The DIS Campers Train Thread: From Model Trains Up To The Real Thing
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bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
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I'm glad you liked The Flyer, @wabbott. Wish I could get back there soon. That's where I realized I had an appreciation for a British hard apple cider on tap after I tasted my first. (... and second .... and third .... ).
I am happy to report that I have something to contribute to this thread in the next day or two. Lots of pics to share.
Ed
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
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I went back into the archives, @wabbot, to find a picture of a cider:
I think I've used this before in here but ...
The thing about those long continuous Tube trains is that when I looked towards the back while moving, I felt steady (for the most part) and that back end was bucking and heaving and swinging around (which meant I had been too and didn't know it).
Made me a little quesy (there's that motion stuff with me again like on Guardians of the Galaxy).
Looking towards the front was equally unsettling so eyes went down or straight across the car.
ED
I think I've used this before in here but ...
The thing about those long continuous Tube trains is that when I looked towards the back while moving, I felt steady (for the most part) and that back end was bucking and heaving and swinging around (which meant I had been too and didn't know it).
Made me a little quesy (there's that motion stuff with me again like on Guardians of the Galaxy).
Looking towards the front was equally unsettling so eyes went down or straight across the car.
ED
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
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- 14,162
Yesterday DW and I had the honor of riding on a long steam train excursion that lasted 10 hours and over 100 miles (with a few stops along the way). We rode behind an old family friend, the Southern Railroad's 4501 which is operated by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, TN. It was running summer and fall excursions on certain weekends (from early May to mid-November) to Summerville, GA. Here are the relevant links:
https://www.tvrail.com/
https://www.tvrail.com/train-rides/summerville-steam-special/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Railway_4501
https://www.tvrail.com/equipment/southern-4501/
TVRR is what I would call my home railroad (real rr). There is a tourist (diesel) line outside of Birmingham an hour away but TVRR is my home because they run steam. Not all the months of the year and then not every day, but they do with some regularity. Besides being a museum and tourist line, they also do the switching and shunting at the local Volkswagen plant outside of Chattanooga.
The 4501 is an old friend because me, DW, and our two sons (DD was not born yet) did an all day ride behind the 4501 back in 1995/6 which was basically the same ride we took yesterday. The 4501 is a Baldwin "Mikado" locomotive with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement (2 small pilot wheels up front, 8 big driving wheels under the boiler, and 2 small trailing wheels supporting the back of the firebox and cab). As such it was used to pull freight rather than passengers because the 8 big wheels offered the ability to pull heavy loads and the 2 front wheels meant at slower speeds than passenger trains went at. The Southern's favored passenger steam locomotive was the Baldwin "Pacific" 4-6-2 which 4 wheels up front to get through the switches better at higher speeds and big (diameter) driving wheels to deliver that speed.
You can read the biographies of the 4501 linked above but the 4501 saw freight service over 4 different decades for Southern and when diesels started replacing steam, it was sold to a small coal railroad in Kentucky for shorter runs. Oddly enough, that sale saved the 4501 because its siblings left behind with the Southern were sold for scrap. Also the Pacifics were sold for scrap except for a single survivor (which does not run).
After the Kentucky coal railroad retired the 4501, it sat for sale and the founders of the TVRR heard about it and bought it to start their RR/Museum in the mid-1960s. By that time most railroads had retired/scrapped steam locos but they were still a pleasant folk memory. The 4501 had worked all its life painted BLACK but since the Southern passengers locos had been painted green and gold, the 4501 was painted green and gold when it started tourist/passenger excursions in the later 1960s. And for decades into the 1990s (me) it made memories with passengers. But it was a machine that needed a major overhaul so it sat for over 10 years then got overhauled and came out again for excursions.
All that to say there are photos of the 4501 in black paint and green paint. Yesterday it was painted green.
Tickets had been sold for yesterday's Summerville Special and DW and I got to the Depot at 815 for our 9am departure.
Grand Junction Depot for TVRR.
The passenger cars were on the other side of the depot waiting.
Way down to the left of the most recent pic, there were photographers set up. Waiting.
We got our tickets and waited for the queen of the rails to arrive.
There she came backing into the line from the shops 3 miles away to hook up and wait for 9am.
After a blow-down:
She was ready to rest up while the crew worked out the trip's details.
More in the next post. Have to go to a ball game this afternoon.
