand on the brakestand (it was an old Baldwin, and the Ecuadorians didn’t use seat boxes), swaying back and forth between the backhead and the cab wall. The whole thing shook, swayed, and rattled like something was going to come loose. I wasn’t really running her, of course - the engineer was about a step behind me the whole time - but I still had the “I can’t believe they pay people to do this” feeling.
But I can see how it would just get to be work after awhile. Particularly if you have to obey signals and stuff. And the pay wasn’t all that great, either…
Put me down for maybe. I’ve had the opportunity to have throttle time on three different steamers (SC&S 3, NKP 765, Hesston 242), and while it was an absolute blast, the thought of actually doing that day in and day out, dodging other trains (TT&TO), and not killing anyone scares the crud out of me.
I would have loved to have been a steam loco engineer but I wonder if my back would have held up from all of the shoveling of coal. My Dad told me, his grandfather made to engineer, but at his back’s expense. I understood that, like anything, you paid your dues and worked your way up from the bottom. It was also a very dirty job, but I’m sure the conversion to oil fuel reduced the labor and dust. Seems like we glorify those days.
I guess it would depend largely on the era. If you mean back in the cowboy days when you had gunfights, train robbers, and Apache War parties everywhere no although shooting buffalo from the train may have been cool. Drive-by shooting HAHA!
It would be great until it became work. Then for 40 plus hours per week, it would be having to deal with bosses and management (true of any job), stressful job both physically and mentally, noise, heat, breathing bad air, and getting called at all hours of the day. As one who has had a bout with cancer (successfully so far), I don’t think I would have survived the 34 years that I have so far been working if I were a steam engineer.
Good evening Tracklayer,
For me, one of the most memorable episodes of an old TV series, was of the “Real McCoys”, when Grandpa McCoy (Walter Brennan), took an aptitude test, and was best suited to be a train engineer. Made for an interesting show, even for a teenage boy who was in the basement if he was at home. Not as many second TVs in those days.
In the days when steam was prevalent, I believe a lot of people were just happy to have a job. Although, “the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill”, is a very old saying that was well known in those days.
Just as many jobs today, railroading could be dangerous enough if one did not pay attention to the task at hand. Distractions were, and still can be a problem in a lot of jobs.
All in all, my interest in big machines would have given me the incentive to go for a job as a steam engineer if I’d been around in the 20s or 30s. Electronics got in the way in the 60s and 70s.
I say no. Not as a job. From what I’ve read, the engineers don’t have much of a life - especially when low on senority. I would enjoy learning how to run one. Otherwise I’ll stick to my models.
Enjoy
Paul
I would love to have experienced life as a coal miner in the 30’s for a day, just to experience the hardship that must have been their life. There is no way I would want it as a permanent job. Same with being a locmotive engineer. Great to experience it, but not as a permanent job.
I think the glamour would wear off in a hurry and then it would become just a job and not a very comfortable one at that. Brutally hot in the summer. In the winter, frigid cold air blowing in from the outside while the inside is roasting. I used to golf with a guy who had been a brakeman going back to the days of steam. When he road in the cab, he learned to nap by propping a broom up against a corner and leaning against it. He hated steam locos.
I would love to do it. But I would not like it as a full time job all the way from now to retirement. I would like the stress and the challenge, but not every day for another 20 years.
It’s interesting that many of you realise that running a steam loco is mainly hard dirty work, with not much glamour. I’ve been fortunate, in that the railway I work for here in Australia did not stop running regular steam until 1973, and have kept a small number of steamies in traffic for excursion work ever since. I started my career as an apprentice boilermaker in 1975, eventually becoming an engineman, working mainly on steam until I transferred over to the suburban electrics last year. At 46, I felt I had done enough time on the things - above all else, steam engines are a young blokes game. My knees and back are RS these days…
That’s kinda like asking, "Would you like to win the POWERBALL? As model railroaders, I think most of us do this because we watched great train movies as kids (The Great Train Chase, Von Ryan’s Express, etc.), and thought, “WHOA! That would be way cool!!”
no way…the only thing it had going for it was that it was a glamourous job in it’s day…but in reality it was a hot, dirty, sooty, oily, job …first you had to pay your dues as a fireman and shoveling coal all day is back breaking labor, it was a very bumpy, rough, ride and boiler explosions and bad track sent many an engineer to an early grave…getting burned or scalded to death isn’t my idea of how I would prefer to leave this earth…I was a boilerman in the Navy and it was a grueling job…the space stayed about 130 degrees F when we were under way and the constant burns from steam, hot pipes, and flare backs from the boiler were enough to convence me that i would never want to do that for the rest of my life…I still have scars on my arms from burning them on atomization steam flanges when opening and closing the air registers and that was almost 30 years agochuck