[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

(erielack) 4-4-0s from the 1860s today

In a message dated 10/4/04 10:38:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
martinpl3_@_earthlink.net writes:

> I wish we had 4-4-0s, from the 1860ies running today.  Romantic; yes.


Ahh, but Phillip, we do.  The B&O Museum's William Mason 4-4-0 from the 1850s 
was credibly restored (keeping much of the original fabric) for the movie 
Wild, Wild, West ca. 1999.  It made a few break-in runs on the Strasburg and has 
been returned to the B&O Museum in running condition. The B&O just reopened.

The Nevada State Railroad Museum has a fleet of Virginia & Truckee engines, 
one a 4-4-0 from 1875, and Las Vegas attorney Dan Markoff wonderfully restored 
an 1875 narrow gauge 4-4-0 that he brings to various lines in the West for 
operation every year. These engines were old-styled when they were new.  Several 
static engines are in various museums, including the actual General from Civil 
War fame at Kennesaw, Georgia, and in Sacramento and elsewhere.

And don't forget the two Golden Spike engines.  Yes, they were built in the 
1970s, but they represent as faithfully as practical 1860s 4-4-0s and all 
that's new is the wood and steel.  The image is as pure as the NPS can get to the 
original 1869 photograph, and these engines run daily. 

There are a few more out there if you want take the trouble to see them. The 
most reliable will be the Golden Spike engines, as the NPS will keep em 
repaired and running. And don't forget the numerous live steam railroad around the 
country who are running faithful early engines from railroading's beginnings.  
They look and smell real.

Although, few of us who wax peotic about about railroading's early daze 
consider the smell.  Before oil was discovered in Pennsylvania, locomotives were 
lubricated with tallow: beef fat.  It would seem that a passing locomotive would 
have a similar nasal experience as passing a rancid burger king today.  And 
in the summer a railroad yard likely had a smell as repulsive as you can 
imagine, sort of like Oak Island Yard in the summer, which still has a 
slaughterhouse next to it that produces some of the most putrid stinks one can endure.  
Now, imagine taking a deep breath in Paterson in that era, which had what would 
become five locomotive builders, numerous steam-powered mills with stationary 
engines, and the active main line and yards of the Erie.  Whew!

                            ....Mike Del Vecchio

------------------------------