While the 614 resided at the B&O museum, in 1995 I photographed her out in the yard with the headlight centered. IMHO a great improvement in her appearance.

I had a similar experience about 40 years ago with a young lady I was dating at the time. She got to see (and hear) 759 take a train from a standing start to about 50 mph on the PRR Middle Division main line between Bailey's and Thompsontown one foggy fall morning, and she suddenly understood! She has since enjoyed motorcading 2102, 2839, 4501, 614, etc., and she loves riding behind big steam at speed. It probably didn't hurt that her grandfather was a Pennsy engineer on the Middle Division during the war years and her father and various uncles were machinists, pipe fitters and boilermakers. We're coming up on our 38th anniversary.

Time for me to chime in I guess. I was track side 3 times at PJ and loved them all. Where else(in the East) could one get a full frontal BIG steam
show like that? Doubleheading(NYS&W 142), hand dumping a Lima tender
(when the stoker screw broke down) and those fantastic runbys!! Did Ross help preserve a certain Erie table that who knows may host what future steam show? Did Ross "sell" the steam experiance to the "Daisy"
picker? Ask my then girl friend/now wife about seeing steam for the first
time? She got it. I met Ross out at the Ohio Central on the second outing
of the 6325 after her rebirth. We had a hotdog and nice chat, he put up with my never ending questions about steam, was gracious to my elderly father and posed for pictures. He later invited me to a railfan event that I couldn't make. Did he do anything to preserve my love of steam? Ha
I'm sure like all of us he has his faults but from here he has done more
for the preservation of steam than any stuff shirt internet snob with a name that ends in a number. Thanks Ross.

Hi all,
I think the run by's were great at Port Jervis. and to proved my point here's a video I took on October 27, 1996 , The day O. Winston Link showed up.

Len.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yl-ldlzH9YE

I would respectfully ask that we refrain from negative personal remarks(however well deserved we may feel they are) as they don't add anything positive to the conversation, nor help us learn from each others experiences so as to make us a better industry going forward.
Seems to me that if I were only permitted to suggest one thing based on my nearly 50 years around these great steam monsters as an important ingredient to keep the flame burning indefinitely into the future, it would be to do whatever you can to introduce the magic of steam to tommorrows adults as young as possible!!! I've found on our Santa/North Pole trains that for most kids the ideal age range is 4-7. Younger than that most are too scared to get up close and personal and older than that most have already been captured by the evil electronic bug. In the ideal age range you've got a real good chance that maybe somewhere between 5 and 10% of the kids you spend a few minutes with will be receptive ground for the seed to take hold. And NOT just boys--I've found nearly as many young ladies receptive as boys!! And with all due respect to the MANY outstanding static museums within our industry there is ABSOLUTELY no substitute for the real thing--live steam is truly a ONE and ONLY kind of thing--there is no substitute.
One of the main secondary reasons I'm so hopeful that we'll be able to get the critical $50 million in corporate sponsorships to make the Yellow Ribbon Express viable is knowing that of the tens of millions that will witness its epic 3 year journey through the "lower 48" a percentage of them will be youngsters who will start thier lifelong love affair with steam from that exposure. They are the ones that we'll be able to pass the torch to.
No doubt not as important as saying a proper thank you to our brave servicemen& women or raising some serious money for the Severley Wounded Trust Fund, but to a life long foamer--pretty darn important!!
Ross Rowland