I stand, happily, corrected on that point.

Sorry for the thread derail:



#97 was well worn out before my time there.

#208 was made operable, but still needed a lot of work. I was part of an autumn "relief crew" to give the French Lick folks some time off. One Saturday, I was having trouble keeping steam on our first run. Sitting at the depot awaiting our second run, I made my fire bed ready, but noticed the middle of my fire simply wasn't burning. I raked it, added coal, opened the blower, and got it going, only to find it not burning again within 5 minutes. When my friend the engineer climbed aboard and said "Ready to go?", I replied "We're not going anywhere, look in the firebox." He said "You're fire's out, you had better get it going!".............."Nope, I said, look at the side of the firebox."

There were about a half dozen staybolts all together spraying water from around them, putting the fire out. We had about 170lbs of steam. After looking at each other in amazement, we very gingerly uncoupled and put the engine on the siding to cool off, and put the diesel on the head end. The firebox sheets were thin from years of operation. I think it was 1988? That was the end.

Dad took this photo of me on a previous run.

I recall some old stories about Polish boilermakers visiting the area, and volunteering to work on the 97 which included welding carriage bolts in for stays, etc..... left me wondering how much of this could be true?

The previous two posts have locked my eyebrows into a raised position, making me look perpetually astonished.

Lesson of the Day:
Learn more about the engine before volunteering to crew it.

After Gettysburg, things are much different, and for the better.