My uncle Ed was a locomotive engineer in New Jersey. When the last steam engine was taken off the line he put in for early retirement. He said, 'there was no more fun in it; the romance was gone.' R.I.P uncle Ed and the steam engine.
I’m sure a lot of people felt that way. They phased choo choos out way too soon Many of the steam engines were fairly new and they were thrown away 20 years too soon.
"there's no more fun in it..." Same exact words from my Grandfather who worked for NY Central from 1916 to 1961. He hated diesels. Said they had no souls.
@@OneLastHitB4IGo I was disappointed in the video. I hoped to see steam locos being chopped apart with cutting torches for recycling, but it was just two old codgers mouthing off about nothing. No decent scrapping footage.
SteamLocoScrapper I’d rather see and hear these old timers talking about their experience with these machines than watch these wonderful pieces of equipment get destroyed.
My father ran a coal dealership across from the B&O roundhouse in Lorain Ohio. I have vivid memories as a child of what we called “double headers” pulling coal cars that never seemed to end headed for the steel plant. When they slowly went by the ground actually shook. The sound, the smell, the excitement is a all a time gone by, just like this wonderful documentary so wonderfully depicts.
As a railwayman in the UK I really appreciated this film, well edited and very nostalgic . My uncle who was a driver in steam days would have been in his element!!
When I was a kid, I always loved steam trains. My father took me all over the east coast to rail museums or to take a ride on a locomotive. I had all kinds of model trains. Lgb, lionel, you name it. As I grew older, I let the love for trains slip away. I'm only 28 but every once in a while, I come back and watch these kinds of videos and relive the greats memories I had. I've passed a few of my trains on to my 2 year old nephew for him to enjoy. One day, I hope to share the rest with a child of my own
Spring 1963 was the last time I was on a steam driven train. St. Johns N.B. to Montreal Quebec, going home from the Canadian Navy, regular run but I never saw another one after that. It was exciting to see them, huge beast puffing smoke and steam. I think the best part was actually seeing all the moving parts driving the wheels. Lots of good memories from those times. Still love trains though, time marches on.
My dad took took my sister and I on various US and Canadian steam excursions in the late 50's and 60's but I never imagined stumbling across a quality film like this on UA-cam and then seeing my seven year old self along with my sister and dad. My dad, full frame with his Voigtlander camera, sticks his head out the coach window and my sister and I goof around at the open baggage car door. Closest thing to a time machine trip I'll ever experience.
I grew up during the steam era. My greatest thrill was watching the DM&IR’s huge Yellowstones hauling iron ore from the mines in northern Minnesota to the ore docks on Lake Superior. My uncle worked for the DM&IR and there was always the debate about which was the better loco; UP’s Big Boy or the Messabi’s Yellowstone.
"The guy at 12:20" (aka 'the distinguished Canadian composer') was Eldon Rathburn, who was, in fact the leading in-house composer for the NFB for many years. Rathburn remains something of an unknown quantity here and in Canada - and in film composing on the whole- a pity since he could write music in almost any style and was a master at the 'high Modernity' that you hear in many NFB films of this period. His music for 'Universe' is an exemplar of this style, and his opening theme for 'Drylanders' offers a knowing twist on the Aaron Copland 'Americana' sound.
When you look at towns in Australia their location was determined by the railway. Even though lines may have been closed and ripped up it is still quite clear how railway activity created the towns, nurtured them and grew them, and subsequently dictated the positions of roads, services, government departments and a whole lot more.
We may not always see eye to eye on everything but as an American, I'm so glad we have the greatest neighbor in the world and our shared history. The world wouldn't be the same without Canada.
6:43 CN 4-6-4t #47 is actually preserved at Steamtown. She briefly ran excursions in New hampshire during the summer of 1961 before being sidelined due to the Maintinence Records being burned in a CN roundhouse fire. She is in horrible shape today after being exposed to the elements.
@@rogerlollar4325ofc your not gonna care about her, shes in the wrong country. She should be back in Canada and be repaired and back in service running in her proper home
She deserves to be repaired but we don't have her blue prints to restore her. Also hell no you don't deserve her back. your country was scraping her so we bought her. Do it suck that she is sitting rotting away YES. Do you think we want it to rust? NO. WE need money and more places that build parts for locomotives.
Steam engines are just so cool to watch, diesels are much more efficient but steam engines will always hold a place in my heart. My dad fired and was a steam locomotive engineer for NYC and also a diesel engineer and I followed in his foot steps going on 29 years as an engineer and have loved every minute I have spent in the seat. Another cool thing about this video is seeing all the old time cameras and video equipment, I have vivid memories of seeing people with big bags filled with photographic supplies, now days people just use their phone.
Ah, these are my people! It's amazing to see how much passion we have for the trains! :) Gotta love the virtual railfan camera at Paradise, PA. Great steam action still going strong.
I'm 67, when I was maybe 9, 10, 11, I got my 1 and only active service steam train ride, what I now realize must have been one of the last steam trains, in an overnite sleeper from Toronto to Lake Temagami to stay at Camp Temagami in 'northern' Ontario that summer. No parents, no family member, nobody I knew. I was all alone on my own, In fact I didn't even know what it was all about at the time. I thought I was being sent off in the 'belly of a Black Dragon' to a gulag for kids, for the rest of my life. I cried and cried. Couple of older kids, girls going to the girls camp, took pity on me and comforted me. Then miracle of miracles, a big ferry boat to Camp Temagami and the best damn summer of my childhood. These days I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but, I hope I never forget that long ago memory.
I am 65. We had the policy of putting diesels on the passenger trains. So when I was VERY young everything was steam but by the time I was old enough to remember only goods trains were steam. Which is sort of funny because the greatest savings from diesels were their ability to haul substantially heavier trains longer distances. Not their ability on lightweight fast passenger services. Of course steam engines were always used on special trains or extra services. In NSW they had spent less money on diesels so I still went behind a pair of steam engines in 1956 on an interstate service. But that was the last scheduled service I had with steam.
Just beautiful. Whenever I try to explain why I love steam locomotives so, and the person I'm talking just doesn't get it, I'll forward this to them - the old railroaders explain it better than I ever could.
Superb documentary ! Amazing to experience the 1959 cinematographic and interviewing techniques that made this splendid masterpiece. A great tribute to the steam locomotive, that is ! The testimony of the composer brought me to tears. Probably I am as sentimental about it all, as he is. I was quite lucky to live in Belgium, so I could visit the German steam activity, that continued until the mid seventies. In Belgium, steam stopped in the mid sixties, was too young then... But I have a vidid memory of the heavy trains pulled by those magnificent 10 wheelers, three cilinder engined BR 44 class... Pure nature power.
