I remember a bit more of the UP pusher story. The engineer on the diesels up ahead wanted the steamer to push in all the slack, which Steve Lee did, and radioed it in. Then the diesel engineer asked Steve which notch he was in. I don't remember the number, but it was something like 48, way above any notch numbers a diesel would have, which Steve apparently radioed ahead with a straight face-

A good story, which should be reprinted here, with permission, of course.

If that's the story I'm thinking of it is often cited in discussions of adhesion. Mr. Lee volunteered to aid the stalled train. They moved up, coupled on, removed the FRED & tied in the air, and gave the diesel engineer the code for the FRED on the rear of their train (was just a couple of cars IIRC), then before the working diesels resumed pulling they pushed up to a stall with full boiler pressure in the cylinders and no wheelslip. Then the diesels started their pull and off they went.

There was also the well known and happy case in 1973 when a (Vermont) Steamtown engine (RDG 2102, I think) was on its way to the D&H to be done over as D&H 302 for their 150th birthday celebrations ended up helping a freight over the mountain. They did end up using up their coal in the push and had to be towed in however.

Merry Christmas to all!

Steve near Chicago

One of my favorite stories involves the promotional train for the movie Union Pacific…

When the movie was released in 1939, the Studio, Union Pacific Railroad, and General Electric assembled a promotion train to tour the US… it consisted of a new GE Turbine locomotive, stream lined passenger cars, and a collection of antique V&T cars that had been used on the movie, including “Dayton” a 1873 Central Pacific built 4-4-0 (currently owned by the Nevada State Railroad Museum, on display in Virginia City.)

When moving from city to city they would fire up the Dayton, which was leading the turbine (which was doing the work) followed by the modern passenger car then the antiques…

On the first day out of Los Angeles the turbine suffered a significant electrical failure. With the train blocking UP’s mainline, the engineer of the Dayton offered to try to move the train to the next siding some miles away. The offer was accepted with no one believing that it would work… with great skill at the throttle and sand, and some wheel slip the engineer in charge of Dayton was able to start the train, and at a reported 12 miles an hour get the consist to the next siding.

When the Nevada State Railroad Museum was being developed, it was assumed that they would restore Dayton to operation. They discovered that Dayton still carried a wrought iron boiler. The V&T had avoided the ICC prohibition of wrought iron boilers by mounting a snow plow on the engine and declaring her maintenance equipment.

That's pretty cool.

And the 1st steam engine into Cape May City, N.J. in this century, more than 35 years since the last steam excursion and about 50 years since the last regular steam on the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines --- was Thomas the Tank Engine! It was up at Cold Spring Village for the "Day Out With Thomas" event on the Cape May Seashore Lines when the Air Conditioned Rail Diesel Car (Budd) on the regular run to Cape May broke down, and something had to be done for the stranded passengers. This was the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal real steam engine Thomas, not one of the dummy replicas that have to be pushed.

As for the 1960's steam in the flood stories, many of them are about rising waters with little current over lots of flat land, not flash floods and runaway rivers in the hills. Think of a plague of locusts instead of a buffalo stampede!