Steamtown's Facebook and Twitter accounts are set to post this video around 10:00 PM on December 24. Once again, I heartily endorse that all rail related groups link to this so that we can share a holiday memory online as a community.

Who's with me? ;)

As we're on a new page, here's a bump of one of the video links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbzAJoW34DM&feature=youtu.be

Just in case you can't participate in the Steamtown observance.

Here's N&W 42 Eng 603 at Rural Retreat VA with the church bells playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbzAJoW34DM

42 was The Pelican from New Orleans to Washington with through Pullmans to New York. Routing was Southern-Bristol-N&W-Lynchburg-SR. N&W steam worked it from Bristol to Monroe. Photo is N&W 18 (Birmingham Special) on 12-27-1957. Shortly after the photo and recording SR diesels began to run through from Bristol to Monroe and on to Washington.

Recording and photo by O. Winston Link. Here's the Link Museum:

https://roanokehistory.org/historical-s ... main-page/

And NPR interviewing the musician:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqRwIKJYPLA

Phil Mulligan

And the Fort Wayne hommage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2XFjFvGCTg

Here's the annual Christmas recording of N&W 42 The Pelican enroute from New Orleans to Washington via Chattanooga. Train has 17 cars including a through sleeper from N. Orl. to Penn Station NY. Route was SOU-Bristol-N&W-Lynchburg-SOU. Engine change N&W-SOU was at Monroe rather than Lynchburg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbzAJoW34DM

Photo is N&W 17, The Birmingham Special, the same night. This was one of the last nights steam handled N&W passenger trains on the Bristol Line as a few days later, SOU diesels ran through over N&W between Bristol and Monroe.

Recording and photo are by O. Winston Link.

Phil Mulligan

Time again for another year of listening.

Seasons greetings to one and all.

Just a note, Dave Stephenson, member of N&WHS, did a massive index to Link's tapes and posted the following in another thread.

<<Thanks for posting this so accurately. Many still believe than the recording was made 12/24/57, but it was actually 12/27/57. Link was in rural Retreat 12/24, but didn't like the results he got. He returned three days later and made probably the most famous steam railroading recording of all time. Link's field notes contain the sequence of events and dates, so none of this is hearsay. However, there were two versions published. The sequence on the original Fading Giant LP back in 1958 was about 6:20 long. The later single CD of the Fading Giant (ca 1995) was about 11:40 long, with longer approach and departing sections. Fortunately, the currently available CD Box Set includes the longer version.>>

I was co-producer with the late Joan Thomas of the box set, I certainly opted for the longer version for the box set release.

One comment on the statement made elsewhere that this was one of the last nights Js handled passenger trains is partially correct, this was one of the last nights of service on the Bristol Line, as steam ended there on December 31, 1957. The Js would continue to handle passenger trains until about January 3, 1959, when the heavy holiday mail rush ended, and enough EMD GP9s had arrived for passenger power. The Js had been pushed mostly aside on July 18, 1958 for leased RF&P and ACL cab units. But diesels break down, and Js still powered some trains.

Hey Ken, thanks for the reference to the Link index and Rural Retreat review. Gotta keep this info visible so others can see it.

Bumping it up to today.

I'm sure they saved $$$ running the Southern's diesels through over N&W between Bristol and Monroe.

611's last trip over the "old" N&W was October 24, 1959. On October 25, 1959, Reading 2124 pulled the first Iron Horse Ramble.

Phil Mulligan

I'm excited because this year I have this on vinyl and have a decent turntable/amp/speaker to listen to it on.

Actually they did save money. Remember the Class J was used on the Southern run-through trains, 41 and 42, The Pelican, 45 and 46, The Tennessean, and 17 and 18, the Birmingham Special. The Js were used between Bristol and Monroe, Va and of course, the opposite direction.

At the time of this recording, steam on the Bristol Line (part of the Radford Division) only had days to go.The N&W was rapidly switching to diesel and basically doing it district by district. Usually the lesser traffic lines first, i.e Durham District, Cincinnati District, Shenandoah Division, etc.

The Southern had gone diesel on its Washington segment, I believe in 1953. For some time, N&W had been discussing the cost of coal from the Southern at Monroe and at Cincinnati Union Terminal, and how to cut that expense. The price and quality of coal were both considerations. All this is from N&W internal correspondence I have.

So, eliminating the Class J on the through trains meant N&W no longer had to take coal at Monroe, allowing the Southern to retire its coal facility there, it allowed them to retire water and coal facilities on the Bristol line. A big win for Stuart Saunders in his march to become PRR President some years later.

The removal of the Class J on the Southern trains also made them more available elsewhere, which lead to the addition of "doghouses" and auxiliary tender connections being applied to their tenders beginning just a little over a month later. This allowed their use in freight service, generally on the Scioto Division.

Ken Miller

It also didn't make sense to change engines at Bristol and again at Monroe. Running SR diesels through made sense.

611 was running all Summer on the Strasburg in 2011.

Phil Mulligan

Hello,

It always encouraging to see this thread bumped up each year.

The recording has special meaning for me as having a chance to pull the throttle on the 611 out of Paradise, PA earlier this year. Never would have I thought we, as unwashed commoners would be given the opportunity to do this. Thank you sincerely to the Virginia Museum of Transportation and Strasburg Railroad for making this possible, especially using the one of the most state of the art express steam locomotive operating in the United States today.

Merry Christmas to all on this forum.

Cheers!

Randy

The time has come yet again to bring this thread back up to the top.

I first posted this twelve years ago.

It occurs to me that if I posted this today, certain sanctimonious tw*ts would complain that "it's not preservation related" and demand its exile to"Railfanning" or its deletion.

Upon such consideration, it actually took a good deal of restraint for me to not delete this entire thread's existence........... but that would be handing those Scrooges another undeserved victory.......