This was an amazing farewell to all of our old friend , the steam engine or locomotive, I can't understand why there are 104 thumbs down to this video, I think those people got to watch this video again, thanks so much for putting this together... Cheers...
I have watched the 844 blast her whistle as it passed by shaking the ground smoke laid back on the cars. Every time I watch that video I recorded that day, chills rise on my arms!! I'm 21 and can say I've steered several steam tractors at shows as a teenager. The engineers let people climb on and even drive if they want to! I can also change the pitch on the whistle to make a haunting echo that sounds for miles. Nostalgia for an age I never grew up in! I'm truly blessed to have people to encourage me in this hobby the older people who mentored me in this hobby.👍😊
This is absolutely great!!! To think 2816 has not yet come to "the end of the line". Thanks to all who had a part in the preservation of this amazing engine.
America's oldest veteran died the other day, at age 112, born in 1906. Here, we see a man who started on the railroad in 1906, talking about heating a can of beans on the firebox, while the veteran was still a babe crawling around. Amazing documentary.
One of the best documentary's i have seen about the steam locomotive and one of the saddest breaks my heart to see all those locomotives going to scrap. But we will never forget them so few of man's inventions and machine have been so iconic and so alive the closest man has ever come to creating life. We will never forget them for they live on in those preserved and in our hearts and memories.
Rest assured, the railroad companies couldn't get rid of the steam engines fast enough. They were a maintenance nightmare, required so much coal and water and an army of men to keep them going. In the 50s, diesel oil...as they called it then, was 6 cents a gallon. Diesels required no fireman, blacksmiths, boilermakers, pipefitters, machinists, water spouts and tanks, fire watchmen, coal docks, etc. Machinists became diesel mechanics, electricians replaced boilermakers, pipe fitters only serviced air lines. Gone was the filth, the cinders in your eyes, the drafty cabs, the scorching heat of the firebox....nostalgia is one thing, but the diesel was a godsend.
@@mark-wn5ek Some people may have thought them were a nightmare but they were more then that when you built and worked around them your whole life and those men and women knew that. The diesel may be a godsend to some if you understand what some of these men explained in this film but to me there just a glorified streetcar and I have not much care for them or ever will.
In 1959 as a child, the family lived in London ON., close to a breaking yard for dozens upon dozens of old Mogul Locos.I had not known what they were or what was going on,but instantly recognized the distinctive lines here.13:50 Eldon Rathburn seems to have put his finger on the sentiment I felt then.Thanks for this informative vid.
Hi from Texas! I’ve been a fan of your channel for a while now, but I just ran across this video and had to comment. I saw the Big Boy when it rolled through Hearne TX on Nov. 9 2019. My mom and I got up around 4:30 to take the two hour drive north to go see it. They had a short stop to switch to a main line and boy was that worth the trip! My grandfather worked on the railroad toward the end of its heyday and I grew up listening to fantastic stories from him. My love of these beasts came from him. I too had been following it’s rebuild and wasn’t going to pass the opportunity of a lifetime to see the beauty go through under her own power. Thanks for sharing your experience and keep up the fantastic videos!
Oft when I feel my engine swerve as o’er strange rails we fair, I strain my eyes around the curve for what awaits me there. As swift and free she carries me, through yards unknown by night; I look along the line to see the lights are white. The blue light marks the cripple car, the green light signals slow, the red light is the danger light-the white light--let ‘er go! Once more the open fields we roam and when the sky is fair, I look up in the starry dome and wonder ‘what’s up there? For who can speak, for those who dwell beyond that curving sky, no man has ever lived to tell just what it means to die. Swift words might tremble my friend, the way seems short tonight. God only knows what’s at the end but I hope the lights are white.
These folks who were interviewed for this, who worked in the industry going back to the early 1900s - while their world was certainly different than mine, I certainly understand their fascination with steam. And even though it was 60 years ago, I get the railfans who lined that route to catch a glimpse of and photograph an historic event. UP Big Boy 4014 is undergoing restoration and will soon steam back to life. I’m not a trainspotter like those guys, but I’m sure going to show up to see her run the first chance I get.
"End of the line" was an amazing documentary!! And that's coming from a 20 year old! It'll be a trip in the near future once internal combustion engine are phased out! The documentary gave me chills the whole video thinking about fossil fuels coming to an end!!!! Thanks for sharing this with us!!
If ever there was a perfect documentary it is this one. Stunning visuals, excellent cinematography, and some of the best editing I have ever seen. 5 stars! Hopefully they can release this treasure on DVD?
Mr Omer Lavallée at 9:23 was a well known figure in railway historical circles has a street named in his honor in Montreal, a housing development on the grounds of the old CPR Angus shops and re-using many of the old factory buildings.
it feels so surreal to hear that bell at 9:45. it was made less than 15 minutes away from where i live today and they are just tearing down the building that they were made in, along with the locomotive at 9:20
I have always regretted that my short period working in Montreal from July 1963 just missed the last of steam on Canadian railways. I have always been a steam fan as many of those of us were who lived near the line along which Mallard had set the world speed record. From the house we could hear and see these these speedy trains. I went to Steamtown and Delson and rode a steam special but it was not the same as steaking into a roundhouse to see what visitors were inside. After Canada I caught steam in Japan, Malaysia, Thailand,Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Iraq, Syria, Turkey before getting home to Lincolnshire. But the Canadian experience made me aware of the need to photograph British steam before, it too, succumbed to diesel and electricity. I highly recommend the narrow gauge steam railways in the old East Germany plus a visit to the Dresden Steam Festival. Thanks for the film. Very evocative and very heartfelt feelings expressed.
The steam engine still holds a special place in the hearts of many of us, the sounds and smells just are not the same as with the new modern engines that followed. Great documentary on what was the golden age of railroading kind of like watching an old movie with some big stars from the 30's to the 60's whose paths were almost on the same timeline.
I'm 66 now. I work in technology and have seen all kinds of amazing innovations. But nothing matches my memory of riding with the engineer up front in a still-running Milwaukee Road Hiawatha passenger train steam locomotive when it was going full tilt. It's streamlining made it look like something that was out of the future. That sensation I felt as a kid has stayed with me. This wonderful film, especially the locomotive designer's description of riding up front at night, brought back those memories.
The diesel in the opening sequence is a FPA-4, #6776, when it was very new. It’s now finished a second career for Grand Canyon Railway, and is on display at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Great video! As Doyle McCormack said in one of the many videos I've seen him in here on UA-cam "It's as close to the creation of a life as man has ever come." When you hear the accessories come to life as the pressure builds. The air brake pumps, the water pumps keeping the boiler full & the sound of the generator for the lights. They all start to come to life as it comes up to operating temperature. Or better said "as the locomotive comes to life." Doyle went on to say "if you listen, she'll tell you what she needs." Steam locomotives were in the process of being replaced with diesel when I was born (1957). But I've had the pleasure of watching one being brought to life. Everyone should witness that at least once in their life. The creation of life from cold, dead steel.
