Playing with helpers

I have been not sending much the last week as my computer ate my Picasa program with all my photos on it!  I think I have recovered them but not in the order I like. Anyway here is a collection of stuff that would have never seen the light of day in real life! A Big Boy steam engine with Union Pacific markings on the point is not out of reason.

What is weird is that the train has a Southern Pacific Cab Forward doing the pasting on an SP&S caboose in the company of an NP coal car! Now I could tell you that I was pulling/pushing a 100 car train but then again I don't live in Washington, DC.

I gave these 4 SP&S Alcos some smoke because they are Alcos!

Allan had his good looking CP steamers working on the Green branch during the Open House last week pulling about 22 coal cars. I would guess we had about 180-200 people visit us. The newspaper had a 3 inch column on us and that helped from out the crowd.

Jimmy B. had his 3 Alaska F units doing a freight up the grade. Get those rings fixed before the EPA finds out!

What do you know about steam engines?

When I got into the railroad scene in 1965 I knew nothing about railroads or why things were theway they were. Steam engines fascinated me but I didn't know why. This is a replica of the Union Pacific #119 that was at the Gold Spike celebration back in 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah.I was there in 1969, drats I only missed it by 100 years! It is called an American 4-4-0.

This old clunker was called a Camelback because the cab sat in the middle of the engine. The fireman was in the back of the loco and the engineer sat in the cab. This was an 0-6-0 because of the wheel arrangement.

This is Bakersfield in 1955 on the Southern Pacific and I was tempted to put smoke and steam coming out to look

like the train was at speed. I thought better of it so the kids are not in danger.

Today the Southern Pacific engine similar to the previous one still runs around the Northwest. It's called a Daylight 4-8-4 Northern.

 It was featured in1 990 when it ran from Wenatchee to Leavenworth, Washington in celebration of the states Centennial. The City of Portland, Oregon owns it.  Spokane owns a bus!

Another darling of modern steam engines has to be the Union Pacific's 8444 or 844 depending on the time line. We see it here on the Joso Bridge crossing the Snake River from Oregon to Washington. I included this photo to show the bridge more than the engine because of its size. They need to get over this bridge to get to Spokane and to their SI connection to Canada. This shot was taken in 1974 as it heads to Expo 74.