An era gone by

[Jake]

This is just a little something I wrote in my spare time. It started out as like 3 lines on a comment I posted on one of Paul's You Tube videos, and I just wound up changing a bit or two and expanding it.

"Gone is the is the ill-fated era of the steam locomotive, never again to return. Many of the living, breathing leviathans of the rails have slipped into an eternal slumber, only to remain a fading memory... Never to be seen, smelled nor heard again. Gone are the days of smelling the hot oil of a steam locomotive. Gone are the days of seeing steam and smoke pouring from a Big boy as it pulls a 150 car freight train up Sherman Hill. Gone are the days of hearing the far cry of a Denver and Rio Grande Western K-36 echoing through the Toltec Gorge or steaming down the Chili Line. No more will you find shots of a Baldwin 2-6-6-2 shooting sparks as it climbs up a 7% grade with 20 loaded log cars behind it. You will never again see a Southern Pacific Cab Forward pulling a 120 drag up Donner Pass. And the sad truth is, soon enough, you will never see a steam locomotive again."

And it is a sad truth indeed.

[SteamGene]

Gone is the is the ill-fated era
I'd suggest working on this.  It doesn't seem to be quite the right touch.  Also - and far more important, you mention only the south west corner of the steam world.  Think of what you have excluded.
Gene

[Santa Fe buff]

Well then:

IRM! IRM! IRM!

IL RR Museum.....................steamers are surviving there.
You should go there- it's extremely fun and nice to see those steamers---and desiels.

[Jake]

Gone is the is the ill-fated era
I'd suggest working on this.  It doesn't seem to be quite the right touch.  Also - and far more important, you mention only the south west corner of the steam world.  Think of what you have excluded.
Gene

Thanks Gene, I'll work on that!

[Yampa Bob]

Of course there are many steam locomotives resting in solitude in museums and parks.  The ones outdoors are fading, bird droppings all over them, not a very reverent treatment of these once proud locomotives.

For the areas noted, Jake is very accurate.  Save for the few excursion lines running near here, we have already seen the end of steam in Colorado.

Personally I found Jake's brief article moving.  Don't worry about the typos Jake, we all make mistakes.   

Bob 

[Paul M.]

This is just a little something I wrote in my spare time. It started out as like 3 lines on a comment I posted on one of Paul's You Tube videos, and I just wound up changing a bit or two and expanding it.

"Gone is the is the ill-fated era of the steam locomotive, never again to return. Many of the living, breathing leviathans of the rails have slipped into an eternal slumber, only to remain a fading memory... Never to be seen, smelled nor heard again. Gone are the days of smelling the hot oil of a steam locomotive. Gone are the days of seeing steam and smoke pouring from a Big boy as it pulls a 150 car freight train up Sherman Hill. Gone are the days of hearing the far cry of a Denver and Rio Grande Western K-36 echoing through the Toltec Gorge or steaming down the Chili Line. No more will you find shots of a Baldwin 2-6-6-2 shooting sparks as it climbs up a 7% grade with 20 loaded log cars behind it. You will never again see a Southern Pacific Cab Forward pulling a 120 drag up Donner Pass. And the sad truth is, soon enough, you will never see a steam locomotive again."

And it is a sad truth indeed.

Wow... that's great, Jake... I don't think I could put it better... It is a sad truth...

Of course there are many steam locomotives resting in solitude in museums and parks.  The ones outdoors are fading, bird droppings all over them, not a very reverent treatment of these once proud locomotives.

Bob 

Yampa Bob,
The video he refers to is about a steam locomotive in a park, right before it was moved to the T&P museum for partial restoration....

If anyone wants to, they can see the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO3vCRQPmZU

Well then:

IRM! IRM! IRM!

IL RR Museum.....................steamers are surviving there.
You should go there- it's extremely fun and nice to see those steamers---and desiels.

SF Buff.... Sure, there are some steam locomotives surviving in operating condition, but they are few... The vast majority of steam that hasn't been scapped is rusting away, in parks, displays, or, like that one thread a couple weeks ago, forgotten in the woods or in other places....

[grumpy]

There are people definitely passionate enought to keep steam alive.
You guys should also travel a little farther from home . Just a few minutes from my house is the Northern Alberta Railway Museum. They have restored and run steam and diesel locos . They have a veritable treasure trove of restorable locos and rolling stock.Fort Edmonton Park runs a restored loco from May to Sept. There are two operating locos at Heritage Park in Calgary. There is also the excursion train that runs out of Stettler AB
There are others but what I have described here are only some of the ones that immediately come to mind.
Don

[rogertra]

There are people definitely passionate enought to keep steam alive.
You guys should also travel a little farther from home . Just a few minutes from my house is the Northern Alberta Railway Museum.