A really fascinating and thoughtful documentary and I'm sure that many people feel the same way now about the first generation diesel locomotives, now also departed. Interesting too, I thought, was the almost Scottish-sounding voices of many of the people interviewed, an accent probably now also long-gone.
I also loved steam locomotives as a young teenager and use to watch them going by as of where I had lived, and that was my dream to become a locomotive engineer when I got older.Come to find out from the railroad collage, you got to be a brakeman first and write test and be able to score a mark of 95% on the exam.Being a brakeman is a dangerous job, jumping off and on boxcars and setting handbrakes, plus coupling and uncoupling the boxcars etc.That's now about of becoming a diesel locomotive engineer. Back in the steam era, I imagine one would have to become a fireman first in order to become an engineer and also write an exam, then the fireman learnt from the engineer about the valves and pressure gauges and whatever.That was no easy job running that steam locomotive as it required a lot of attention, steam, pressure gauges, coal shovelling, water levels etc, plus being covered with coal dust and also breathing it in. No easy job. I learnt a lot about steam locomotives from railroad magazines, books and youtube. That was not for me at all. If I had lived back in that time of the steam area, I would have then picked the baggage and mail car on the passenger train that was cleaner and better as of work.I also heard the pay was not all that good back then. I am glad for the men who chose to be brakemen, firemen and locomotive engineers for the steam era, and even to this time as of brakemen and locomotive engineers for the diesel train era.
Gotta say steam engines had a beauty to them. It's an amazing machine. I love trains. Dont care what you like. They are all beautiful. This little documentary was well ahead of its time.
Being a Minnesota railfan, I know hundreds of Great Northern (and other railroads') steam locomotives were scrapped in the steel mill at Duluth, MN at the end of the steam era. The Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company in Duluth manufactured tools from the recycled steel of those steam locomotives for many years. I inherited quite a few Diamond tools from my dad and I use more than a few of those wrenches and pliers at work. I suppose it's strange that I sometimes wonder what Great Northern or Missabe steamer went into my tools. Who knows?, maybe an example of my favorite GN R2 articulated or a Missabe M4 is in the 24" Diamond adjustable wrench I use every day. Steam locomotives will always be alive as long as we remember them. Thanks to preservation efforts they don't appear likely to be gone anytime soon.
It's a shame though that the class 1 railroads don't really want public excursions with steam on their tracks anymore. NS had a new steam excursion program for a few years but it ended after 2017 611 excursions, and now the one UP public excursion with 844 from Denver to Cheyenne with the Denver Post is now over. But, UP is still having a big steam tour this year with 844 and the Big Boy, but no public excursions. And Amtrak last March ended charter trains and excursions because Anderson wants to cut non essential services, that means that steam excursions that ran on BNSF with Amtrak support are now over. Support the tourist lines that still run steam. TVRM, Reading and Northern, Grand Canyon, Durango & Silverton, and Cumbres & Toltec are longer distance rides with steam.
Thank you for posting this video. It's one of the best I've seen on UA-cam or anywhere else. It is saved and will forever as far as I know will hold a place in my heart, and into this thing they call a hard drive, as far as I know they say is permanent, but as we all know, nothing is permanent. It's as permanent as I can make it. There's some beautiful literature here and I wish these "times gone by" were now the present. It seemed like everybody was happy then as opposed to now. It's like I don't even recognize this world now. Maybe they looked back and felt the same, who knows? Maybe it's just a matter of perspective. I know I just know I don't like it here now. I feel the same as the men that's retiring, wishing things were different, even though I'm 62 years old, I find myself not knowing what to do or which way to go. Just sad.
Being born in the 80s, i never grew up with steam locomotives. My first experience on a steam train was a ride aboard the Arcade & Attica in New York. As a young boy, the steam locomotive looked and sounded alive. Brings back memories of watching Thomas The Tank Engine on PBS. My 2nd experience with steam was riding the Texas State Railroad between Rusk and Palestine. I rode the Disney trains in Disney World, but those locomotives are not real steam locomotives as they burn #2 diesel. My favorite all-time steam experience was witnessing UP #844. It was awesome! Growing up around diesels, i have to say a lot of respect has to be shown to steam railroaders and the steam locomotives from a bygone era. UP is the only class 1 railroad with a prideful steam history campaign and preservation. At least 6 Bigboys, close to 5 Challengers, several Northerns, and i am sure there are more preserved steam locomotives from the UP. I wish other railroads have as much drive to preserve steam railroading like the UP.
Too bad you weren't born in the 1880's, like my grandparents. They rode a lot of steam-powered trains. The down side is you wouldn't be alive any more.
6:49 it's ironic that the particular locomotive in this shot as the narrator talks about steam locomotives going to the scrap heap was actually preserved and is now at Steamtown.
My Dad took me to see the last engine to pass through our town. It slowed - but did not stop - he did not say a word. He had road the rails the before the war. When the train left the station we walked back to the his '47 Oldsmobile 78; I remember the silent ride home. This Canada, seen in this film, like the steam engine, is no more.
Has any other machine ever been more romanticised than the steam locomotive?. The word over the same sentiments are expressed. Even now when a steam locomotive special travels along the main line it always catches the attention of people young and old who stop to look, whether they be railfans or not.
You can still see steam and old diesel trains at Exporail, the Canadian railway museum in Delson(named after the Delaware and Hudson railway)/St. Constant, just south of Montreal. As well as hundreds of artifacts, and a working old Tramway car from Montreal.
I respect the importance of diesels. They are far more efficient, cheaper to run and maintain, and easier to keep running, but I will always love the beauty and power of the steam locomotive more.
Priceless! A unique view into a moment in time. Fascinating to to see the attitudes and opinions of people long gone, and a world that has changed. Thank God that someone took the trouble to make living documents like this.
It seems that. with each new technology, part of our hearts and souls are taken away. Even the very technology I am now using to express this opinion is doing it's part to isolate us from one another. Loved ones "together" in the same house, same room, noses buried in their smartphones. No conversation, no fellowship, no laughter, no connection. Even the superficial fellowship of watching a comedy on TV is destroyed when, at a time something funny is said or done on the TV show, and you look to your loved one to connect and enjoy the moment, and they've got their face buried in their phone. It's an empty feeling. We don't even meet and visit at the store anymore, just point and click to do our shopping. American life just isn't what it was. and should still be. And they call it "progress".
The technology of the steam locomotive is incredibly intricate;it takes SO much knowledge and experience just to get one to MOVE,much less pull a train! Not so much the diesel/electric,but that's progress so they say!
