Shoe soles and elbows

[JackandJanet]

Me too (since we've moved from wasp nests to trains).

Janet and I rode the Silverton train from Durango to Silverton and back several years ago. You have a choice of sitting in open cars or covered ones. I recommend the open cars.

The scenery, once you get to Rockwood, is breathtaking. It's a view of the San Juans that you don't see anywhere else.

I talked to the Engineer as he was lubing the engine up in Silverton. I'd not realised that the engine (a narrow gauge) was so big! They have a nice train musium in Durango too, that's fun to visit and is included in the ticket price.

Needed a long shower to get all the coal cinders and soot out of our hair and off our bodies!

- Jack

 

[Luckydog671]

Me too (since we've moved from wasp nests to trains).

Janet and I rode the Silverton train from Durango to Silverton and back several years ago. You have a choice of sitting in open cars or covered ones. I recommend the open cars.

The scenery, once you get to Rockwood, is breathtaking. It's a view of the San Juans that you don't see anywhere else.

I talked to the Engineer as he was lubing the engine up in Silverton. I'd not realised that the engine (a narrow gauge) was so big! They have a nice train musium in Durango too, that's fun to visit and is included in the ticket price.

Needed a long shower to get all the coal cinders and soot out of our hair and off our bodies!

- Jack

Regarding the coal cinders, it's especially fun when going through tunnels! Have you ever done the steam train from Williams to Grand Canyon South Rim? That's on my To Do list! We did do the little narrow gauge outside of Yosemite which was a lot of fun.

 

[Wrascal]

Other than Disney this is the only train I ever rode.
Mount Washington Cog Railway - Climb to the Top of Mount Washington on the world's first mountain-climbing Cog Railway trains!

Cut and paste: It is the second steepest rack railway in the world after the Pilatus railway, with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%. The railway is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long and ascends Mt. Washington's western slope

Of course many won't know so I'll make it clear, Mt. Washington is in New Hampshire, A'yup.

 

[JackandJanet]

Regarding the coal cinders, it's especially fun when going through tunnels! Have you ever done the steam train from Williams to Grand Canyon South Rim? That's on my To Do list! We did do the little narrow gauge outside of Yosemite which was a lot of fun.

No Greg, I haven't ridden that train. The only other one I've ridden in "modern times" was one in Maui, when I was there on R&R during the Vietnam War.

I'd love to see the Big Boy in working order though. Another I'd love to see again is the Southern Pacific Cab Forward engine. When I was a boy, in the late 40s, we lived in Grass Valley, CA (my Dad was a mining engineer). He used to take us out on weekends to see the Cab Forwards go by, probably on the track over Donner Pass. The engineer got to expect us and would blow his horn for us as the engine passed. That was a beautiful, big engine!

- Jack

 

[Fountain-FRF]

UP: Union Pacific Railroad Acquires Big Boy Locomotive No. 4014
This should help everyone out who is looking for a rebuilt Big Boy

 

[Wrascal]

I'm guilty of not reading everything in your link, so I'll ask ...

just how big is bigboy?

 

[Garry-HILO]

I'm guilty of not reading everything in your link, so I'll ask ...

just how big is bigboy?

Big Boy total length was 132 ft 9 1/2 inches, weighing in at 762,000 lbs, but with a 2/3 load in the tender box, he was 1,250,000 lbs. Not a light weight!