And in the UK there are far more steam locos that have been restored to operation condition than there have been in the whole of North America.

Some have been restored from awful condition, driving wheels cut through, cylinders missing, nothing is impossible in UK steam preservation.  And in the same period, from around the end of steam in the UK, 1968, North American fans have permitted operating steam or steam that requires little work to become operational, to be cut up for scrap.

They are even building steam from scratch.

[Yampa Bob]

When Heber Valley Railroad in Utah planned a needed restoration of UP 618, they were estimating $175,000 initially, which was probably a conservative figure.  They said a huge expense was getting it certified. 

We probably have better metalurgy today, but to build a new loco from scratch would be pretty expensive.  I can't begin to imagine what it must cost for Durango and Silverton to maintain their fleet of K series.  I have heard the Leadville Colorado Southern excursion is in financial scrapes over maintenance.

Bob 

[SteamGene]

Writing that has potential will get a positive comment from me.  Writing that is without potential does not.  Jake's comment has potential and I'd like to see it worked on. 

It is also true that many of the survivors are in a deplorable condition.  The IL RR locos that are outside are almost all battered and burgled.  The same is true of most of the stuffed and mounted that I have seen. 
We do have the technology to revive and restore.  If, for instance, the Newport News Ship and Drydock Company can build submarines and air craft carriers, and, in a pinch, hoppers, surely it could restore steam lcoomotives.  A little "engineuity" is all it takes.  The 2-8-0 of the Scenic Western Maryland has (or had) one gauge that obviously came from an aircraft. 
Gene

[pdlethbridge]

Don't forget the Tornado
Steamgene, you remember that ships for a long time have been steam powered. So having a gauge for a 2-8-0 would not be unrealistic. I worked in a boiler room on the Essex CVS 9 and Wasp CVS 18 and they had tons of parts that could be used on a loco besides gauges. We had a pretty nifty double acting reciprocating feed pump, Valves from low pressure lines up to 600PSI, Water glasses used on the upper level to ensure there was plenty of water in the boiler.

[RAM]

pdlethbridge » I served on the Lake Chanplain CVA 39.  Fire roon #1.  Just like the steam locomotive, the Navy has all but replaced all steam powered ships.  We had a model railroad layout in one of the fan rooms. 

[Redtail67]

Never was a question of the ability to restore nor the willingness. It is a question of MONEY and FRA Certification, mainly of the Boiler that prevents most from being restored.

The regulations governing Operating Steam Locomotives is very stringent. The Liability in todays world has prevented Class I Roads from permitting Steam on their rails. Of course there have been exceptions. Southern was one of the friendly roads to Steam Excursions.

My best friend was/is involved with restoring the ATSF 2912 4-8-4 Northern  in Pueblo, Colorado. We spent many an hour on the internet and with other sources tryying and finnaly getting a Grant from the US Government of Surplus Milling Machines Laths and many manny tools...value well over 1 million. These came from a mothballed Navy Ship in California. The government gave the stuff and loaded it. He/they had to transport to Pueblo. This was just for tools that were well suited for Steam engines.

If the regs and the railroads would allow it you would have Steam operating everywhere, sadly, the truth is its just never going to happen. The ones operating now most will fail because of the cost of maintinence and meeting the regs.

Redtail67

[paulsafety]

The "era of steam" has been gone since the 1950's if we look at the "culture" of the railroads, the employees, the facilities needed to maintain and service steam as though it were part of the "day to day" running of a railroad.

Excursions, tourist lines and musuems do their full share to help younger generations (like me) to appreciate a part of what that 'era' was like.

Steam will or can be with us for as long as we want it to be.  It appears that there is more discussion about replacing boilers with newly constructed boilers for situations where historic preservation is less important than the service lifespan of the engine (when used daily in tourist operation).  I would rather see the engine have another 50+ years of service than be able to tell people that it still has its original boiler (and becoming a safety hazard).  The Gettysburg RR boiler explosion did a lot to curtail excursions on major class one railroads. 

Paul F.

[richG]

Do a reality check. Steam locomotives while entertaining and challenging, were notorious for pollution and inefficient, a lot of heat loss. It was not unusual for 30 to 50 locomotives to be  in a yard coming from, waiting for, leaving on assignment. There were many yards like this in the US.  I have seen photos like this. Unless the steamer was removed for service, the fires were banked until needed again. It is a four to five hour process to boot up a oil fired steam loco. Longer for coal fired.
http://www.sdrm.org/faqs/hostling.html
http://www.sessions-station.com/firing_a_steam_locomotive.htm

Rich