That's why it took an "engineer" to operate them. My grandfather was an engineer for many years, way back when. The closest I got to riding a live engine was in a yard with my engineer uncle. I was only about 8 or 10 then. Very impressive.
Travelling Tom , spot on mate, my life has been connected to steam, the repair of, done my time at Newport Workshops, Victoria, Australia. These skills took me around the world. A wonderful life ensured. Still love the big buggers.
Listening to these people talk and their mannerisms, such a joy to see polite, well spoken and reserved regular men women and children. So unlike the society of today. Rude, entitled, arrogant and disrespectful. Yes there were some people back then that were arrogant and rude too but they were the exception and not the rule.
That closing sequence is filmed heading westward along current highway 20 in Dorval (Hyw 2 at the time) just west of Montreal. At 28:05 is the Lachine ('Summerlea'?) stop/shelter and, at 28:32 you can see a sign for 'Marshall Equipment' which was located near the Dorval CPR station.
When I was young, I was a big fan of the diesel. They generally pulled the passenger trains, while freight was pulled by Steam. In 53 I remember getting very upset when our passenger train was pulled by steam. I was not getting on it. Now! I love the old steam.
My family worked for the N&W here in the states. I have a picture of my great (great, great?) grandfather standing on a bridge he and his crew just finished building in West Virginia. It's black and white and wast taken, unless I am mistaken, around 1918. At least the 611 survived. We need the 611 and the Big Boy for future generations to enjoy. I know diesel-electric is nice, but it isn't steam.
Enginr 47 was saved by Mr. F. NELSON BLOUNT ar Steamtown in Vermont, now at Scranton, PA. Mr. Blount was also President of OCEANSPRAY CRANBERRY CO. So at Thanksgiving in November, your can of cranberries once helped support steam, plus, also at EDAVILLE in Massachusetts with the Maine 2-Footers.
The reality was that train crews couldnt have been happier with the transition, Steam engines exposed cabs were hot and freezing at the same time, sooty messy uncomfortable and extremely complicated in comparison to the new diesels, which once the crews experienced the easier to operate, climate protected enclosed cabs, their reticence quickly disappeared.
Such a beautiful and evocative memory of the recent past in train travel.. When a boy, I had the never forgettable experience to "push the lever forward" on a Pacific class (4-6-2) outside the roundhouse in St. John, NB. How kind of the engineer to let a stranger and his son climb in the cab while he waited out lunch period. They were almost a relic then.
I think the level of identification of steam loco drivers with their job is unique. I once met a retired driver working for a museum railway. I learned all about railway history in 20minutes! But what stunned me most: They had passenger runs only on weekends. Still, he fired the boiler on a weekday. I think he just couldn't stop.
Wonderful job about the giants from my childhood that once in a while show up in my dreams at night..Thanks for the memories from someone who just subscribed to your channel
At least one of the locos in this video still exists - CPR #2816. I've travelled behind it once and photographed it several times in the last few years
Alastair Preston I caught it on video in 2007 on a special excursion from the U.S, it was quite something to see it coming Northbound down the CPR Emerson Sub
Good film, I enjoyed it. At 16:13 a railfan with an Argus C-3 camera! I had one of those. As a kid, I was a railfan of the Reading Railroad (all diesel then) shortly before that line's demise here in southwestern PA. The Reading brought coal down from the coal fields of upstate Pennsylvania, iron ore up to the steel mills of Bethlehem, and finished steel goods back from the mills, a long time ago...
I was born after the steam era but some of my family were railroad men and old me all about them when they worked on the Illinois Central, They phased them all out in the early to mid 50's. Beautiful machines.
That was great I graduated from high school in 1959 but didn’t realize that was the last of the steam train. O well . Yep Hoya Hoya Gramps on the couch.
My uncle Ed was a locomotive engineer in New Jersey. When the last steam engine was taken off the line he put in for early retirement. He said, 'there was no more fun in it; the romance was gone.' R.I.P uncle Ed and the steam engine.
Obviously your uncle Ed was a smart man! Thanks for sharing his thoughts 👍
I’m sure a lot of people felt that way. They phased choo choos out way too soon Many of the steam engines were fairly new and they were thrown away 20 years too soon.
"there's no more fun in it..." Same exact words from my Grandfather who worked for NY Central from 1916 to 1961. He hated diesels. Said they had no souls.
@@OneLastHitB4IGo I was disappointed in the video. I hoped to see steam locos being chopped apart with cutting torches for recycling, but it was just two old codgers mouthing off about nothing. No decent scrapping footage.
SteamLocoScrapper
I’d rather see and hear these old timers talking about their experience with these machines than watch these wonderful pieces of equipment get destroyed.
My father ran a coal dealership across from the B&O roundhouse in Lorain Ohio. I have vivid memories as a child of what we called “double headers” pulling coal cars that never seemed to end headed for the steel plant. When they slowly went by the ground actually shook. The sound, the smell, the excitement is a all a time gone by, just like this wonderful documentary so wonderfully depicts.
us still 2nd place in coal burning
As a railwayman in the UK I really appreciated this film, well edited and very nostalgic . My uncle who was a driver in steam days would have been in his element!!
When I was a kid, I always loved steam trains. My father took me all over the east coast to rail museums or to take a ride on a locomotive. I had all kinds of model trains. Lgb, lionel, you name it. As I grew older, I let the love for trains slip away. I'm only 28 but every once in a while, I come back and watch these kinds of videos and relive the greats memories I had. I've passed a few of my trains on to my 2 year old nephew for him to enjoy. One day, I hope to share the rest with a child of my own
People were so polite, well mannered, well spoken and well dressed.
In Canada and in the USA both back in those days.
Well, Canada is traditionally known as "our polite neighbor to the north".
Less distracted living... people enjoyed each others company. They didn't anonymously text away each day like I'm doing....
@@whiteknightcat I refer to Canada as the best damn neighbor to the North ever.
@@squirrelguy2195 It's your only neighbor to the north anyway.
Spring 1963 was the last time I was on a steam driven train. St. Johns N.B. to Montreal Quebec, going home from the Canadian Navy, regular run but I never saw another one after that. It was exciting to see them, huge beast puffing smoke and steam. I think the best part was actually seeing all the moving parts driving the wheels. Lots of good memories from those times. Still love trains though, time marches on.
I agree
Steam trains are still here
Oh really why don't you go on a steam train again
Sorry to correct you, but it's Saint John, N.B.
I was born way too late..
Love the twenties, the trains, clothes, music.
The roaring twenties, living in Berlin, that would be something.
I'm with you, my friend.
