Complaints about modern steam railroading are getting as cliche as opining about the glory days of steam and railroading in general dying out with the entry of the diesels. We seem to treat "pure steam" like it is a pure gold, but scoff at the silver and platinum offerings. While I can understand the perspective of a diesel being in the consist, to many it's just a three person passenger car, and in this case, one with a pretty solid paint job.

A locomotive going 60, 80, or 40MPH still requires the same money, time, dedication, and hard work to get it to work at all. I find it hard to marginalize any of that because it's "too mainstream, man."

KL

Human nature, nothing more, nothing less.

I went to see Paul McCartney awhile back. Asked some friends if they wanted to go. One said, "No, I'd rather see Wings when he still had a real band." Another said, "No, it won't be like seeing The Beatles."

I am 44. The Beatles broke up when I was 2. By the time I was old enough to go to concerts, Wings had broken up, too. So should I never have seen McCartney at all because it didn't live up to an imagined vision that the old days were better?

So, I went. Had a great time (this was 1992, and Robbie Macintosh may have been the most skilled guitarist Sir Paul ever had by his side). Turns out my friends hadn't ever seen Wings or The Beatles, they just "knew" the solo act wouldn't be good. Rob 1, Friends 0.


Fast forward.....


I wasn't born when my PRR forefathers ran steam. I was 2 when #759 ran the Curve, 5 when the infamous doubleheader made the trip, and 7 when the AFT did. I was unable to convince anyone to drive me 8 hours to see the AFT on the Curve. I have ridden over it many times behind everything from E-8's in service to E-8's in preservation and I am tickled pink to be planning to see #765 run up the east slope.

Not only will I enjoy the show, I will be happy for Kelly, Rich and the rest of the crew; grateful for NS letting something happen that hasn't happened in 4 decades; and delighted by big steam surely being frontpage news in the general media.

I love The Beatles and I love big steam.

I am 44 years old. I feel pretty lucky that I can still experience some of the real deal.


PS: Someone who did see The Beatles at Shea told me they liked the McCartney show better, as they could actually hear the music. ;-)

If it's steaming, I'm watching. I'm hoping we can get up to Pennsylvania in August.

Perfection is highly overrated. I see too many people cut themselves out of a whole lot of life because it wouldn't be perfect. An author I can't remember wrote a great essay titled "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." My own theory is that if it wouldn't result in eternal damnation or the end of all life as we know it, it might be worth a try. Diesel in a steam consist? Small potatoes. There's steam. Enjoy it.

Exactly!

I was 2 years old when steam last ran on a mainline passenger train (ironically enough it was 765 as C&O 2765 in 1993) in Pennsylvania and hasn't been seen since. I've travelled to places like Scranton, Strasburg, New Hope, Cumberland, Owosso, and Dennison just to enjoy the opportunity of seeing one of these beasts out running. This will be the first time that the steam has come to me, instead of vice versa!

I know the old heads will say it was better 30+ years ago or so, but us young guys have yet to get a crack at seeing mainline steam in places where it hasn't been seen in awhile. Enjoy it while you can!

I won't get to make it to Horseshoe Curve,but I would not be surprised if NS told em' the keep the units isolated and let 765 take the bit in her teeth and PULL!!! Take plenty of video AND audio. Kelly...tell Rich to put her on the roof!

To us old heads, Mike, everything was better because we were better. My hair was brown and my teeth were white, now it's the opposite. 2 pints and I'm ready to nap, not party.......

The exact same programming run for us today would still be worse from our perspective because we can't enjoy it as much, much less see it or hear it as well.

Grab the fun and ignore our bitching, and remember it will be your turn in another 3 dacades or so.

dave

Unfortunately because of actively growing vegetation and not to trespass there is almost "zero" likelyhood of any good photo showing 765 and the "curve"

It isn't about photos. It's about the experience. Put the camera down and live it without the middleman.

dave

I'm fully aware of "kwitcher beefin' and enjoy it while you can". Every time I chased 611 and 1218, I was thinking "tomorrow never comes...."

I'm only saying that if your expectations come from watching old videos and films of 759, 2101, 614, etc., you may have to tone down your expectations a bit.

