20th (not 21st) Century Steam

[Ponce de Leon]

I was scanning some old slides yesterday for possible uploading to RP.net later. Here they are: The 2716 shot is in May 1982 at Bulls Gap (en route to Appalachia from Knoxville). The 4501 was in Middlesborough, KY in 1974. The 1218 is turning on the wye in Bulls Gap in 1989. And---the 2839 performs an impromptu run-by at Blackwood, VA, while the engine was in Appalachia to film "Coal Miner's Daughter." We arranged for two quick round trips to Norton if we could sell enough tickets to pay for the coal. We did! That's Bill Purdie at the throttle.

Nice memories...

[etalcos]

Nice stuff as usual Ron.  I remember the 1218 trip well.  The folks on the ground looking intently at the wheels (to the right in the photo, including Carl Jensen) were watching for, and did indeed see one of the wheels try to climb the rail.  IIRC they got it to drop back in with a loud pop and it looked like rats leaving the sinking ship on the porch of the Bulls Gap hotel to the left in the photo.  I guess they thought they were about to have a tea kettle in the hotel with them.

ETA

[fireball451]

Gotta love the 2716.
Its a shame her career didn't last longer.
That has to be one of the classiest looking engines ever!!!
IN SOUTHERN TRIM OF COURSE!!!!!

[dschlegel]

That 1218 shot is awesome!

[csx6900]

Being a youngin', I haven't even heard of the 2716 until now actually.  What's her story?  She looks like another beautiful specimen of Southern steam... assuming she is actually of SOU heritage.  I don't know a whole lot about that subject.

-Thanks in advance,
Evan

[JHood4501]

Evan, 2716 was actually a C&O Berkshire that looked good (better in my opinion) in Southern. She was rebuilt by Southern in the early 1980s after work started by the Clinchfield was stopped. I'd like to know more into why the Clinchfield halted the restoration in the first place. Anyway, she's now static at the Kentucky Railroad Museum back in her C&O paint.

[Ponce de Leon]

Evan, 2716 was actually a C&O Berkshire that looked good (better in my opinion) in Southern. She was rebuilt by Southern in the early 1980s after work started by the Clinchfield was stopped. I'd like to know more into why the Clinchfield halted the restoration in the first place. Anyway, she's now static at the Kentucky Railroad Museum back in her C&O paint.

Why was the 2716's restoration halted by the Clinchfield? You'll find a quick summary in the description section of this shot I took at Erwin in 1979:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=389875&nseq=0

[GP30Rider]

Ron....do you know who either of the two gentlemen in the photo of the 2716 are?

[Ponce de Leon]

Ron....do you know who either of the two gentlemen in the photo of the 2716 are?

No. They're Clinchfield mechanical department employees, but I didn't know them.

[GP30Rider]

Ron....do you know who either of the two gentlemen in the photo of the 2716 are?

No. They're Clinchfield mechanical department employees, but I didn't know them.

In Bulls Gap?  The guy on the right looks like my uncle who was a General Foreman for Southern there.

[E.M. Bell]

2716 was sharp when Mr. Purdie had her, that's for sure. She was a real life "what if"..  If the ever modern and progressive Southern had not been so quick to drop the fires, they could have well had some big, modern power, and the 2716 gave us a glimpse of what they could have looked like.

Besides, you could take the most homely, utilitarian steam locomotive you can think of, center the headlight, slap a eagle and some Southern candlesticks on it and have a beauty queen!

[Ponce de Leon]

Ron....do you know who either of the two gentlemen in the photo of the 2716 are?

No. They're Clinchfield mechanical department employees, but I didn't know them.

In Bulls Gap?  The guy on the right looks like my uncle who was a General Foreman for Southern there.

Oh....I thought you were asking about the shot taken in Erwin.

[GP30Rider]

We think that's my uncle with the orange hat on with his back to the camera.

[JHood4501]

Ron, thanks for the extra info on the  2716. It's really interesting how everything played out and worked the way it did.

- Jordan

[fireball451]

2716 is considered a Kanahwa, what C&O called their Berkshire types.

[Ponce de Leon]

OK....here's a quick steam era quiz to see what other railroads called these specific wheel arrangements:

NC&StL 4-8-4s:
DL&W 4-8-4s:
WM 4-8-4s:
L&N 2-8-4s:
CofG 4-8-4s (nickname will do):
IC 2-10-2:
NKP 4-6-4:
NYC 4-8-2:
NYC 4-8-4:
RF&P 4-8-4:

OK...don't go to Google and cheat, just type in some responses. And yes, some have multiple answers.

A cupie doll to the first one who gets all of 'em right....

[JHood4501]

Right off the top of my head I can only get three. Google can help me
with the rest. 
NC&StL 4-8-4: Dixies
L&N 2-8-4: Big Emmas
CofG 4-8-4: Big Apples

Jordan 

[Ponce de Leon]

Right off the top of my head I can only get three. Google can help me
with the rest. 
NC&StL 4-8-4: Dixies
L&N 2-8-4: Big Emmas
CofG 4-8-4: Big Apples

Jordan 

Excellent! You get bonus points for knowing "Big Apple."

The NC&StL engines were called Dixies, of course, but the earliest versions were nicknamed "Gliders." The first streamlined engines were named "Yellow Jackets," and the last ones "Stripes." However, they were all quite similar in design, and the railroad called them Dixie-types, as you correctly noted.

[Badhorse79]

  NYC 4-8-4 was the Niagara and 4-8-2 was a Mohawk
that's about all I can think of at the moment

PS not goggled but from my Dads NYC Power Book ! Still count?