My dad took took my sister and I on various US and Canadian steam excursions in the late 50's and 60's but I never imagined stumbling across a quality film like this on UA-cam and then seeing my seven year old self along with my sister and dad. My dad, full frame with his Voigtlander camera, sticks his head out the coach window and my sister and I goof around at the open baggage car door. Closest thing to a time machine trip I'll ever experience.
That's absolutely awesome. Great memory right there.
Love the three poems at 21:30, really nice to hear
The men that operated them were the heart sir!!!
At 34 years old, all I can say is man was I born in the wrong times !!
Beautiful machines !!!
I grew up during the steam era. My greatest thrill was watching the DM&IR’s huge Yellowstones hauling iron ore from the mines in northern Minnesota to the ore docks on Lake Superior. My uncle worked for the DM&IR and there was always the debate about which was the better loco; UP’s Big Boy or the Messabi’s Yellowstone.
Me too
The Big Boy was/is a great loco. But all Big Boys wanted to be Yellowstones when they grew up … 😊
"The guy at 12:20" (aka 'the distinguished Canadian composer') was Eldon Rathburn, who was, in fact the leading in-house composer for the NFB for many years. Rathburn remains something of an unknown quantity here and in Canada - and in film composing on the whole- a pity since he could write music in almost any style and was a master at the 'high Modernity' that you hear in many NFB films of this period. His music for 'Universe' is an exemplar of this style, and his opening theme for 'Drylanders' offers a knowing twist on the Aaron Copland 'Americana' sound.
Very interesting. I'm guessing he composed the "high modernity" opening theme for this one.
What a fantastic little documentary, done at the right time in a changing era...
So thankful you shared this...
Regards from Australia 🇦🇺
"Canada wouldn't be Canada without the railroad…". For the most part, true, also true for the United States.
yep Virginia wouldn't be Virginia without the Norfolk and Western Railway.
What a rubbish video. I hoped to see steam locos ripped apart for scrap with cutting torches but no footage of that.
SteamKing2160 And Pennsylvania wouldn’t be Pennsylvania without the Strasburg Railroad.
When you look at towns in Australia their location was determined by the railway. Even though lines may have been closed and ripped up it is still quite clear how railway activity created the towns, nurtured them and grew them, and subsequently dictated the positions of roads, services, government departments and a whole lot more.
We may not always see eye to eye on everything but as an American, I'm so glad we have the greatest neighbor in the world and our shared history. The world wouldn't be the same without Canada.
6:43 CN 4-6-4t #47 is actually preserved at Steamtown. She briefly ran excursions in New hampshire during the summer of 1961 before being sidelined due to the Maintinence Records being burned in a CN roundhouse fire. She is in horrible shape today after being exposed to the elements.
CN 47 should be scrapped it's just sitting there taking up space and rotting away
@@rogerlollar4325ofc your not gonna care about her, shes in the wrong country. She should be back in Canada and be repaired and back in service running in her proper home
@@SoldierFox1393 no she should be melted down to make new things
@@rogerlollar4325 no she shouldn't, you guys don't deserve her at all.
She deserves to be repaired but we don't have her blue prints to restore her. Also hell no you don't deserve her back. your country was scraping her so we bought her. Do it suck that she is sitting rotting away YES. Do you think we want it to rust? NO. WE need money and more places that build parts for locomotives.
Steam engines are just so cool to watch, diesels are much more efficient but steam engines will always hold a place in my heart. My dad fired and was a steam locomotive engineer for NYC and also a diesel engineer and I followed in his foot steps going on 29 years as an engineer and have loved every minute I have spent in the seat. Another cool thing about this video is seeing all the old time cameras and video equipment, I have vivid memories of seeing people with big bags filled with photographic supplies, now days people just use their phone.
Speaking of phones, I remember when clamshell phones were used by people including my own mother.
Ah, these are my people! It's amazing to see how much passion we have for the trains! :) Gotta love the virtual railfan camera at Paradise, PA. Great steam action still going strong.
And God bless the UP, which apparently has a corporate soul, for preserving 844 and investing millions in Big Boy
I'm 67, when I was maybe 9, 10, 11, I got my 1 and only active service steam train ride, what I now realize must have been one of the last steam trains, in an overnite sleeper from Toronto to Lake Temagami to stay at Camp Temagami in 'northern' Ontario that summer. No parents, no family member, nobody I knew. I was all alone on my own, In fact I didn't even know what it was all about at the time. I thought I was being sent off in the 'belly of a Black Dragon' to a gulag for kids, for the rest of my life. I cried and cried. Couple of older kids, girls going to the girls camp, took pity on me and comforted me. Then miracle of miracles, a big ferry boat to Camp Temagami and the best damn summer of my childhood. These days I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but, I hope I never forget that long ago memory.
I am 65. We had the policy of putting diesels on the passenger trains. So when I was VERY young everything was steam but by the time I was old enough to remember only goods trains were steam.
Which is sort of funny because the greatest savings from diesels were their ability to haul substantially heavier trains longer distances. Not their ability on lightweight fast passenger services.
Of course steam engines were always used on special trains or extra services. In NSW they had spent less money on diesels so I still went behind a pair of steam engines in 1956 on an interstate service. But that was the last scheduled service I had with steam.
oh I loved this. thank you for sharing it!
Thanks )))
Just beautiful. Whenever I try to explain why I love steam locomotives so, and the person I'm talking just doesn't get it, I'll forward this to them - the old railroaders explain it better than I ever could.
Superb documentary ! Amazing to experience the 1959 cinematographic and interviewing techniques that made this splendid masterpiece. A great tribute to the steam locomotive, that is !
The testimony of the composer brought me to tears. Probably I am as sentimental about it all, as he is. I was quite lucky to live in Belgium, so I could visit the German steam activity, that continued until the mid seventies. In Belgium, steam stopped in the mid sixties, was too young then... But I have a vidid memory of the heavy trains pulled by those magnificent 10 wheelers, three cilinder engined BR 44 class... Pure nature power.
This was an amazing farewell to all of our old friend , the steam engine or locomotive, I can't understand why there are 104 thumbs down to this video, I think those people got to watch this video again, thanks so much for putting this together... Cheers...
I have watched the 844 blast her whistle as it passed by shaking the ground smoke laid back on the cars. Every time I watch that video I recorded that day, chills rise on my arms!! I'm 21 and can say I've steered several steam tractors at shows as a teenager. The engineers let people climb on and even drive if they want to! I can also change the pitch on the whistle to make a haunting echo that sounds for miles. Nostalgia for an age I never grew up in! I'm truly blessed to have people to encourage me in this hobby the older people who mentored me in this hobby.👍😊
This is absolutely great!!! To think 2816 has not yet come to "the end of the line". Thanks to all who had a part in the preservation of this amazing engine.