I remember riding the BM&R PRR E8 excursion from Reading to Gallitzin and return and watching helpers being attached to the point of the E8s, and then practically hearing from onboard the train the collective GROANS of trackside photographers who had staked out hours in advance hoping for a shot of PRR E8s leading a train around the Curve.

The fact remains that our railfan fantasies of a "perfect" excursion train experience is most likely completely at odds with those of the trainmasters, division superintendents, and other executives of the railroad. We'll take what we can get and thank them, but we can't get upset if, for example, they tie helpers on the front of 765 in addition to the assigned helper to take that light movement over the Curve or elsewhere. Keeping the railroad moving in a time of track reductions is more important than filling Casey Thomaston's camera with juicy images.

Speaking of Casey, a Curve shot from April--and I know from firsthand experience that you can only get a couple folks up here.....

"It isn't about photos. It's about the experience. Put the camera down and live it without the middleman. "

Amen!

What days exactly will it be traveling over Horseshoe Curve? Im not familiar with the area enough to tell by looking at the schedule.

August 13th and 20th.

Hello all

Imagine, it is a Monday morning at the railroad corporate office and the daily reports of train delays are coming in. On one of them it states we successfully tied up the RR for several hours while we ran that steam engine without diesels for the Railfan photographers and it only did 8 mph (say track speed is 30 mph) up the hill to station XXXX and then stalled. We then had to find a helper crew and that cost us $XXXX.XX. As a stockholder what is your view going to be of this? You spent my money on what? Pleasing Railfan photographers who will not put a dime to their bottom line does not benefit Norfolk Southern. The fact that they allowed steam on the property at all is a nice gift.

I am amazed at the experts that can not wait to tell you how steam has to be run. After all it works with their model railroad at home so it should work in the real world as well. Or they will state that this locomotive is perfect for this RR. One example is a Chinese 2-10-2 is perfect for Grand Canyon Railway without looking at the profile and understanding the different roles horsepower and tractive effort play in getting a train over the road and the difference between U.S. built and internationally built locomotives. While working for Grand Canyon Railway I do not know how many times I heard from people that we were cheating because we had a diesel in the consist. I can tell you we would not have made it without it and I was not about to be pushed by the train behind me because the steam engine was just for show!

Robby Peartree

I respectfully disagree. There is no right or wrong way to enjoy it. To each his own.

#759 on the Curve created some of the most iconic photos of the golden age of fan trips. I am sure I am not the only RYPN reader who had the poster of her on the Curve hanging up in his room. (Although maybe I am, as my room was somewhat of a shrine to #759)

'tis too soon to know where on the east slope I will be, but I will be listening, watching and photographing. And I won't be trying to capture 1957, or 1970. I will capture "my" experience, diesels or not.

Do I expect to get 100 great shots as if this were a photo charter? No. But there might be one or two that resonate (at least for me) as much as those #759 images.

I plan to be traveling that day with a dear friend who shot #759 on the Curve. He caught some of those iconic views and yet still remembers every other detail of that historic day 40 years later. The camera does not take away from the experience unless you let it. And he's cool with a 40 mph limit as he remembers RER Jr leaving them in the dust on the Middle Division above Marysville and not catching up with them again until Altoona.

Let the photogs shoot, the video guys roll tape (disc?) and the gawkers gawk. And celebrate this very, very rare event.


And there aren't any tickets to buy, so it is a guilt-free trackside experience.

I am sure the Interwebs will be full of complaints, even if JJJ finished #763 as a surpirse helper on the hill.

I expect a day powered by coal, Sheetz and smiles. After all, I still love the hobby and get great pleasure from it.

;-)


Rob

And if I may note one amusing aspect of the Intertubes, there are folks online (not singling out anyone here, as it much more prevalent elsewhere) who seem to know exactly what NS will do on August 20th.

Among them are some of the exact same guys who have also "known" over the past decade that NS would never run steam again, #765 would never come east again and that even one mechanical failure of steam on the main would doom any program until kingdom come.

They don't seem to recognize their past miscalculations, yet now seem to know more about the steam program than NS and the FWHS combined.

My advice? The people "in the know" have been very forthcoming. Listen to them, filter out the rest.

Rob