Riding the rails. Any steam train enthusiasts out there?
Aug 24th, 2000, 10:31 AM
#3
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I have been on several of these rides, starting when I was a kid. I rode the historic Daylight train from Portland, OR to Sacramento many, many years ago when the steam engine was brought down to inaugurate the RR Museum in Sacramento. Also as a child, I rode on a steam trip in the Cumberland Valley in Maryland, with a historic B&O engine. More recently, I did a day trip in NJ that coincided with the fall foliage change.
On most such trips, a really, really large part of the ridership is serious train enthusiasts who are looking not only for the ride, but to ride behind specific historic steam engines, etc. It was with an old family friend who is such an enthusiast that I took all these trips, both as a child and as an adult.
I don't fit into the train enthusiast category, though I've always enjoyed riding trains. Nevertheless, there is something undeniably exciting about the huge, dare I say majestic, steam engines that are a part of the past. A diesel engine pulls into the station and so what? You here the whistles. But steam engines are HUGE and very dramatic, even when just sitting in the station, stoked and ready to go or after a ride. Their wheels are taller than you are, they steam and puff, etc. On a ride itself, you get to enjoy the scenery, usually from modern cars, and you also get a chance to hang out (a bit) from open cars and watch the engine ahead of you (wearing goggles to avoid coal dust in the eyes), which again, is quite dramatic. Most of these trips go with the premise that people ant to see the steam engine in action, so they schedule "run bys" at a stopping point, where they will back the train up about a mile (you're off the train), and then run by repeatedly, so people can take photos and feel the exhilaration of having the thing speed by.
While I'm not a train enthusiast I may be biased by having grown up with this stuff and around someone who championed it. But I think it'd be a fun experience for anyone to try at some point; it is living history, in a sense. And of course kids love it.
On most such trips, a really, really large part of the ridership is serious train enthusiasts who are looking not only for the ride, but to ride behind specific historic steam engines, etc. It was with an old family friend who is such an enthusiast that I took all these trips, both as a child and as an adult.
I don't fit into the train enthusiast category, though I've always enjoyed riding trains. Nevertheless, there is something undeniably exciting about the huge, dare I say majestic, steam engines that are a part of the past. A diesel engine pulls into the station and so what? You here the whistles. But steam engines are HUGE and very dramatic, even when just sitting in the station, stoked and ready to go or after a ride. Their wheels are taller than you are, they steam and puff, etc. On a ride itself, you get to enjoy the scenery, usually from modern cars, and you also get a chance to hang out (a bit) from open cars and watch the engine ahead of you (wearing goggles to avoid coal dust in the eyes), which again, is quite dramatic. Most of these trips go with the premise that people ant to see the steam engine in action, so they schedule "run bys" at a stopping point, where they will back the train up about a mile (you're off the train), and then run by repeatedly, so people can take photos and feel the exhilaration of having the thing speed by.
While I'm not a train enthusiast I may be biased by having grown up with this stuff and around someone who championed it. But I think it'd be a fun experience for anyone to try at some point; it is living history, in a sense. And of course kids love it.
Aug 24th, 2000, 12:06 PM
#4
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Have a cousin who's insanely addicted to railfanning. Follows trains anywhere, etc. and he clued me in to the network of railfans internationally. Those who like steam trains are a special subset. We used to go to various steam-train events around the WashDC area -- don't know if they're as frequent now, but had a lovely trip up to the Shenandoahs and back -- a bit cindery from the smoke, but fun.
Aug 24th, 2000, 01:35 PM
#5
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Took the ride at Steamtown N Hist Park in PA. Yes. worth it. They actually have an extensive museum and workhouse (??) where they maintain / repair engines. Weekends are abuzz with great activities, all which can be done in a few hours.
The Golden Spike NHS in Utah does not give rides (I don't believe), but is well worth the 'out-of-the-way'-ness to fully appreciate what connecting East and West did for all of America, and how rail and steam trains were central to many changes: establishing common time across geography (as opposed to "High noon"), migration, transportation, extreme wealth creation, workers rights and safety, etc..
The Golden Spike NHS in Utah does not give rides (I don't believe), but is well worth the 'out-of-the-way'-ness to fully appreciate what connecting East and West did for all of America, and how rail and steam trains were central to many changes: establishing common time across geography (as opposed to "High noon"), migration, transportation, extreme wealth creation, workers rights and safety, etc..