America's oldest veteran died the other day, at age 112, born in 1906. Here, we see a man who started on the railroad in 1906, talking about heating a can of beans on the firebox, while the veteran was still a babe crawling around. Amazing documentary.
One of the best documentary's i have seen about the steam locomotive and one of the saddest breaks my heart to see all those locomotives going to scrap. But we will never forget them so few of man's inventions and machine have been so iconic and so alive the closest man has ever come to creating life. We will never forget them for they live on in those preserved and in our hearts and memories.
Rest assured, the railroad companies couldn't get rid of the steam engines fast enough. They were a maintenance nightmare, required so much coal and water and an army of men to keep them going. In the 50s, diesel oil...as they called it then, was 6 cents a gallon. Diesels required no fireman, blacksmiths, boilermakers, pipefitters, machinists, water spouts and tanks, fire watchmen, coal docks, etc.
Machinists became diesel mechanics, electricians replaced boilermakers, pipe fitters only serviced air lines. Gone was the filth, the cinders in your eyes, the drafty cabs, the scorching heat of the firebox....nostalgia is one thing, but the diesel was a godsend.
@@mark-wn5ek Some people may have thought them were a nightmare but they were more then that when you built and worked around them your whole life and those men and women knew that. The diesel may be a godsend to some if you understand what some of these men explained in this film but to me there just a glorified streetcar and I have not much care for them or ever will.
An absolutely brilliant documentary. Thank you for sharing it.
The end of a era, changing of the guard. Back in the 70s I used to find occasional chunks of coal along the older lines of the C&O in my city.
I found one along an abeondeoned C&NW line.
I found a whole bunch in the ballast in upstate NY.
@@JohnSmith-sj5fl Erie Lackawanna railroad..?
In 1959 as a child, the family lived in London ON., close to a breaking yard for dozens upon dozens of old Mogul Locos.I had not known what they were or what was going on,but instantly recognized the distinctive lines here.13:50 Eldon Rathburn seems to have put his finger on the sentiment I felt then.Thanks for this informative vid.
Hi from Texas! I’ve been a fan of your channel for a while now, but I just ran across this video and had to comment.
I saw the Big Boy when it rolled through Hearne TX on Nov. 9 2019. My mom and I got up around 4:30 to take the two hour drive north to go see it. They had a short stop to switch to a main line and boy was that worth the trip!
My grandfather worked on the railroad toward the end of its heyday and I grew up listening to fantastic stories from him. My love of these beasts came from him.
I too had been following it’s rebuild and wasn’t going to pass the opportunity of a lifetime to see the beauty go through under her own power.
Thanks for sharing your experience and keep up the fantastic videos!
One of the best, if not THE best, RR documentary I've seen. Thanks for posting.
Oft when I feel my engine swerve as o’er strange rails we fair, I strain my eyes around the curve for what awaits me there. As swift and free she carries me, through yards unknown by night; I look along the line to see the lights are white. The blue light marks the cripple car, the green light signals slow, the red light is the danger light-the white light--let ‘er go! Once more the open fields we roam and when the sky is fair, I look up in the starry dome and wonder ‘what’s up there? For who can speak, for those who dwell beyond that curving sky, no man has ever lived to tell just what it means to die. Swift words might tremble my friend, the way seems short tonight. God only knows what’s at the end but I hope the lights are white.
These folks who were interviewed for this, who worked in the industry going back to the early 1900s - while their world was certainly different than mine, I certainly understand their fascination with steam. And even though it was 60 years ago, I get the railfans who lined that route to catch a glimpse of and photograph an historic event. UP Big Boy 4014 is undergoing restoration and will soon steam back to life. I’m not a trainspotter like those guys, but I’m sure going to show up to see her run the first chance I get.
The last five minutes say it all to me. Quiet, solitary, and yet noisy work that gets under your skin and still manages to tuck you in at night.
Fantastic to hear Sonny Terry paired with his era of life in the time of steam...
Why would anyone give this a"thumbs down"? Just sent this to a friend who has been puzzled by my enthusiasm for this long past era...
"End of the line" was an amazing documentary!! And that's coming from a 20 year old! It'll be a trip in the near future once internal combustion engine are phased out! The documentary gave me chills the whole video thinking about fossil fuels coming to an end!!!! Thanks for sharing this with us!!
Yeah
Wow, how'd I miss this gem all these yrs! Well done, great job filming, and sound is excellent.
Very good documentary. To this day the old steam whistles brings up an emotion. Can’t explain it. Miss them. Thank you.
If ever there was a perfect documentary it is this one. Stunning visuals, excellent cinematography, and some of the best editing I have ever seen. 5 stars! Hopefully they can release this treasure on DVD?
I agree with you. Loved it.
I fully agree
Yes, a very well done film.
Ditto. 60 Minutes wishes they could produce something like this. *****
Thankfully it was made in b&w and not in that dreadful early film color.
And Pete Seeger gets co-credit for the score!
Mr Omer Lavallée at 9:23 was a well known figure in railway historical circles has a street named in his honor in Montreal, a housing development on the grounds of the old CPR Angus shops and re-using many of the old factory buildings.
it feels so surreal to hear that bell at 9:45. it was made less than 15 minutes away from where i live today and they are just tearing down the building that they were made in, along with the locomotive at 9:20
i know of one portland co locomotive still running and that is the number 9 on the 2 foot wwfry
I have always regretted that my short period working in Montreal from July 1963 just missed the last of steam on Canadian railways. I have always been a steam fan as many of those of us were who lived near the line along which Mallard had set the world speed record. From the house we could hear and see these these speedy trains. I went to Steamtown and Delson and rode a steam special but it was not the same as steaking into a roundhouse to see what visitors were inside.
After Canada I caught steam in Japan, Malaysia, Thailand,Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Iraq, Syria, Turkey before getting home to Lincolnshire. But the Canadian experience made me aware of the need to photograph British steam before, it too, succumbed to diesel and electricity.
I highly recommend the narrow gauge steam railways in the old East Germany plus a visit to the Dresden Steam Festival.
Thanks for the film. Very evocative and very heartfelt feelings expressed.
The steam engine still holds a special place in the hearts of many of us, the sounds and smells just are not the same as with the new modern engines that followed. Great documentary on what was the golden age of railroading kind of like watching an old movie with some big stars from the 30's to the 60's whose paths were almost on the same timeline.
I'm 66 now. I work in technology and have seen all kinds of amazing innovations. But nothing matches my memory of riding with the engineer up front in a still-running Milwaukee Road Hiawatha passenger train steam locomotive when it was going full tilt. It's streamlining made it look like something that was out of the future. That sensation I felt as a kid has stayed with me. This wonderful film, especially the locomotive designer's description of riding up front at night, brought back those memories.
