Boy oh boy do I second the motion there.! First rule: NEVER put music where it doesn’t belong! David P Allen, contributing editor emeritus, Videography magazine
I grew up 1-1/4 mi from the top of the Christiansburg Hill grade. I can still remember laying in bed in the summer with the windows open and hearing the trains pulling the grade. This was a great clip not only for the sights but the sound of that J class engine. Really takes me back to an older and better time.
That’s what’s even more impressive about this. Double the original train, yes it had diesels but they did not help on the hill. Only hindered by adding more weight.
Absolutely terrific! And what an incredible tribute to the engineer and fireman on this run! You can tell from the exhaust that they kept her on the very edge of a slip until she hit the crest! Somewhere, O. Winston Link is smiling!
My wife and I were riding in the dome car on that trip, our first excursion trip ever! Great video, thanks for posting. I want to comment, since nobody else has, that the tracks were wet from rain, but the crew kept traction somehow. It was very slow making that grade, and it was a proud moment to make it all the way up the grade without a problem.
@@davidkamen Why are you here watching this “Pollution machine “ just to talk shit? Makes you look like a dumbass for one and two, the car you pollute around in puts off far more pollution than this legendary locomotive ever could.
Did a few trips behind 611 and I agree that riding in a dome behind her is fabulous . Would have loved to ride in the open door of a baggage car but ...
+Peter Callaghan she was rated at over 100MPH with a regular service passenger setup (on flat ground, granted) but with 80klbf tractive effort i really don't think this hill was anything. The train is very limited so far (45MPH I think, on any/all areas of track regardless of loads) and I'm sure they were taking it easy after her restoration/overhaul - checking systems and not pushing her. It looks like the engineers were getting the hang of things again in these early videos if you look at the smoke and such.
I think that you are spot on. A major part of their design specification was that they should be good at climbing hills but as you say they could easily exceed100 mph on the level in normal service and in some cases did so with loads that were impressively heavy. What a versatile and amazing class of engines!!!
HughFromAlice Yup, really cool to see an engine which was designed to tear it up around the Virginia mountains that I've grown up around. I missed the excursion runs this morning with some side work, but should be chasing her near home tomorrow morning!
I grew up near a rail yard in Pittsfield ma. and steam was used regularly up until the mid 50's to 60's. And I can recall Freight trains over 100 cars long. we used to sit on the porch and count them. But most had two engines pulling. Those long hauls.
Absolutely awesome! This is one of the best 611 videos I’ve ever seen! also thank you for not putting on Music The sound of the 611 climbing the hill is music enough! The sound of her climbing the hill is a lot better than the crap that’s on the radio today!
Great video. Also great driving. The driver set a cutoff and regulator setting that suited the engine, load and rail conditions, trusted his experience and had the confidence to let the engine do the rest. The J class weren't considered one of the finest classes of steam engines ever built for nothing! They held off diesels for ~5/10 years (!!!) after the last steam passenger trains on all the other lines. (For all you non US viewers > a grade of 1.5% is about 1 in 66. Very steep with that load even for modern traction)..........Hᴜɢʜ….…..ツ
I was on that same trip with my family! Great fun and really fascinating to see this amazing engine work her guts on rails she and her 13 J class sister engines made most of their living back in the 40's and 50's on their way to Cincinnati via Norfolk, Petersburg, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Bluefield, Williamson, Kenova and Portsmouth. I'm sure in those days the engineers must have fired up those grades with extreme skill and precision in order to keep to their schedules.
+BNEdward97 Yes most of the trains the J's pulled in those days were 5, 6-7 and 12-15 cars long. Last year as shown in this video, she hauled about 18 cars. Weight and gravity is a critical thing on these grades which is why she sure puts a lot of stack talk and smoke out. She's perfectly fine on straightaways with 18 or more cars but in the mountains with all the weight on the cars, she surely will crank up the sound of her stack.
At the rate of the pistons' cycling they are only generating perhaps 3000 hp. Steamers produce their top HP, generally (with some variation) around the speed where their pistons are cycling at 4 times per second. This means 611 isn't going to produce her top HP until over 60 mph.
