Why 2014 may be the best for steam in the last 20 years

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 rounds a curve near Largo, Ind., on Oct. 27, 2013. Jim Wrinn photo 

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Riding behind Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 last Saturday from Fort Wayne to Lafayette, Ind., and then chasing the westbound train Sunday made me smile and often.

This was two beautiful fall days with a big, modern steam locomotive, running sans diesel helper on a Class I railroad with a 16-car train of lightweight passenger equipment in excellent condition and the New York Central 20^th Century Limited round-end observation car Hickory Creek bringing up the markers. The trip over the busy former Wabash was made at a 40 mph speed limit, but the route was straight and fairly flat, so the 765 didn’t break a sweat. No. 765’s caretakers, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, the host railroad, Norfolk Southern, and all of the 700 passengers each day and thousands more gathered trackside to witness the spectacle, must have all been pleased with the performance. If the reason for running steam on the main line today is to win friends, instill employee and corporate pride, and show off the modern railroad in the context of its past, then this was a successful outing. There’s already talk of 765 swinging across the Midwest next year. 

During the euphoria of the weekend, I realized that 2014 might be the best for steam, large and small, in the last 20 years. The reasons for this are many, but they boil down to two things: The Class I situation has stabilized with confidence in the organizations and locomotives they’re using (thus 765’s trip without diesel assist), and long brewing projects are reaching the point that when the mechanics reach for another part to hang on the engine there’s nothing else to mount.

The Class I situation is especially heartening, considering that just a few years ago insurance woes and corporate attitudes about steam left us with little on the main line.

Union Pacific though concentrating on its new prize, the magnificent behemoth of the line Big Boy No. 4014, will also be running the well known star of their fleet 4-8-4 No. 844. Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261 will show up in steam on BNSF Railway and, hopefully, Canadian Pacific. Spokane, Portland, & Seattle 4-8-4 No. 700 is working on an excursion, its first in many years.

Another locomotive legend confined to the tracks of a regional railroad in Michigan, Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225 is also back in steam and ready to roll again much to the delight of Polar Express fans and railfans abroad.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum will outshop one of the first engines to join the original NS steam program for the first time in many years, Southern 2-8-2 No. 4501 for Norfolk Southern’s 21^st Century Steam program. Southern 2-8-0 No. 630 had done a great job for 21^st Century Steam for the last three seasons, but I suspect she’ll be the main stay on TVRM’s train and extended trips to Summerville, Ga., once big sister 4501 hits the road.

I also predict that in 2014 Norfolk & Western Class J No. 611 will move to the shop for its first ever 1,472-day inspection, work to bring it up to date, and then back out onto the main line (full disclosure here: I’m on the Fire Up 611! committee, but this statement is made without any insider knowledge; just a hunch that the big bucks will finally come through.)

Don’t forget that big Santa Fe 4-8-4 in Albuquerque, N.M., No. 2926, whose champions at the New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society are making good progress for year after next. That Boston & Maine 4-6-2 No. 3713 in Scranton will surely look good once it is completed. 

And then there are the little guys. More small but interesting engines are nearing completion than I can remember happening all at once. Among them: Chris Baldo’s unique 2-4-4-2, Deep River Logging No. 7 at Oregon Coast Scenic and the Middle Fork Climax at West Virginia’s Cass Scenic Railroad. At Mid-Continent Railway Museum, the tender is done for Chicago & North Western 4-6-0 No. 1385, while the boiler for privately-owned Saginaw Timber No. 2 recently went back on the frame. My friend in Michigan, Sara Kammeraad reminds me that Western Pacific 0-6-0 No. 165 is also progressing at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, Calif., and that the Illinois Railroad Museum’s Frisco 2-10-0 No. 1630 has passed its hydrostatic test. Steamtown is getting closer on its Baldwin Locomotive Works plant switcher, No. 26, and out in California, Sierra 2-8-0 No. 28 is coming along nicely.

2013 has been a great year for steam on the main line and on the short lines and tourist and museum railroads, but one day we all may look back at 2014 and with a smile and say that was my favorite year for steam.