The diesel in the opening sequence is a FPA-4, #6776, when it was very new. It’s now finished a second career for Grand Canyon Railway, and is on display at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Very interesting to see the men who ran these great machines!! Love the stories .
Great video! As Doyle McCormack said in one of the many videos I've seen him in here on UA-cam "It's as close to the creation of a life as man has ever come." When you hear the accessories come to life as the pressure builds. The air brake pumps, the water pumps keeping the boiler full & the sound of the generator for the lights. They all start to come to life as it comes up to operating temperature. Or better said "as the locomotive comes to life." Doyle went on to say "if you listen, she'll tell you what she needs." Steam locomotives were in the process of being replaced with diesel when I was born (1957). But I've had the pleasure of watching one being brought to life. Everyone should witness that at least once in their life. The creation of life from cold, dead steel.
What a marvellous little film! That is the Canada that my parents were born in.
A really fascinating and thoughtful documentary and I'm sure that many people feel the same way now about the first generation diesel locomotives, now also departed. Interesting too, I thought, was the almost Scottish-sounding voices of many of the people interviewed, an accent probably now also long-gone.
Brought to you by Terrence and Phillip! The real heroes of Canada!
I set my little boy in front of this documentary and now he wants to become a Canadian, Thank you NFB
I also loved steam locomotives as a young teenager and use to watch them going by as of where I had lived, and that was my dream to become a locomotive engineer when I got older.Come to find out from the railroad collage, you got to be a brakeman first and write test and be able to score a mark of 95% on the exam.Being a brakeman is a dangerous job, jumping off and on boxcars and setting handbrakes, plus coupling and uncoupling the boxcars etc.That's now about of becoming a diesel locomotive engineer.
Back in the steam era, I imagine one would have to become a fireman first in order to become an engineer and also write an exam, then the fireman learnt from the engineer about the valves and pressure gauges and whatever.That was no easy job running that steam locomotive as it required a lot of attention, steam, pressure gauges, coal shovelling, water levels etc, plus being covered with coal dust and also breathing it in. No easy job. I learnt a lot about steam locomotives from railroad magazines, books and youtube.
That was not for me at all. If I had lived back in that time of the steam area, I would have then picked the baggage and mail car on the passenger train that was cleaner and better as of work.I also heard the pay was not all that good back then.
I am glad for the men who chose to be brakemen, firemen and locomotive engineers for the steam era, and even to this time as of brakemen and locomotive engineers for the diesel train era.
Gotta say steam engines had a beauty to them. It's an amazing machine. I love trains. Dont care what you like. They are all beautiful.
This little documentary was well ahead of its time.
Being a Minnesota railfan, I know hundreds of Great Northern (and other railroads') steam locomotives were scrapped in the steel mill at Duluth, MN at the end of the steam era. The Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company in Duluth manufactured tools from the recycled steel of those steam locomotives for many years. I inherited quite a few Diamond tools from my dad and I use more than a few of those wrenches and pliers at work. I suppose it's strange that I sometimes wonder what Great Northern or Missabe steamer went into my tools. Who knows?, maybe an example of my favorite GN R2 articulated or a Missabe M4 is in the 24" Diamond adjustable wrench I use every day. Steam locomotives will always be alive as long as we remember them. Thanks to preservation efforts they don't appear likely to be gone anytime soon.
It's a shame though that the class 1 railroads don't really want public excursions with steam on their tracks anymore. NS had a new steam excursion program for a few years but it ended after 2017 611 excursions, and now the one UP public excursion with 844 from Denver to Cheyenne with the Denver Post is now over. But, UP is still having a big steam tour this year with 844 and the Big Boy, but no public excursions. And Amtrak last March ended charter trains and excursions because Anderson wants to cut non essential services, that means that steam excursions that ran on BNSF with Amtrak support are now over. Support the tourist lines that still run steam. TVRM, Reading and Northern, Grand Canyon, Durango & Silverton, and Cumbres & Toltec are longer distance rides with steam.
Love how it starts on a diesel but ends with a steamer, and one that still survives!
Thank you for posting this video. It's one of the best I've seen on UA-cam or anywhere else. It is saved and will forever as far as I know will hold a place in my heart, and into this thing they call a hard drive, as far as I know they say is permanent, but as we all know, nothing is permanent. It's as permanent as I can make it. There's some beautiful literature here and I wish these "times gone by" were now the present. It seemed like everybody was happy then as opposed to now. It's like I don't even recognize this world now. Maybe they looked back and felt the same, who knows? Maybe it's just a matter of perspective. I know I just know I don't like it here now. I feel the same as the men that's retiring, wishing things were different, even though I'm 62 years old, I find myself not knowing what to do or which way to go. Just sad.
Being born in the 80s, i never grew up with steam locomotives. My first experience on a steam train was a ride aboard the Arcade & Attica in New York. As a young boy, the steam locomotive looked and sounded alive. Brings back memories of watching Thomas The Tank Engine on PBS. My 2nd experience with steam was riding the Texas State Railroad between Rusk and Palestine. I rode the Disney trains in Disney World, but those locomotives are not real steam locomotives as they burn #2 diesel. My favorite all-time steam experience was witnessing UP #844. It was awesome! Growing up around diesels, i have to say a lot of respect has to be shown to steam railroaders and the steam locomotives from a bygone era. UP is the only class 1 railroad with a prideful steam history campaign and preservation. At least 6 Bigboys, close to 5 Challengers, several Northerns, and i am sure there are more preserved steam locomotives from the UP. I wish other railroads have as much drive to preserve steam railroading like the UP.
Too bad you weren't born in the 1880's, like my grandparents. They rode a lot of steam-powered trains. The down side is you wouldn't be alive any more.
6:49 it's ironic that the particular locomotive in this shot as the narrator talks about steam locomotives going to the scrap heap was actually preserved and is now at Steamtown.
True, but today it’s not in good condition at all.
Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm "preserved"
watching this during 2018 50 years after the end of steam on biritish railways makes this english steam fan feel sort of emotional and sort of sad
I realize this is seven years since this was posted, however, thanks again for posting this. I really enjoyed it.
My Dad took me to see the last engine to pass through our town. It slowed - but did not stop - he did not say a word. He had road the rails the before the war. When the train left the station we walked back to the his '47 Oldsmobile 78; I remember the silent ride home. This Canada, seen in this film, like the steam engine, is no more.
Beautiful poems of steam engine railroad lore. :)
Has any other machine ever been more romanticised than the steam locomotive?. The word over the same sentiments are expressed. Even now when a steam locomotive special travels along the main line it always catches the attention of people young and old who stop to look, whether they be railfans or not.
this documentary was ahead of its time. A great time document of enormous value.