@@mesenteria Actually, 611 is using her 80,000 lbs of tractive effort to pull that heavy train. Too slow for higher horsepower. But slow speed is great for sheer pulling power, which 611 had/has the highest tractive effort of any and all 4-8-4 locomotive.
Cool. C'burg Mountain is a nasty, hard pull, on the road in a vehicle. I can just imagine what it would be with a train. She sounded good. Doesn't seem all that long ago you heard steam engines every day. Something special.
Outstanding! Just wish the camera could have panned to follow the engine. I know that if I was standing there I wouldn't be looking at the cars. Magnificent reminder of why King Steam will live forever.
I THINK I can, I THINK I can, I think I can, I think I can! I KNEW I could, I KNEW I could, I knew I could! I knew I could! A lesson for ALL of us when we are faced with a "hill" in life that seems too steep to climb!
The whistle sound is epic for sure. I used to love the sounds of the old steam engines shunting back in the 50’s when I was a kid. I could hear them from my bedroom window near downtown Toronto. The wheels would slip quite often while they were moving cars around on sidings.👍👍
My apologies. That would make it the greatest watching grass grow while listening to an old steam locomotive chug up a grade video ever. And I love watching grass grow while listening to an old steam locomotive chug up a grade. I admit that I'd rather watch AND listen to an old steam locomotive chug up a grade but just listening has its merits. You certainly did an outstanding job on the audio. The video was nice as well, especially from a watching grass grow perspective. As a steam fan, I also thoroughly enjoyed the locomotive when it finally made an appearance. By the way, I understand Union Pacific has their Big Boy back together after a complete rebuild. I'd sure like to hear that one chug up a grade, while watching some grass grow of course. Keep the coal comin'.
Hi from the U.K. THAT WAS AMAZING WHAT AN ENGINE. Wow I'm going to have to take a flight when this horrible lockdown is over and ride that wonderful thing. Where can I do that from and to where?
I've been lucky in my lifetime to see one of the last of the working steam locomotives and by that I don't mean restored and pulling tourists on milk runs....I'm talking about honest-to-goodness dirty, hard work. It was in 1966 and it was a shunt engine in the PGE (Pacific Great Eastern) rail yard in North Vancouver, B.C. Canada making up trains for the diesel locomotives. The Engineer invited me up and taught me the process of bringing it up to working steam.
When I was a kid in Winnipeg, 73 now, my father worked at CPR with a lifetime pass. We traveled by train a lot and many were pulled by steam. My sister and I just loved it. At night lying in bed I fell asleep to the sounds of steam locomotives in the rail yards not far from us. My favorite memories. Glad you got the chance to see how these amazing machines work.
WOW, I didnt appreciate the train until i relized the amount of cars it was pulling !! how many diesles would have been used insted of 1 loco? great video
The train was on main 1, 611 was on 2 so that isn't the case. Wet rail, 22 cars, S curves, and greasers is why she was going so slow. The reason she was accelerating at the end was because she got on straight rail.