ED
https://www.tvrail.com/
https://www.tvrail.com/train-rides/summerville-steam-special/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Railway_4501
https://www.tvrail.com/equipment/southern-4501/
TVRR is what I would call my home railroad (real rr). There is a tourist (diesel) line outside of Birmingham an hour away but TVRR is my home because they run steam. Not all the months of the year and then not every day, but they do with some regularity. Besides being a museum and tourist line, they also do the switching and shunting at the local Volkswagen plant outside of Chattanooga.
The 4501 is an old friend because me, DW, and our two sons (DD was not born yet) did an all day ride behind the 4501 back in 1995/6 which was basically the same ride we took yesterday. The 4501 is a Baldwin "Mikado" locomotive with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement (2 small pilot wheels up front, 8 big driving wheels under the boiler, and 2 small trailing wheels supporting the back of the firebox and cab). As such it was used to pull freight rather than passengers because the 8 big wheels offered the ability to pull heavy loads and the 2 front wheels meant at slower speeds than passenger trains went at. The Southern's favored passenger steam locomotive was the Baldwin "Pacific" 4-6-2 which 4 wheels up front to get through the switches better at higher speeds and big (diameter) driving wheels to deliver that speed.
You can read the biographies of the 4501 linked above but the 4501 saw freight service over 4 different decades for Southern and when diesels started replacing steam, it was sold to a small coal railroad in Kentucky for shorter runs. Oddly enough, that sale saved the 4501 because its siblings left behind with the Southern were sold for scrap. Also the Pacifics were sold for scrap except for a single survivor (which does not run).
After the Kentucky coal railroad retired the 4501, it sat for sale and the founders of the TVRR heard about it and bought it to start their RR/Museum in the mid-1960s. By that time most railroads had retired/scrapped steam locos but they were still a pleasant folk memory. The 4501 had worked all its life painted BLACK but since the Southern passengers locos had been painted green and gold, the 4501 was painted green and gold when it started tourist/passenger excursions in the later 1960s. And for decades into the 1990s (me) it made memories with passengers. But it was a machine that needed a major overhaul so it sat for over 10 years then got overhauled and came out again for excursions.
All that to say there are photos of the 4501 in black paint and green paint. Yesterday it was painted green.
Tickets had been sold for yesterday's Summerville Special and DW and I got to the Depot at 815 for our 9am departure.
Grand Junction Depot for TVRR.
The passenger cars were on the other side of the depot waiting.
Way down to the left of the most recent pic, there were photographers set up. Waiting.
We got our tickets and waited for the queen of the rails to arrive.
There she came backing into the line from the shops 3 miles away to hook up and wait for 9am.
After a blow-down:
She was ready to rest up while the crew worked out the trip's details.
More in the next post. Have to go to a ball game this afternoon.
ED
Last edited:
Teamubr
From somewhere outside StL
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Strongbow is a good one, Ed. I prefer ciders (and vodka) to beer anyday.
And @wabbott's pic reminded me I took a couple on the Metro/RER in Paris. These all start to look alike.
This is the Bir- Hakeim station that was right across the street from our hotel.
This station is elevated about 40 ft above the roadway and is right at the southern side of the Seine.
Looking down the tracks across the Seine. There is a station on the other side of the river and then it disappears underground. This line ends under the Arc de Triomphe.
On the platform under the Arc de Triomphe. Like this line (Metro 6) that ends here, there are 3 or 4 other lines, including the RER A that goes to DLP, all connecting under the monument. Tunnels and stairs connect everything. Signage is excellent. They were incredibly clean, no smells, unlike some US city subways.
j
And @wabbott's pic reminded me I took a couple on the Metro/RER in Paris. These all start to look alike.
This is the Bir- Hakeim station that was right across the street from our hotel.
This station is elevated about 40 ft above the roadway and is right at the southern side of the Seine.
Looking down the tracks across the Seine. There is a station on the other side of the river and then it disappears underground. This line ends under the Arc de Triomphe.
On the platform under the Arc de Triomphe. Like this line (Metro 6) that ends here, there are 3 or 4 other lines, including the RER A that goes to DLP, all connecting under the monument. Tunnels and stairs connect everything. Signage is excellent. They were incredibly clean, no smells, unlike some US city subways.
j
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
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wabbott
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Teamubr
From somewhere outside StL
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