You can still see steam and old diesel trains at Exporail, the Canadian railway museum in Delson(named after the Delaware and Hudson railway)/St. Constant, just south of Montreal. As well as hundreds of artifacts, and a working old Tramway car from Montreal.
O, Canada, (andCBC): one great "doc"! I hope it one an award somewhere.
I respect the importance of diesels. They are far more efficient, cheaper to run and maintain, and easier to keep running, but I will always love the beauty and power of the steam locomotive more.
Priceless! A unique view into a moment in time. Fascinating to to see the attitudes and opinions of people long gone, and a world that has changed. Thank God that someone took the trouble to make living documents like this.
the last train in a documentary (cp 2816) is still running
I love steam locomotives,the most fascinating piece of transportation equipment ever conceived in the mind of man!!!!
........
It seems that. with each new technology, part of our hearts and souls are taken away. Even the very technology I am now using to express this opinion is doing it's part to isolate us from one another. Loved ones "together" in the same house, same room, noses buried in their smartphones. No conversation, no fellowship, no laughter, no connection. Even the superficial fellowship of watching a comedy on TV is destroyed when, at a time something funny is said or done on the TV show, and you look to your loved one to connect and enjoy the moment, and they've got their face buried in their phone. It's an empty feeling. We don't even meet and visit at the store anymore, just point and click to do our shopping. American life just isn't what it was. and should still be.
And they call it "progress".
Yes. I'm in my phone right now, but my family is busy.
The technology of the steam locomotive is incredibly intricate;it takes SO much knowledge and experience just to get one to MOVE,much less pull a train! Not so much the diesel/electric,but that's progress so they say!
That's why it took an "engineer" to operate them. My grandfather was an engineer for many years, way back when. The closest I got to riding a live engine was in a yard with my engineer uncle. I was only about 8 or 10 then. Very impressive.
Want to add, this was a very interesting video to watch.
Travelling Tom , spot on mate, my life has been connected to steam, the repair of, done my time at Newport Workshops, Victoria, Australia. These skills took me around the world. A wonderful life ensured. Still love the big buggers.
Love the Pete Seeger/Sonny Terry music combo in this, especially at 14:01 and 16:30. Wish I could I find those songs somewhere
J. Field ....I believe the song at 14:01 is " Wreck of the old 97" if that's any help.
What about the last song?
Ben Wetzel Yes that one is good too, just mentioning that I loved certain portions also
Every once in a while a steam engine will make a run through St. Louis and boy does it draw a crowd. Such a unique impressive sight and sound.
Nice glimpse of railroad and steam locomotives.
Thank you. 🎉🎉🎉
Still remember the old Mikado's running through town... Damn. I'm old! lol
Listening to these people talk and their mannerisms, such a joy to see polite, well spoken and reserved regular men women and children. So unlike the society of today. Rude, entitled, arrogant and disrespectful. Yes there were some people back then that were arrogant and rude too but they were the exception and not the rule.
That closing sequence is filmed heading westward along current highway 20 in Dorval (Hyw 2 at the time) just west of Montreal. At 28:05 is the Lachine ('Summerlea'?) stop/shelter and, at 28:32 you can see a sign for 'Marshall Equipment' which was located near the Dorval CPR station.
THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE CHANGED THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER.
When I was young, I was a big fan of the diesel. They generally pulled the passenger trains, while freight was pulled by Steam. In 53 I remember getting very upset when our passenger train was pulled by steam. I was not getting on it. Now! I love the old steam.
You still love diesels though.
Don't know where you dug this up from, but it's a gem.
My family worked for the N&W here in the states. I have a picture of my great (great, great?) grandfather standing on a bridge he and his crew just finished building in West Virginia. It's black and white and wast taken, unless I am mistaken, around 1918. At least the 611 survived. We need the 611 and the Big Boy for future generations to enjoy. I know diesel-electric is nice, but it isn't steam.
Enginr 47 was saved by Mr. F. NELSON BLOUNT ar Steamtown in Vermont, now at Scranton, PA. Mr. Blount was also President of OCEANSPRAY CRANBERRY CO. So at Thanksgiving in November, your can of cranberries once helped support steam, plus, also at EDAVILLE in Massachusetts with the Maine 2-Footers.
Released right in time for Steam-Era, the big steam show in Milton, ON.
The reality was that train crews couldnt have been happier with the transition, Steam engines exposed cabs were hot and freezing at the same time, sooty messy uncomfortable and extremely complicated in comparison to the new diesels, which once the crews experienced the easier to operate, climate protected enclosed cabs, their reticence quickly disappeared.
Such a beautiful and evocative memory of the recent past in train travel.. When a boy, I had the never forgettable experience to "push the lever forward" on a Pacific class (4-6-2) outside the roundhouse in St. John, NB. How kind of the engineer to let a stranger and his son climb in the cab while he waited out lunch period. They were almost a relic then.
Excellent documentary. One problem: I wish it was longer.
THE QUALITY OF THIS FILM IS FANTASTIC!!!!!
Another excellent NFB documentary.
Excellent film. Many thanks.
I think the level of identification of steam loco drivers with their job is unique. I once met a retired driver working for a museum railway. I learned all about railway history in 20minutes! But what stunned me most: They had passenger runs only on weekends. Still, he fired the boiler on a weekday. I think he just couldn't stop.
Wonderful job about the giants from my childhood that once in a while show up in my dreams at night..Thanks for the memories from someone who just subscribed to your channel
At least one of the locos in this video still exists - CPR #2816. I've travelled behind it once and photographed it several times in the last few years
Alastair Preston I caught it on video in 2007 on a special excursion from the U.S, it was quite something to see it coming Northbound down the CPR Emerson Sub
Good film, I enjoyed it.
At 16:13 a railfan with an Argus C-3 camera! I had one of those.
As a kid, I was a railfan of the Reading Railroad (all diesel then) shortly before that line's demise here in southwestern PA. The Reading brought coal down from the coal fields of upstate Pennsylvania, iron ore up to the steel mills of Bethlehem, and finished steel goods back from the mills, a long time ago...
I love and miss the old steam locomotives they were classic Americana.
You do realize that these are Canadian steam locomotives right? The entire world had them, not just America
@@thebrantfordrailfan Ahem............ NORTH AMERICA, BITCH
I am very happy I am not one of the people who down voted this. I would hate to live in those shoes. Excellent documentary.
I was born after the steam era but some of my family were railroad men and old me all about them when they worked on the Illinois Central, They phased them all out in the early to mid 50's. Beautiful machines.
That was great I graduated from high school in 1959 but didn’t realize that was the last of the steam train. O well . Yep Hoya Hoya Gramps on the couch.