Although I have never seen a real steam train in action, I am 49 years old, so they were still using them when I was born, but because I grew up in Toronto, in the burbs, I never got to see one. There is one in the railway museum by the CN Tower, but it doesn’t function, what I wouldn’t give to see a real one still functioning, and go for a ride. I’ve been told many times that I am an old soul, and there’s just something about the sound, the feel, the looks, and everything else about it that just makes me fall in love with them, I have no idea why, but they just bring out a certain nostalgia in me, I nostalgia that I never really knew it because most of my life I have known only diesel locomotive’s for fun, a few years ago, I went with a few friends to a supposedly very gifted psychic, who took one look at me and told me are used to be a steam train locomotive engineer, back in the late 1800s. Well I am not sure if I believe in psychics, I so badly want to believe in what she was telling me, because she told me I had spent my entire life on the real way as an engineer, and actually died, of natural causes, while operating one! I was in total shock that she said that, because she didn’t know anything about me, in fact she didn’t speak a word of English, she spoke only Portuguese, and her daughter translated, but because I speak Spanish, I understood most of what she was saying, so I know that it was true what she was saying I was in total shock that she said that, because she didn’t know anything about me, in fact she didn’t speak a word of English, she spoke only Portuguese, and her daughter translated, because I speak Spanish, I understood most of what she was saying, so I know Her daughter was accurately translating. It was so weird, it was almost like putting the final piece in the puzzle, suddenly everything in my mind became crystal clear, because how on earth would I have such a strong attraction towards steam train, when I was born in an area that was the death of them? In any case, if anybody knows of steam trains anywhere near the Toronto area that still work, or if not Toronto, somewhere in Canada, please let me know, as I have been dying to get on one. For the past 20 years I’ve been in and out of hospital having 30for operations to treat my Crohn’s disease and intestinal cancer. I wasn’t supposed to survive, but I did, I’m very stubborn, LOL!, So I can now finally enjoy the rest of my life, so if any of you can help me out, I would so greatly appreciate it! I have done some research online but I haven’t really found very much. I found one in British Columbia but it said that the company is out of business, so I don’t know if the trains are still running. I have family in British Columbia so it be great to go there, to see them, and most importantly to go for a nice long train ride. Every time I watch a video of a steam train, there’s something inside of me that just clicks, and I feel as though I belong on the train, and have this deep Inexplicable yearning to be on that train, I guess that sounds pretty crazy doesn’t it? Well, crazy or not, I made a promise to myself that before I die, and that could be anywhere between now and the next 5 to 10 years, depending if the cancer comes back for the fourth time, I will catch a ride on one of these old beautiful rattlers, and I’ll be in paradise! Any and all advice/suggestions would be very much appreciated!
I’m sorry to hear about your health problems TJ. And the physic thing is actually pretty cool. I have no idea where they run in Canada since I live in Tennessee. But hopefully one of these days you’ll be able to get a ride
If you can make it to the States, just outside Buffalo there is the Arcade and Attica RR that runs stream during the summer season. Much smaller than the 611 but you can get really close (ride in the open gondola)
Most awesome performance by an old mill which still has what it takes. 21 cars and 2 tenders, Amtrak would require 4 to 5 motors to do this same job and then maybe???
WITH TWO OF THE GE P 42 LOCOMOTIVES THEY PULL THE CONSIST OF THE SOUTHWEST CHEIF OVER RATON PASS! WHEN RUNNING THE EMD 3000 HP 4 AXLE LOCOMOTIVES OVER THE SAME TRACKAGE THEY OFTEN HAD TO SHUT DOWN THE HEAD END POWER AND COACH AIR CODITIONING TO BE ABLE TO MAKE THE GRADE AT A SLOW PACE!
GREAT VIDEO, thanks so much for not putting any idiotic and obnoxious music over it. That would have trashed it for sure. I enjoyed it very much and I am sure many others did also.
Great looking and great sounding locomotive. Have you considered using a short/small boom microphone (like the Comica or the Ampridge MightyMic S) with fake fur or foam to cut down on wind noise?
Although the steam locomotives we had in South Africa never looked as impressive as the American ones, they were nevertheless powerful beasts. In the 1980's I often traveled by train from Kimberley to Jankempdorp in the then Cape province, now known as the Northern Cape. Never enjoyed it which was a pit because these engines soon after were decommissioned. Great video!!!
For a moment, it sounded like me running to the local store and gradually running on empty! But clearly, the passengers who ride these old trains have plenty of time on their hands and are in no rush to get to wherever they’re heading!
On the other hand, 20 cars plus two tenders IS a load. Great stuff. I'm "older" and I vividly remember the steam engines coming through town making pick ups and drop offs at the elevator, lumber yard etc.
21 cars behind her on that gradient and every exhaust beat sounded the same, like gunshot! Whoever was responsible for setting her valve gear up deserves a real pat on the back, he's a master of his art. When locos are that well set up they seldom slip. Her tyres must be absolutely identically turned to size too. Those are the things that usually cause locos to slip and no matter how good the crew are at handling her if she's not set up properly they'll have a tough job. She was clipping those beats off and ticking like a Swiss watch! Makes an old Engineer very happy to know she's in good hands. Long may she steam on!
Compliment to the engineers driving that big bitch. They kept it pulling all the way. I don't know anything about running one of these but expect it's not nearly as easy a diesel or electric for that matter. I bet there is a whole lot of management going in in that cockpit. Very impressed with the grunt it had to pull such a big load.
