I apologize for this being off topic, but I thought I might have the best shot of finding someone here. I am looking to contact someone with the 21st Century Steam Program. Why? The picture currently being used at http://www.21stcenturysteam.com/ is one that I took in 1991. I'm not looking to complain or have it taken down. I'd like to thank whomever it was, and possibly relate the story behind the picture.

I took this picture when I was 13 years old in Danville, KY. My mother had dropped me off at the yard and went shopping while I waited on the engine to arrive from Chattanooga. After snapping a few pictures with a $25 snap and shoot, I began to be a typical 13 year old and started bugging the crew. Asking questions and talking about various things. Well, I guess the night watchman took a shine to me and asked if I wanted to help him. So, I got to carry buckets and turn a valve (exciting stuff for a 13 year old) and then he asked if I wanted to stay on the engine overnight. Luckily my Mom was kind enough to agree, in fact she even went to the local chicken joint and bought us both dinner. (Thats when I learned a firebox also made a good trash receptacle)

As you can imagine I got very little sleep between the excitement of being on the engine, and watching the trains roll in and out of the very busy yard. The next morning, as I was helping clean out the ashpan, my mom arrived about the same time as the road crew. I thanked everyone and my mom dropped me off at school... with no shower or change of clothes. Let's just say I didn't make any new friends that day at school.

Anyways, I just wanted to thank the folks at http://www.21stcenturysteam.com/ for using my picture as the first image on their website. That's quite an honor.

Wow...I have the same front shot of the 01'...and so do a lot of other people. Anyone that has half a camera could have taken that shot.

Let us all enjoy our memories of the 01'...and get ready to make some cool new ones.

Thanks to everyone that posts pictures, both personally and professionally.

Well, the question is - have you posted this photo online where they might have picked it up? How else would they have had access to the photo? If it is yours, good for you!

Best,
Mike

I posted it on Railpictures http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... &nseq=5732

When I first saw it I did question if it was the same picture, but a friend of mine looked at it and agreed that the shadows and background (bridge and silos to the right) match up with the photo.

I'm not thinking I am some great photographer or anything like that. Heck, I haven't even snapped a picture in over ten years.

OK, I'll be honest. My first thought was "Are you nuts!?! It's a picture of 4501, do you have any idea how many of those there are out there?"

However... As you pointed out, the bridge and the silo do match up to the photo in question. OK, that's fine, but since you're standing in front of it, presumably that engine wasn't moving when you took the shot. Given that, it's highly likely that some other foamer could have taken one like it. After all, I'm sure a lot of us have been on runbys and seen another shot that looks just like the one we got.

Then I looked at the photo on Railpictures and that erased all doubts. In that nice bright image, you can clearly see the clincher: Note the long shadows on the smokebox. They're quite distinct, and quite long. As any photographer will tell you, the sun actually moves much faster than you might expect, and those shadows would constantly be changing, just like they do on a sundial. For another photographer to get that same shot, he would have had to been standing there and said "Excuse me, can you get out of my photo?" the instant you snapped the shutter.

Sure enough, when I grabbed both images and compared them in Photoshop, they line up perfectly, and even those shadows matched exactly. (After shrinking the size of one image to match the other).

Of course this isn't exactly a shocker, since the first place they'd go to search for photos would likely be Railpictures.

But I agree, that's your shot, and it is indeed distinct enough that there's not much question about it.