I was 18 years old and with a friend, wound up at Steamtown one summer's day. For those who missed the location in that time period. Here are some old pictures. Note, N&W 1218 in rescued condition as well as a few locomotives that no longer grace Nelson Blount's collection. Enjoyable, I hope.

Nice! Would have been cool to see #1218 and #4012 in the same place at the same time.

What is the story with #4012's stack cover?

Man, does that bring back some memories. Thanks so much for posting!

I visited Steamtown in Bellows Falls as a kid in the mid-60s. Had my first ride behind 89 there as well. Fortunately, that locomotive is still a "runner". So many of the steam engines that I saw when I was a kid are no longer active.

The one thing that I was never able to figure out was how many of the engines in Blount's collection were operable back in the 60s. I suspect that it varied from year to year. The two that I recall seeing were 15 and 89.

Richard, do you have any idea how many "runners" were in the roundhouse?

/Kevin

As I understand, all Big Boys had a retractable exhaust cover to lessen the fierce blast in tunnels, but I had never heard of other engines having this feature. Good high quality model views here, see the ones with the partially extended hood:

http://www.fineartmodels.com/fineartmod ... g_Boy.html

Its in these early days of Steamtown that I only have seen a preserved Big Boy with the cover up. Always thought Big Boys deserved their own Morning Sun "In Color" book, curious.

Joshua

Kevin, Rahway Valley #15 had been retired by this time, 127(8) was running, as was 89. I think 1246 might have been in the shop. NKP 759 was out on the road.

My first rip to Steamtown was in 1965, accompanying Ron Ziel and his brother, Bobby. Ron had published "Twilight of Steam" and a "fan" letter got me the introduction and invitation. On that trip Nelson Blount took Bobby and me for a cab ride in #15. Sadly, the first and last time I met Mr. Blount.

Thanks for sharing. These are great photos.

Never made it there, I too was young back then and VT was a long way from home. Thank you so much for posting these pictures. One of many places I wish I had been to back then. A whole lot of places on my bucket list yet. Cheers, John.

In 1968 (looks like mid-year, maybe early fall, from the photos), 1293, 1246 and 89 were owned by GMRC. 1293 had operated briefly in 1964 before GMRC was under ICC juristiction (1293 did not have an ICC Form 4 at that time). 1246 did not enter operating service until fall of 1970, and was a GMRC locomotive at that time.

759 was probably out in Conneaut at the time, being returned to service; it's first trips were in late August/early September.

15 would operate again in 1973, for a few months. It was used for a private wedding charter train on the B&M in Hudson, Mass in the early spring, and it operated for the August 1973 railfan weekend. During one of those August trips, doubleheading with 1246, 15 blew a boiler tube (injuring engineer Andy Barbera) and has not operated since.

1246 and 1293 were sold by GMRC to Steamtown in 1973. 89 was sold by GMRC to Strasburg in 1972. 1293 was restored for service in 1977 on the Vermont Bi-Centennial train, at which time it became an "FRA locomotive".

Interesting to see all those engines lined up; they don't look too bad in those pics. 3377, the CNR 2-8-2, was always mentioned as a low-mileage engine in really good condition, but it seemed to not be on anyone's list for service and operation.

Howard P.

I keep wondering if Rahway Valley 15 will ever run again. The Steamtown condition report seems to imply that restoration is plausible, yet I never see it mentioned as a possible candidate. It would seem to be ideal for their Scranton Limited trains, haul 2 or three coaches up to the hotel and back.

Richard,

Thank you for sharing. Seeing these pictures made me feel like a kid again roaming a field of steam and watching films in the "movie car."

It was my favorite place on earth, and one that I begged to go to as much as possible. Even on late night drives through Bellows Falls I would ask mom to pull over at the Steamtown gate just so I could "check" on it. And she would.

When my son told me, as we stood in the roundhouse at Steamtown in Scranton that he'd like to live there, it was a moment of clarity for me... when I saw through his eyes the power of the collection as it is today. No bullsh*t about politics, favorite engines rusting, Canadian this or that... just a joyous connection to the feelings that surely prompted Blount to begin this endeavor.

These Riverside pictures are wonderful reasons to daydream back in time to when I first felt the magic.

Rob

Honestly, it means the world to me, to have others from "back in the day", enjoy the pictures. Many negatives from visits to steam operations were processed and slipped into envelopes, unseen until just now. A great number of negatives from the Long Island Rail Road push-pulls do not belong in this forum, but other negatives from the Jersey Central and Reading are still tucked away.

I has 2 hours to spend at Steamtown on a family vacation back in the '60's.....you'd need 2 weeks to truly explore and appreciate everything that was there. My memories are of being overhwelmed with everything there was to see....and i didn't want to miss a thing, since getting to Vermont from Miami wasn't any small thing to accomplish back in those days. All I remember is large conceptual feelings of the need to rush tempered with an overwhelming despair at the futility of trying to soak it in in 2 hours while being surrounded by acres of steam locomotives of every possible configuration ....impossible. So, I probably "saw" everything and experienced nothing specific about it. I know better now.

You New Englanders had it good.

dave

What's the story behind the 2929 engine? Different then anything else I've seen, and it appears to have a 4-4-4 wheel arangement.

2929 is a Jubilee, a high-drivered speedster meant for light, fast trains on flat territory. She and sister 2928 at Delson, Montreal are the only two left of two classes of this type on CPR remaining.

There's been rumors of 2929 being repatriated to a few different organizations in Canada, but nothing has come of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-4-4

Joshua

Here's Steamtown's article about #2929

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_bo ... /shs3h.htm