I have been watching this video periodically since it came out, and I have decided that it is the best train video on UA-cam.
Thanks!
The Victory Whistle at the top of the mountain.
Another Grade Slain.
22 cars and no diesel assist. Excellent video, and thanks for not putting obnoxious music on it!.
Thanks for counting , I'm lazy sleepy :D
Boy oh boy do I second the motion there.! First rule: NEVER put music where it doesn’t belong! David P Allen, contributing editor emeritus, Videography magazine
Too much music everywhere now.
They don't put the diesel on the train to help pull. It is there to provide heat and electrical power to the passenger cars.
Amen to that!!! Great video
My favorite train video of all. Love the 611!
Now this is one of the greatest sounds ever!
I grew up 1-1/4 mi from the top of the Christiansburg Hill grade. I can still remember laying in bed in the summer with the windows open and hearing the trains pulling the grade. This
was a great clip not only for the sights but the sound of that J class engine. Really takes me back to an older and better time.
Just glad shes still when possible, always enjoying seeing her run
I'm always hoping that we'll see her back on the mainline again.
@@RollingRailProductions as am I, I've gotten to see her run twice and rode behind the 611 as well for a jumpseat run
Some body really did a good job in restoring life back into her. My compliments to the folks at the locomotive shops who did the work.
From what I remember, it took them just one year they get 611 up and running again!
Yessir greatest Norfolk and Western 611 video
Thank you! It was even better in person she her struggle up Christianburg Hill in the rain
In regular service she only pulled 7 or 8 cars to maintain track speed@@RollingRailProductions
That’s what’s even more impressive about this. Double the original train, yes it had diesels but they did not help on the hill. Only hindered by adding more weight.
Absolutely terrific! And what an incredible tribute to the engineer and fireman on this run! You can tell from the exhaust that they kept her on the very edge of a slip until she hit the crest! Somewhere, O. Winston Link is smiling!
The rain actually made this day that much better. It sounded great coming through the hills
My wife and I were riding in the dome car on that trip, our first excursion trip ever! Great video, thanks for posting. I want to comment, since nobody else has, that the tracks were wet from rain, but the crew kept traction somehow. It was very slow making that grade, and it was a proud moment to make it all the way up the grade without a problem.
It was a beautiful site and sound. And thanks!
Proud that this pollution machine made it up a 1.5 gradient ? Time to raise the bar.
@@davidkamen Why are you here watching this “Pollution machine “ just to talk shit? Makes you look like a dumbass for one and two, the car you pollute around in puts off far more pollution than this legendary locomotive ever could.
Did a few trips behind 611 and I agree that riding in a dome behind her is fabulous . Would have loved to ride in the open door of a baggage car but ...
She worked hard on the grade but never faltered. Great engineer too, no slippage. Love your video.
I've been in love with this engine since 1957. It is still awesome.
By any reckoning, that's a loooong train so, no wonder the hill almost stopped her! Wonderful video; much appreciated here in Australia.
+Peter Callaghan she was rated at over 100MPH with a regular service passenger setup (on flat ground, granted) but with 80klbf tractive effort i really don't think this hill was anything. The train is very limited so far (45MPH I think, on any/all areas of track regardless of loads) and I'm sure they were taking it easy after her restoration/overhaul - checking systems and not pushing her. It looks like the engineers were getting the hang of things again in these early videos if you look at the smoke and such.
I think that you are spot on. A major part of their design specification was that they should be good at climbing hills but as you say they could easily exceed100 mph on the level in normal service and in some cases did so with loads that were impressively heavy. What a versatile and amazing class of engines!!!
HughFromAlice
Yup, really cool to see an engine which was designed to tear it up around the Virginia mountains that I've grown up around. I missed the excursion runs this morning with some side work, but should be chasing her near home tomorrow morning!
We were in car #11, an antique N&W pocohantis coach, so silent, tight, and smooth, had no idea all that exertion was taking place.
Very well done! What a powerful locomotive!
If only we could have seen what she was really meant for. The fast running!
