She did look good in Magma get-up.



Bradley Linda
Waco, TX

Thanks for the pic Bradley. MAR 7 was my pet project at the Texas State. I was real proud of how she turned out. She was a handsome old mill, and a sweetheart to run and fire.

In my not-so-humble-opinion, she looks a lot better with a headlight and bell on her smokebox front. It hides that hideous flat plate smokebox front she got working for the T&G.

Earl Knoob
former GM TSR

She not only looks good dolled up for Magma #7, but much better with a clear stack....

When people are willing to spend roughly $600 per person per day for a photo charter if they'd want extra smoke so be it...

She'll always be T&G No. 30 to me - not only because she was built for the T&G, but that's how I first saw her. Ironically, I like the looks of CB&Q No. 4960 in the Grand Canyon scheme and Reading & Northern No. 425 in blue. 425 in blue as I first saw her that way (and she is a passenger locomotive), and despite being an avid CB&Q fan... she just looks great as GCRY.

T&G No. 30 DOES look good in that picture in Magma colors, though. I'd love to see some historical images.

As for plumes - well, they just imply motion and power. Looking at steam with no steam is like watching race cars with no audio. I seem to recall a good percent of images of UP No. 4014 with a plume. Some might argue, the most visually impressive.

Now - not all charter run-bys featured plumes - some (including the run-by near the water tower at Rusk, above) had none while others had just the right amount!

/Mitch

I realize that to a real railroader, a clean stack is a sign of firing skill, but I suspect that most serious rail photographers are not trying to portray firing skill with their images. They are trying to portray power and action, and nothing does as well as a good steam or smoke plume, or both. It doesn't have to be a re-enactment of the burning of Rome, but it needs to be visible. That's especially true for images in which the train is just one of the elements in a wider landscape shot. The photographer wants a plume to lead the viewer's eyes to the subject, particularly when the train tends to blend into the background. Part of the reason you see so much over-firing on photo charters is because when the crew fires more normally, they can't guarantee that the plume will be just right when the train hits the sweet spot for the shot. I've seen plenty of runbys in which the crew produced a nice medium plume as the train approached, but when the shutters started clicking, she suddenly went clear stack and a chorus of groans followed. So, they tend to overdo it a bit, to ensure that there's at least some smoke at the right time.

And finally..... While there's not much market for train photos these days, those publishers that do buy them prefer smoke with a steam engine. It's what differentiates them from diesels. These publishers know that many of their customers who buy magazines and calendars don't know squat about firing a steam engine. They just expect smoke. I have seen publishers, including one that I work with, turn their noses up at otherwise beautiful landscapes with steam engines in them, because the shot was taken when the engine had a completely clean stack. "Can't use it", they tell me. "No smoke." So there you go. And, its not just rail photographers of my generation who are that way. Just look at the published work of folks like Beebe & Clegg. Things haven't changed much since rail photography began. :)

/Kevin Madore

I always liked 30, nee 7, ex 400. She fired good, ran...let's just say that the right engineer could make her make some music...

I have to admit, that there is plenty of video of me making pukingely thick, nauseatingly phony, ugly black smoke because the folks who were paying for the whole show wanted us to do that.... just glad I didn't burn the fuel hose in two.

Love the foto in Maydelle, with just a little grey haze.

I'm in a rush today, but I believe that Brother Cotton and I are both right, or else both wrong about the bridge replacements. More to come on that subject.... stay tuned.

Lots of wonderful Mitch Goldman photos of Tremont & Gulf # 30 in this thread, but I have to mention that Mitch saved the best for last; his panned photo of the Mike passing the Maydelle depot. Another Goldman classic!!!

Les

After 13 years with BN, working at TSRR was like "Gilligan's Island with trains" --- so, I didn't keep a timebook. So, my recollections 25 years later are a bit fuzzy, although trying to piece it together has stirred up some pleasant memories of my two years working in Dogwood Country.

I hired out in Spring of 1995, and after a short time in Rusk, was assigned to Palestine (we always pronounced it Pallyville") so Doug Miller could teach me hostling. I took over from him when he went out on the road every day, then Cleo Cox exerted seniority over me. I ended up back in Rusk for the duration. I was issued a switch key, lantern, Locomotive Operator's License, and a copy of an employee timetable without number, but effective 12:01am August 1, 1992.

No doubt better records of the bridge replacements exist somewhere, but my timetable shows that bridges numbers 7, 8, 9, 10, and 28 were replaced with concrete in 1982. Bridges 3, 4, and 5 are shown to have been replaced in 1989, while bridge #1 (Rusk depot) was replaced in 1990. The other 21 would have been done later (and obviously, after Parks & Wildlife had applied for and obtained funding).

I recall bridge crews working in Pallyville when I started out hostling. I don't really know what they were doing, and I would GUESS that they were changing out smaller bridges on my days off, and doing prep or clean up on days when we ran trains. I was mainly concentrating on doing my job, not concerning myself with theirs... I DO remember running the engine for them on occasion, to switch out work trains, with their completely green help. Spent lots of time climbing up and down, walking over to the scene of the crime, to explain to these fellas what they were supposed to do next.

"I think" the last big bridge was Beans Creek, done in our off season 1995-1996. I have a few recollections of that, such as driving to Austin to bid on a huge pile of very nice second hand ties, piled up in Maydelle. Curtis Pruett was nice enough to allow me to store them free on premises, and haul a few home with me every time I had a rest day. I thought he was nuts for selling them at all, and I bid $3.05 apiece, but lost out to some fool who paid NINE DOLLARS APIECE. You could get new ones made at the local sawmill for less that that. Guess the boss knew what he was doing….

Then, there was the motor car trailer loaded with ties and tools that got away from the bridge crew at Oakland Crossing. It was moving pretty good as it got closer to Bean's Creek, but made very little sound. Jimmy Mosley's track crew was in the line of fire, and barely escaped with their lives. The tools they left on the track derailed the juggernaut, and nobody was hurt. They WERE upset, however.

Finally, I remember being instructed to go out and couple up the track south of the parking lot by the shop in Rusk, Roger Graham was the engineer. One look, and I went back inside and informed them that "I was doing it under protest". Blair walked out to look at it with me, I showed him that the four or five cars of "construction junk" were loaded so sloppily that their loads would touch before the couplers would. He agreed not to hold me responsible, but asked me to try and make it work, which I did. I had to chain each car in place, and ram it with the car next to it so the knuckles would close. Then, I waited until the mass settled down before running over to pull the chain and place it under the next car, which I then clobbered.

I got it done, and laced the air, then left at quitting time. First thing I heard when I got back from my rest days was that the construction crew's boss had made them unload every car and reload it before he would take the train to wherever they were going.

Hope this is helpful, better information welcome of course.

Why didn't I think of this sooner ??? The guy to ask about the bridge replacements is BILL LANGFORD, Rusk station agent back when I worked there, and fine fella to work with all around. He was active in the Friends of the Texas State RR, hope he's still around and enjoying good health.