Steam Working HARD--A Must See!!

[GP40-2]

Found this on YouTube: Chessie Steam Special (Ex. Reading 4-8-4 2101) pulling a long heavyweight consist up the 19 mile long Sand Patch Grade on the B&O Pittsburgh main. Crank up the volume and watch in high quality to get the full effect! Link to Chessie Steam Special

[feltonhill]

GP40-2 - Thanks for the link!  This is one of the better clips I've seen of 2101 on B&O.

There's a lot going on in this short video. You can actually see the grade, which is very effective and very unsuual.You can sense the the engineer has the T1 exactly where he wants it for maximum performance.  Right at the verge of slipping but under control.  Just before  2101 passes you can see that the reverse is not quite all the way in the corner, but hooked up very slightly to give that "heads-up' sound of working hard but not laboring.  For the final cap, note that the safety valve is up, indicating the the fireman is giving he engineer every bit of steam possible.  But for all the work being done, the boiler still can't be run out of steam.  This is what these locos are all about.

I've watched it at least half a dozen times so far and wish there was a way to download it!!

[CopCarSS]

THAT was impressive. Nothing like big steam digging in and working hard!

[J. Edgar]

AWESOME..thats why i love steam...great to hear her slip the first few seconds (even though thats really hard on equipment)...my first rail photo was of the Chessie Steam Special roaring thru Howell Mi in '77..i was 10

[dknelson]

Wow you don't get to see preserved steam be worked that hard very much (for obvious reasons).  That's exciting.  Compare this Keith Schmidt vid of Soo 1003 which is pulling a fairly light load for a Mikado but which is being deliberately worked hard by the engineer to create smoke and sound for his audience ...

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HgvqSaDEoY&NR=1

 

Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

Very nice link ! Thank you. A +++++ from me.

Lars

[BaltACD]

Railroad motive power being worked to or near it's maximum ability is a wonder to behold...steam or diesel.

[The Dude With The Hair]

feltonhill

  Just before  2101 passes you can see that the reverse is not quite all the way in the corner, but hooked up very slightly to give that "heads-up' sound of working hard but not laboring. 

How can you tell?

[yankee flyer]

  

Yep thats a cool sound. I remember lying in bed at night and hearing that sound as the MoPac pulled the grade not far from my house. My uncle was one of the enginers that made the run. He would tell me to listen for his whistle. It brings back memorys from the mid to late fortys.

Enjoy

Lee

[GP40-2]

dknelson

Wow you don't get to see preserved steam be worked that hard very much (for obvious reasons)...

The one thing you can say about Ross Rowland is that he is never afraid to work his engines hard. He took the C&O 614 right up Sand Patch and 17 Mile Grade with 25 cars and no helpers in sight. The hardest I ever saw Ross work an engine was on a 25 car Chessie Safety Express trip on the old B&O Wheeling-Pittsburgh Subdivision. Locomotive engineers considered the W&P the most difficult route on the entire B&O system. It was 68 miles of 2% grades, sharp curves, and tunnels. Often, part of your train would be going up hill and downhill at the same time! The very first grade encountered is Streets Run, a nasty 5 mile long, 2% grade out of the Monongahela River Valley in Pittsburgh. It is a constant barrage of "S" curves up to the summit at Whitehall Tunnel, so not only is an engine fighting gravity, but it is fighting a lot of curve resistance. The 614 was giving it everything it had to the summit. Ross ended up damaging the 614's booster, and the train stalled just short of the summit. To put Streets Run in perspective, the B&O used three 2-8-8-0 EL5a class steam locomotives with 360,000 lbs total tractive effort on a standard freight over the W&P. Ross would not call it quits, and after a helper got the train through the tunnel, he took the 614 to Wheeling without any other assistance. Link to C&O 614 on Streets Run Grade; Link to B&O EL5a Locomotive; Link to EL5a pushers