I grew up near a rail yard in Pittsfield ma. and steam was used regularly up until the mid 50's to 60's. And I can recall Freight trains over 100 cars long. we used to sit on the porch and count them. But most had two engines pulling. Those long hauls.
You can tell by the sound that Christiansburg Mountain almost by 611 to her knees! But she never stopped! She just kept going!
This video is the next best thing to being there.... it is a GREAT video
Absolutely awesome! This is one of the best 611 videos I’ve ever seen! also thank you for not putting on Music The sound of the 611 climbing the hill is music enough! The sound of her climbing the hill is a lot better than the crap that’s on the radio today!
Boy, she was working hard!! Great video!
Great video. Also great driving. The driver set a cutoff and regulator setting that suited the engine, load and rail conditions, trusted his experience and had the confidence to let the engine do the rest. The J class weren't considered one of the finest classes of steam engines ever built for nothing! They held off diesels for ~5/10 years (!!!) after the last steam passenger trains on all the other lines. (For all you non US viewers > a grade of 1.5% is about 1 in 66. Very steep with that load even for modern traction)..........Hᴜɢʜ….…..ツ
Thank you. And thats some good details thanks for sharing.
It doesn’t have a driver; it has an engineer.
@@jockellis who thus drives it up and down the railway moron. Engineer is just a fancy glorified word for driver
I was on that same trip with my family! Great fun and really fascinating to see this amazing engine work her guts on rails she and her 13 J class sister engines made most of their living back in the 40's and 50's on their way to Cincinnati via Norfolk, Petersburg, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Bluefield, Williamson, Kenova and Portsmouth. I'm sure in those days the engineers must have fired up those grades with extreme skill and precision in order to keep to their schedules.
Thanks. Back then the trains would have been shorter too. But nonetheless it truly would have been a wonderful site.
+BNEdward97 Yes most of the trains the J's pulled in those days were 5, 6-7 and 12-15 cars long. Last year as shown in this video, she hauled about 18 cars. Weight and gravity is a critical thing on these grades which is why she sure puts a lot of stack talk and smoke out. She's perfectly fine on straightaways with 18 or more cars but in the mountains with all the weight on the cars, she surely will crank up the sound of her stack.
I've ridden it on that same route. Great video! My birthday is 611
Wonderfull...Greets from Germany...
Its beautiful all man that sounds good keep the channle going man i love it!
Thank you sir. I’m working on getting more videos uploaded. Between work and life and finally getting a new computer it’s been busy
That old baby was tugging a lot of iron on that grade--did a good job.
Power...capacity - sheer beauty. It's overwhelming.
Some of the best steam railroading I’ve seen. The sheer quietness of the hill full of people and mostly just the engine.
This video shows you the power of a big steam engine. Steep long grade, 21 cars and just ONE locomotive!! Big steam working.
BIG STEAM POWER!!!!!!!
BIG STEAM POWER!!
BIG STEAM POWER!
Would a 4400 ac pull that
@@charleslegette2979 That's a good question. Diesel electric locomotives are more powerful than years ago.
Thanks for sharing this great H/D video showing #611 using her 5,200-horsepower to pull the +20 passenger cars over the Mountain.
At the rate of the pistons' cycling they are only generating perhaps 3000 hp. Steamers produce their top HP, generally (with some variation) around the speed where their pistons are cycling at 4 times per second. This means 611 isn't going to produce her top HP until over 60 mph.
@@mesenteria Actually, 611 is using her 80,000 lbs of tractive effort to pull that heavy train.
Too slow for higher horsepower. But slow speed is great for sheer pulling power, which 611 had/has the highest tractive effort of any and all 4-8-4 locomotive.
Just wonderful stack talk out of the 611!
What a show. Great footage.
Good heavens! She's really struggling up hill but, this is one long train!
And then just for show, she starts sprinting!
Great video, thanks!
Thank You! It was an awesome show. Plus the rain helped with the slowness :)
I wonder if anyone else picked up on the time length of this video clip? :)
Andrew Futrell Convenience intensifies
I did :D
I did
XD HA HA HA...comedy
6:12
What a lovely crisp note she has!
