Spring Steam on the Bristol Line

[Ptrainman]

April 5th dawned cool and clear after the wind and rain on Friday night. Perfect chasing weather. And steam was in the air as 630 simmered on the point of the Radford bound train waiting to depart.

It was a great day with perfect weather and a well organized chase with a lot of great people including Evan and Alexa Lofback and Samuel Phillips. Chasing was fairly easy with very few idiots on the roads and lots of good shots to be had. The 630 put on a great show and the diesels were just along for ride most of the day. At times the 630 had the loudest and sharpest stack talk I had ever heard out of that little Ks-1. And she was also doing a tad over the posted 40MPH limit several times during the day.

All the shots from the day can be seen here: http://southernrailsphotography.smugmug.com/Trains/Southern-630-Bristol-Radford/38385593_VbQZ9N

With cylinder cocks open and a nice black plume of smoke coming from the stack, 630 stomps her way past the NB408 Milepost leaving Bristol in golden morning light.


With Rods to the ground 630 makes short work of her 16 car train as they sprint north through the rolling countryside of Southwestern VA just south of Glade Springs, VA.


People young and old turned out to see the 1908 Alco product as she rolled past the WWII Veterans Memorial in downtown Pulaski, VA on the return trip to Bristol.


The diesels were definitely not helping the little Ks-1 as they literally roared through Glade Springs, VA. She almost sounded like a jet engine coming at you. I have never heard the stack that loud or that sharp out of this old girl. The stack might have been fairly clean but the sound definitely made up for it. Im hoping Evan (csx6900) got a good video here.


After unloading passengers from a long hard day of running the engineer eases  the train over State St in Bristol and across the state line into TN before getting a light to shove back into the yard for the night.


Paul

[csx6900]

Awesome stuff, Paul! I want to extend my thanks to you and Samuel again for allowing Alexa and I to tag along. We had a great time! The show 630 put on coupled with the company couldn't have been better. As for the video of 630 BLASTING through Glade Spring, it came out great and I should have that video done this weekend.

-Evan Lofback
Knoxville, TN

[NSyorktown]

Amazing pics . . . thanks for sharing.

Looked like the "perfect kind of day", for everything!

[butch]

Excellent!

[Ptrainman]

Thanks guys. I look forward tk that video Evan.


Paul

[Ponce de Leon]

Excellent shots! I only chased as far as Max Meadows on Saturday. I got a few acceptable shots...but nothing too memorable. The shots below are at Rural Retreat, a mile west of Glade Spring, Seven Mile Chrysler, and crossing the Holston River just east of Marion.

RF

[E.M. Bell]

Yall done right good, and some new and different locations! 

[Ponce de Leon]

Yall done right good, and some new and different locations! 

The number of new and different locations are infinite. You just have to look for 'em and think in broad, creative terms.

Speaking of broad creative terms...I have no idea what to do on Saturday morning on the Grundy-Devon run. I'll be looking for something fresh and different...but so will untold dozens of other chasing photographers. That's the downside of a steam excursion. Before digital photography and Photoshop, a good friend of mine always said he needed a "people filter" for his camera.

[Ptrainman]

Looking good Ron. She was definitely putting on a show at Seven Mile Ford.


Paul