JREB.org

  Yesterday, Saturday May 31, my wife and I decided to go to Whitley City.  I did not know that steam engine #630 was on its way to Burnside, and beyond.  I had overlooked that piece of information.

  As we were rolling across the Cumberland River bridge, I noticed a few people standing on the side of the bridge, the side nearest the railroad bridge.  I saw a tripod set up, with a little bitty camera mounted on it.  I knew something was up.

  I had planned on turning off in Burnside, and going to the tracks to see if anything interesting was parked there, as I usually do.  I got down near the tracks and saw a man and woman and their child, waiting by a building.  I stopped and asked what was coming.  They told me--a Heritage and a steam engine.  I guessed that a Heritage unit was part of the same train.  It was not.  I guess it came later.  We didn't see it.  We did see #630 and both of us made a bunch of photos.

   I asked about arrival time, thinking it might be a while, and that we might catch it in the Whitley City/Stearns area.   The ETA was less than 30 minutes, so I parked.  Soon, we heard the ding, ding, ding sound as the crossing guards were activated.  I got my cameras out of the trunk, a digital, and the Yashica-Mat with B&W film, and went to position to wait.

   Before long, I could hear a train coming.  The sound increased.  Then I could see smoke, and soon #630 emerged from around the bend.  I made a couple photos of the approaching train.  It was strange seeing a steam engine coming towards me, smoke billowing up in the sky.  I hadn't seen that since the early '90s, when a train pulled by #765 came to Princeton, KY.

   Number 630 and entourage pulled up and stopped there at Burnside, with the whistle blowing and steam reaching up in the sky.  I had been told that it would stop.  When I was first told it was coming, I figured it would roll on through, but not only did we get to see a steam engine in operation, it stopped.  Surprisingly, there was only a small number of people there to see it.
























This is the longest unobstructed view I got of the passenger cars, but it was smokey.  I rode trains pulled by steam engines in Europe in the 1950s.  I remember a little of it, seeing the engine way up front, on a curve, with smoke drifting back.  I wish I had been making pictures.



   I made several photos, both digital, and with the film camera, then looked around and saw my wife with her digital camera, grabbing shot after shot.  She stocked up on steam engine photos.  One problem we both had was contrast.  We were on the shady side, although it was near mid day, and the thick gravel rock spread out along the track was so lit up, it made a lot of contrast with the dark engines.  We got what we could.  My wife Barb zoomed in on #630 for some shots.  I did only for a couple.  I've included some of her photos here.  I kept making photos while the train was there. Better to make too many, than too few.




Lets not forget the helper engines.  It seems to me that it would be difficult to get those diesels coordinated with a small steam engine.  The little engine can't pull the diesels, and all the rest, but the diesels can't be pushing the steam engine, I would think.  Seems they would have to be set just right.  I guess that is a matter of great skill.  My hat off to the engineers.





Engine #630 was accompanied by two SD40-2s, as usual it seems.  It is fitting to have some older diesels with it.  I got this photo after the crew got back on the train, and the other NS people went back to the office.  For a while, there were a bunch of NS people walking and standing by the engines.  They even had a conference about something.  Eventually they all got done, after some routine maintenance on #630, and the train was ready to leave.  The engineer blew the shrill whistle, steam shot up once more, then they rolled out.




  We did too, headed for Whitley City.  Back on Hwy 27, nearing Tateville, we saw the smoke.  I wondered if we could get a shot of #630 crossing on the overpass, over Hwy 27.  We got closer, and closer and saw the smoke getting closer also, almost to the overpass.  Barb got her camera ready.  She had to aim through the windshield, but it was better than nothing.  Very soon it all converged.  The overpass was straight in front of us, engine 630 came out from behind the trees and started across.  Barb got the picture.  Now, that's a strange sight these days.  Like something out of time.  Actually, it is.



  I turned off on Garland Bend Rd, but soon changed my mind, and re-routed toward Whitley City.  That bridge over the tracks was probably lined up with people.  The train was already going through that section, and would reach the bridge before we did, so I turned around and went back to 27.

   On down the road, as we passed the turnoff for Hwy 927, Barb looked to the right and saw several cars at the overpass there--road over the tracks.  We kept going.  

  I thought Marsh's siding near Whitley City might be a good place to get some photos, so I headed there.  Another couple was already waiting by the track.  We soon joined them, and waited.  Before long, we heard it coming.  Then the smoke, and headlight.  Barb got a distant view on her camera, and a close one.



Again, it was strange seeing a steam engine coming, with all that smoke wafting up in the air.  I was holding my wide angle adapter in front of the lens of my Fuji digital , and waited for one shot.



 
  I like this scene because it is uncluttered--no cars, houses, people, etc.; just the train, the track, and natural elements.  I like that corner of rock beside the engines.  This would be a good place to catch a Heritage, but they seem to be more rare than a steam engine.

   I expected the train to be going 40 mph, and maybe a little slower through the Whitley City area, but it rushed by, with that little steam engine just chugging away.  It seemed to me that the train was doing at least 45, and probably 50.

  All these photos were taken with older digital cameras. My wife's camera, a Fuji, is rated at 2 megapixels, and mine at 3 megapixels.   My Kodak digital, my main one, is rated at 5.  I usually take it, but wasn't expecting anything special, and figured I might not even use it.  I took a camera just in case we happened to see a train with one or more interesting locomotives.  We did.  It was a good day.

Nice pics.

Super pics!

My wife and I went on the Saturday run.  GREAT TRIP! (Thanks, NS & TVRR)

Saw plenty of the JREB crew along the route, but imagine they had trouble keeping up as we rolled back north at track speed.

Will post some of my images in another day or two.

Rich