Cool. C'burg Mountain is a nasty, hard pull, on the road in a vehicle. I can just imagine what it would be with a train. She sounded good. Doesn't seem all that long ago you heard steam engines every day. Something special.
Outstanding! Just wish the camera could have panned to follow the engine. I know that if I was standing there I wouldn't be looking at the cars. Magnificent reminder of why King Steam will live forever.
Great video, thanks for sharing
C"mon, admit it.... who was watching this saying... "I THINK I CAN"..... "I THINK I CAN"
I THINK I can, I THINK I can, I think I can, I think I can! I KNEW I could, I KNEW I could, I knew I could! I knew I could! A lesson for ALL of us when we are faced with a "hill" in life that seems too steep to climb!
Like a living painting - fantastic!
The whistle sound is epic for sure. I used to love the sounds of the old steam engines shunting back in the 50’s when I was a kid. I could hear them from my bedroom window near downtown Toronto. The wheels would slip quite often while they were moving cars around on sidings.👍👍
611 is suppose to make it's way up to Strasburg, Pa. RR Museum fall of 19. Wish it were an excursion out of Roanoke, i'd be all over that.
Superbly produced presentation, lovely to hear that engine working, it's just like being there.
Love that stack talk from #611
Wet rails and a heavy train made her sound beautiful
Worth to watch this.
That sounds awesome.
Greatest watching grass grow till a train goes by video ever.
Clearly the intro is for for the sound not just the train.
My apologies. That would make it the greatest watching grass grow while listening to an old steam locomotive chug up a grade video ever. And I love watching grass grow while listening to an old steam locomotive chug up a grade. I admit that I'd rather watch AND listen to an old steam locomotive chug up a grade but just listening has its merits. You certainly did an outstanding job on the audio. The video was nice as well, especially from a watching grass grow perspective. As a steam fan, I also thoroughly enjoyed the locomotive when it finally made an appearance. By the way, I understand Union Pacific has their Big Boy back together after a complete rebuild. I'd sure like to hear that one chug up a grade, while watching some grass grow of course. Keep the coal comin'.
I swear it sounded like I THINK I CAN I THINK I CAN I KNEW I COULD I KNEW I COULD !
THAT SOUND AND THE WAY THE SMOKE COME UP THROUGH THE TREES REMINDS ME OF THE SITE AND SOUND S OF A TOWNATO COMING ON THE GROUND.
I love how the video is 6 minutes and 11 seconds long! :)
+Gavincl 12 and it was unintentionally. I just happened to stop it perfect
+Gavincl 12 and it was unintentionally. I just happened to stop it perfect
BNEdward97 Wow! That's crazy! 😀
Hi from the U.K. THAT WAS AMAZING WHAT AN ENGINE. Wow I'm going to have to take a flight when this horrible lockdown is over and ride that wonderful thing. Where can I do that from and to where?
Over 100 years old and still strong. It's a shame we don't take pride in the work we put into machines like we used to.
I've been lucky in my lifetime to see one of the last of the working steam locomotives and by that I don't mean restored and pulling tourists on milk runs....I'm talking about honest-to-goodness dirty, hard work. It was in 1966 and it was a shunt engine in the PGE (Pacific Great Eastern) rail yard in North Vancouver, B.C. Canada making up trains for the diesel locomotives. The Engineer invited me up and taught me the process of bringing it up to working steam.
When I was a kid in Winnipeg, 73 now, my father worked at CPR with a lifetime pass. We traveled by train a lot and many were pulled by steam. My sister and I just loved it. At night lying in bed I fell asleep to the sounds of steam locomotives in the rail yards not far from us. My favorite memories. Glad you got the chance to see how these amazing machines work.
the noise of my childhood...
That sound, though...beautiful
WOW, I didnt appreciate the train until i relized the amount of cars it was pulling !! how many diesles would have been used insted of 1 loco? great video
nails6365 a modern diesel will easily outwork 611, 844, 4449 etc.
@@regal105 true
No other steam locomotive sounds as good as the 611! "Here I am and don't mess with me!"
that sounds right
the 1522 might be competition for stack talk, but it'd be interesting to see how she or other steam engines might fare against Christiansburg Hill.
ehhh 844, 4014, 4449 to name a few.
