Locomotive Cab Rides

[NW Mailing List]

Recently, I was reminiscing about some locomotive cab rides that I have
enjoyed down through the years, and I realized that some of these cab rides
were so unique that brief accounts of them likely would be of  interest to
Mailing List readers and warrant listing them here.  Another reason was
that this might stimulate others to post accounts of equally unique, or
more unique, cab rides they have had.  I would be disingenuous if I did not
admit that I am bragging here about the uniqueness of some of the cab
riding opportunities that I had.

The following locomotive cab riding accounts are in no particular order:

   - N&W 2300, steam turbine electric, "Jawn Henry," from Shaffers Crossing
   Roundhouse, Roanoke, VA, to Boaz Siding where it pushed a train over Blue
   Ridge grade, but suffered a component failure (I forget what, but probably
   a feedwater pump) and had to limp back to the Roundhouse.  But, hey, it
   counts as a cab ride in my book.
   - N&W streamlined K2 or K2a (I forget which) passenger locomotive, 22
   miles from Meadowview, VA to Bristol, VA.  Although it was not a long ride,
   it is probably more rare or unique than cab rides on N&W 611 in excursion
   (which I never experienced, unfortunately ).
   - Former VGN EL-2b electric locomotive, 133 miles on empty hopper train
   from Roanoke to Elmore, WV.
   - Former VGN FM "Assistant Trainmaster" H-16-44 diesel locomotive on
   time freight Elmore to Roanoke.
   - N&W GP-9 "Red Bird" diesel passenger locomotive on Powhatan Arrow, 128
   miles from Roanoke to Crewe, VA.
   - SOU RY F3a diesel locomotive on No. 18, the Birmingham Special being
   detoured over N&W Shenandoah Division account SOU's Tye River bridge
   destroyed by Hurricane Camille.  The F3a locomotive cab was shared with the
   N&W engineer and fireman, a SOU Road Foreman of Engines, Bruce Sterzing
   (later president of D&H RY) and John Rehor (who wrote the
monumental book, *The
   Nickel Plate Story*).   About 146 miles out of Roanoke (near Stanley,
   VA), No. 18's progress was blocked by a derailed "double-barrel"
   (crew-speak for a train with a pusher) coal train ahead.  The locomotives
   were coupled on the other end of No. 18 to go back to Waynesboro, VA, to
   get on the C&O Ry, but Bruce and I got off in Shenandoah and rode a caboose
   back to Roanoke.
   - L&N M1 Berkshire steam locomotive about 183 miles from Corbin, KY to
   DeCoursey Yard, KY, near Cincinnati (in addition to signing a release, I
   had to buy a coach ticket from Corbin to Latonia, KY).
   - B&O RR Budd RDC at about 80 mph somewhere north of Washington, DC.
   (crew saw me looking through the cab door window into the cab  and motioned
   for me to open the door and come into the cab).
   - BC Rail Budd RDC through the Tumbler Ridge tunnel on a fan trip,
   including experiencing what the crew called "the car wash," which was a
   curtain of water pouring through a transverse crack in the tunnel roof.
   - Maryland and Pennsylvania RR (known as the Ma and Pa)
   gasoline-electric passenger car for the first half of the trip from York,
   PA to Baltimore, MD, or about 20 miles.
   - Flemingsburg and Northern RR Mogul steam locomotive on Kentucky fan
   trip, including not only a cab ride but also a ride on the top of the
   tender! (see attached photos, particularly the one of the fan hanging out
   to record the locomotive driving wheels in motion.  Liability?  Apparently,
   that wasn't of concern in the early 1950's!).

In the following locomotive cab riding accounts I was operating the
locomotive controls--probably the best type of locomotive cab riding:

   - N&W Classes Y, Z, M, S1, K1 steam locomotives around Durham Shop
   during my three summers there as a laborer.  The hostlers would often trade
   places with me by throwing track switches for me while I operated the
   various steam locomotives from one track and servicing spot to another
   track and servicing spot.
   - N&W Class K1 at Durham.  One day I was uprated to hostler helper, and
   I actually ran a K1 Mountain-type passenger locomotive about 1-1/2 miles to
   the wye at Duke Yard, around the wye and back to the shop while the hostler
   fired the locomotive and threw the track switches for me.
   - A variety of N&W and D&H diesel locomotives when I was temporarily
   assigned as engineer on the N&W between Bellevue, OH, and Buffalo, NY, a
   248-mile run on what was basically a 60 mph railroad (except for 1-1/2 mile
   through Erie, PA, where the main line ran down the middle of 19th Street
   like a streetcar line).  Total miles run during this stint was almost
   11,000 miles.  On one occasion I ran a train across an international
   border!  This was from Fort Erie, Ontario, across the 3,651-foot long
   International Bridge over the Niagara River and then over 9.6 miles of
   Conrail tracks to the N&W's Bison Yard in Buffalo.
   - Swiss electric train on a fan trip where each person had a chance to
   operate the metre-gauge passenger train.  From a standing start I took the
   occupied passenger train up to track speed and shortly afterward applied
   the brakes to bring the train to a smooth stop.  At a little ceremony that
   evening we were surprised when each of us received an engraved Swiss
   railroad pocket watch to commemorate the event (see attached image).

Gordon Hamilton

Moderator:
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2018/20180405.F&N%20RR%20-%201004.jpg
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2018/20180405.F&N%20RR%20-%202003.jpg
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2018/20180405.SwissWatch001.jpg
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