One of my biggest disappointments as a teenage railfan was to chase the "Golden Spike Centennial Train", led by Nickel Plate 759, and only get these five shots. I had ridden the D&H's "Laurentian", pulled by two of the PA's, up to Albany, where I met a friend. We shot the PA's and then went after the Berkshire and steam special. When I got home, I processed the first roll of film, only to find my developer had gone bad. I lost my best shots from the trip and all the pictures of the PA's. With great maturity, I went upstairs and punched a hole in my bedroom door. When my father came home that evening, he was unable to share my grief at losing the pictures. He did, however, get very silent, which was probably what midwesterners experience prior to a tornado. I headed for the storm cellar and survived...but not by much!
These are the only pictures of the Golden Spike Centennial Steam Special, I was able to capture. The scene is outside of Albany, New York.

Dick -

Sorry you lost most of the photos from that trip, but really glad that these of NKP #759 survived. Very nice, to say the least!


Les

I too want to thank you for all the late 1960s-early 1970s steam shots you've been sharing. They've undoubtedly been a trip down memory lane for many readers here, a trip that is sometimes quite bittersweet to note people who are no longer with us, and to note some of the things we used to be able to do but can't do now.

Equally interesting is to see how different a railroad looks today. Take note of the pole lines and jointed rail in most of these photos, and in the case of the New Haven trip with 97, the weed collection. . .

I'm probably naive about about these things, but on a system like NS or CSX, CNR, CPR, and BNSF, the only thing missing from running such elegant trips once more is the will to do it, and the enthusiasm of the executive officers. We've seen it on Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific, as well as (occasionally) BNSF. At some point, CSX will come around, if only for branch line operations.
Times change, administrations change, and everything old is new again.
You must never, ever, give up hope.

The danger is that the Roving Resumes won't retire, but will move on to another railroad, and apply their obstructionist policies on it. We can speculate what would have happened if The Children's Investment had gotten control of CSX in the proxy fight a few years ago.

Mr. Glueck makes a valid and critically important point. A recent graphic example is the change in attitude at NS from the Goode administration to the Moorman administration.

Polar opposites when it comes to celebrating their proud heritage in many domains. They're proud of who they are, where they've been and where they're going. Start with their name and go from there.

Hope springs eternal.

Ross Rowland

NKP 759 was my first encounter with Big Steam and a truly magnificent, loud, powerful machine. I didn't get any photos but the pictures in my memory are still vivid.
Mr. Rowland, thank you for getting that engine out of cold Vermont storage and introducing me to steam on the high iron!

Alan

Hello,

Oh yes the NKP Berks!

IMHO, the Mars light needs to stay....it made a NKP Berk a NKP Berk!

Now I'll jump off my insignificant stump! ;-)

Cheers!

Randy

That 1969 trip ran over the soon to be Penn Central and the physical plant of both the NYC and PRR were in terrible shape. Shortly thereafter the whole enterprise went belly up leading to the creation of Conrail thanks to a ton of gummit money.

759 ( and crew) did a great job and she handled the 15 car train effortlessly. Approx. 1.5 million people came trackside to witness the passing of this train between NYCity and Salt Lake City,Utah and it was this enthusiasm that planted the seeds for the American Freedom Train 6 years later.

John Wayne rode with us into Salt Lake City and had a ball on board.

More in the book.

Ross Rowland