SP&S 700 or SP 4449 could easily do this!
She was catching up on a train ahead of her so they slowed down. She is actually accelerating here!
The train was on main 1, 611 was on 2 so that isn't the case. Wet rail, 22 cars, S curves, and greasers is why she was going so slow. The reason she was accelerating at the end was because she got on straight rail.
There was no train ahead of her that day.
Was nice of us to let that van park behind us down at that last crossing. :)
Although I have never seen a real steam train in action, I am 49 years old, so they were still using them when I was born, but because I grew up in Toronto, in the burbs, I never got to see one. There is one in the railway museum by the CN Tower, but it doesn’t function, what I wouldn’t give to see a real one still functioning, and go for a ride. I’ve been told many times that I am an old soul, and there’s just something about the sound, the feel, the looks, and everything else about it that just makes me fall in love with them, I have no idea why, but they just bring out a certain nostalgia in me, I nostalgia that I never really knew it because most of my life I have known only diesel locomotive’s for fun, a few years ago, I went with a few friends to a supposedly very gifted psychic, who took one look at me and told me are used to be a steam train locomotive engineer, back in the late 1800s. Well I am not sure if I believe in psychics, I so badly want to believe in what she was telling me, because she told me I had spent my entire life on the real way as an engineer, and actually died, of natural causes, while operating one! I was in total shock that she said that, because she didn’t know anything about me, in fact she didn’t speak a word of English, she spoke only Portuguese, and her daughter translated, but because I speak Spanish, I understood most of what she was saying, so I know that it was true what she was saying I was in total shock that she said that, because she didn’t know anything about me, in fact she didn’t speak a word of English, she spoke only Portuguese, and her daughter translated, because I speak Spanish, I understood most of what she was saying, so I know Her daughter was accurately translating. It was so weird, it was almost like putting the final piece in the puzzle, suddenly everything in my mind became crystal clear, because how on earth would I have such a strong attraction towards steam train, when I was born in an area that was the death of them? In any case, if anybody knows of steam trains anywhere near the Toronto area that still work, or if not Toronto, somewhere in Canada, please let me know, as I have been dying to get on one. For the past 20 years I’ve been in and out of hospital having 30for operations to treat my Crohn’s disease and intestinal cancer. I wasn’t supposed to survive, but I did, I’m very stubborn, LOL!, So I can now finally enjoy the rest of my life, so if any of you can help me out, I would so greatly appreciate it! I have done some research online but I haven’t really found very much. I found one in British Columbia but it said that the company is out of business, so I don’t know if the trains are still running. I have family in British Columbia so it be great to go there, to see them, and most importantly to go for a nice long train ride. Every time I watch a video of a steam train, there’s something inside of me that just clicks, and I feel as though I belong on the train, and have this deep Inexplicable yearning to be on that train, I guess that sounds pretty crazy doesn’t it? Well, crazy or not, I made a promise to myself that before I die, and that could be anywhere between now and the next 5 to 10 years, depending if the cancer comes back for the fourth time, I will catch a ride on one of these old beautiful rattlers, and I’ll be in paradise! Any and all advice/suggestions would be very much appreciated!
I’m sorry to hear about your health problems TJ. And the physic thing is actually pretty cool. I have no idea where they run in Canada since I live in Tennessee. But hopefully one of these days you’ll be able to get a ride
If you can make it to the States, just outside Buffalo there is the Arcade and Attica RR that runs stream during the summer season. Much smaller than the 611 but you can get really close (ride in the open gondola)
Video starts at 2:30
thanks
Most awesome performance by an old mill which still has what it takes. 21 cars and 2 tenders, Amtrak would require 4 to 5 motors to do this same job and then maybe???
WITH TWO OF THE GE P 42 LOCOMOTIVES THEY PULL
THE CONSIST OF THE SOUTHWEST CHEIF OVER RATON PASS!
WHEN RUNNING THE EMD
3000 HP 4 AXLE LOCOMOTIVES
OVER THE SAME TRACKAGE THEY OFTEN HAD TO SHUT DOWN THE HEAD END POWER AND COACH AIR CODITIONING TO BE ABLE TO MAKE THE GRADE AT A SLOW PACE!
GREAT VIDEO, thanks so much for not putting any idiotic and obnoxious music over it. That would have trashed it for sure. I enjoyed it very much and I am sure many others did also.
That was Absolutely Awesome
Dear sir picture is captured from very large distance
Awesome video!!
Thanks!!!
I lived downtown Lansing Michigan.Pierre Marquette steamed by..tricking huge
Great looking and great sounding locomotive. Have you considered using a short/small boom microphone (like the Comica or the Ampridge MightyMic S) with fake fur or foam to cut down on wind noise?
Ohh Hear that whistle blowin' ..
Best 611 video ever. Not by a long shot!!!
Although the steam locomotives we had in South Africa never looked as impressive as the American ones, they were nevertheless powerful beasts. In the 1980's I often traveled by train from Kimberley to Jankempdorp in the then Cape province, now known as the Northern Cape. Never enjoyed it which was a pit because these engines soon after were decommissioned. Great video!!!
For a moment, it sounded like me running to the local store and gradually running on empty! But clearly, the passengers who ride these old trains have plenty of time on their hands and are in no rush to get to wherever they’re heading!
Well done! Thank you.
Should have followed the locomotive .
Coolest form of mechanical motion created by man ever!!
Yes it is. This was a great show! Thanks!!
Just a CH from loosing traction.. WOW. that whole class was the best..... I wish 1218... and 2136.... Sighhhh....
Did anybody notice the timing of the video is 611 (6:11)?
And that's the raw video time. It just happened to work out that way.
i like how the video is six minutes and eleven seconds long!
Greatest video ever
Excellent!!!!!!!!!
On the other hand, 20 cars plus two tenders IS a load. Great stuff. I'm "older" and I vividly remember the steam engines coming through town making pick ups and drop offs at the elevator, lumber yard etc.
+tri 5ford I bet that was a sight to see back then. All the different engines back then.
Awesome!!!!
21 cars behind her on that gradient and every exhaust beat sounded the same, like gunshot! Whoever was responsible for setting her valve gear up deserves a real pat on the back, he's a master of his art. When locos are that well set up they seldom slip. Her tyres must be absolutely identically turned to size too. Those are the things that usually cause locos to slip and no matter how good the crew are at handling her if she's not set up properly they'll have a tough job. She was clipping those beats off and ticking like a Swiss watch! Makes an old Engineer very happy to know she's in good hands. Long may she steam on!
Wet rails and a heavy train. She was definitely making beautiful music coming up the hill. And yes they ran her very well
Is 611 booster equipped?
Engine is hanging right in there!
Compliment to the engineers driving that big bitch. They kept it pulling all the way. I don't know anything about running one of these but expect it's not nearly as easy a diesel or electric for that matter. I bet there is a whole lot of management going in in that cockpit. Very impressed with the grunt it had to pull such a big load.
wow thats one heck of a consist
Yes, no diesel assisting makes this vidio all the better.
It was a great trip.
I think I just got bit by the bug. That was impressive. Ain’t no other way to say it.
Nice capture with no ZOOMING.
jerry baker sr. I was busy taking photos. And it shows just how much smoke was rolling out.
It was a compliment for not zooming. Excellent job.
Thank ya sir. And I was just giving a little background to it.
I like how it celebrated with a whistle blow when it got to the top
Yes, and there is a crossing just out of frame.
Well Done!!!
what make it the greatest shot of 611 ever
The sights. The SOUND. The fact that it’s running again after so many years.
BNEdward97 ok I get but I dont want to sound like I hate the 611
Now thats railroading!
I somehow don't think she was being worked hard, certainly not to her limit, she does have 80,000lbf tractive effort available.
with a 21 cars and slick rails she was working. maybe not to her limit but she was working hard
On wet rails with a 1.5% grade that was it, another car probbably would have had the drivers slipping
Gotta also remember that every 100ft traveled the whole trail went up 18 inches
while slip dont occur,no problem the torque and tractive effort increases when the speed down.
Full gear, no cut-off.
Still cleaner than a Volkswagen.
LOL!!!!!!!
Nice!
Muito linda linda top