/n/ - Transportation » Thread #1080711

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154KiB, 1280x900, 1T57 Fifteen Guinea Special.jpg

Final Steam Services

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 16:55:53 No.1080711 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>1080759 >>1080843 >>1080945 >>1085927 >>1087264 >>1087445

When did steam services end in your countries?

In the UK where I am from they came to an end on the 11th August 1968, the train pulled was called "The Fifteen Guinea Special"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTY0YPsLePg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_Guinea_Special

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 17:47:13 No.1080719 Report

Quoted By: >>1080724

Sweden.

Disappeared from the mainlines in the 1940s due to electrification.
Last scheduled revenue service in 1963.
Steam engines kept in commercial reserve throughout the 1970s and in military reserve to the early 1990s.

Sweden has no notable domestic coal or oil, but plenty of hydroelectric power. So electrification was pretty swift.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 18:07:45 No.1080722 Report

Quoted By: >>1080726 >>1081022

Not going away any time soon.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Longmoor Military Railway 0-6-0 (...).jpg, 126KiB, 640x427

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 18:15:52 No.1080724 Report

Quoted By: >>1080762

>>1080719
Interesting, likewise military here in the UK had their own railways that had steam locomotives of their own.

Like the Longmoor Military Railway 1903-1969.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 18:17:55 No.1080726 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080722
Ah, how could anyone forget Tornado? I haven't seen her myself but I do know she reached 100mph on the Settle to Carlisle line this year.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO San_Juan_Express_Denver_and_Rio_ (...).jpg, 58KiB, 802x508

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 18:25:45 No.1080728 Report

Quoted By: >>1080731 >>1085230 >>1089572

USA

December 6th, 1968
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad's Alamosa–Durango Line (3" narrow gauge) in southwest Colorado

Several fragments of this route survive as tourist lines, some of which are the best in the country.

I should note that technically, steam has never officially died completely here. The Union Pacific has had a steam locomotive that has never officially retired from its roster and still runs, and the Strasburg Rail Road, which still runs under its original charter from the 1830s, primarily uses steam, and on occasion they pull revenue freight for one customer on its line.

Steam locomotives pulling revenue freight is among the rarest sights one can see on the rails.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 18:33:16 No.1080731 Report

Quoted By: >>1080841

>>1080728
Thanks, I had been curious about that.

So it's safe to say that 68 was the end of steam on both sides of the Atlantic. Well 68 being the last steam hauled mainline train here in the UK that is.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 19:23:22 No.1080759 Report

Quoted By: >>1080761

>>1080711
West coast Canada, there were several sizable logging railroads using steam until 1969. We had a Shay that was regularly switching a pulp mill's private yard and dock as late as December 1971. I think it operated until 1973 or 1974... Another one was used as a dock switcher at another location until the end of 1972.

The first to dieselize and the last hold out for steam in Canada.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 19:26:19 No.1080761 Report

Quoted By: >>1081165

>>1080759
I see, did Eastern Canada do the same?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 19:36:14 No.1080762 Report

Quoted By: >>1080775

>>1080724
I don't think the swedish army had any designated steam locomotives; just paid for the maintenance to the state railroad agency to mothball some units in case of war... and the obvious loss of electricity and diesel.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 20:24:55 No.1080775 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080762
Fair enough, however during WW1 and WW2 the British War Department or the army's Railway Operating Division commandeered locomotives from railway companies during wartime.

Like the GWR Dean Goods locomotives, taken into both world wars.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 23:22:53 No.1080809 Report

Quoted By: >>1080813 >>1081052

West Germany's federal railway DB ran the last mainline steam service 1977 and then even outright banned steam engines until 1985. Including any potential preserved engines that were confined to non-federal railways for that time.
Many industrial lines kept running steam shunters though, the last convential steam engine in West Germany retiring 1992 according to Wikipedia. Fireless steam storage engines are actually in daily use in a handful of industrial plants until today.

East Germany's DR kept their steam engines running longer until 1988 to be more independent from oil imports. Even after that a couple were kept operating as spares and were even running in revenue service after the reunification until late 1994 under the then privatised DB.
Some East German narrow gauge lines had always been running steam trains until today, but gradually shifted their focus from actual service to a heritage line.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 11 Jun 2017 23:45:24 No.1080813 Report

Quoted By: >>1080841 >>1080845 >>1081052

>>1080809
I heard before that steam services in Western Germany ended in 1977, it's quite intriguing that Eastern Germany continued until 1988.

"Non federal lines", are they like preserved railways?

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 02:57:53 No.1080840 Report

Quoted By: >>1080908

In the U.S.A. the big railroads began to dieselize after World War II, and the process was largely complete by 1960 or so (I believe the Grand Trunk Western was the last major railroad to use steam locomotives in regular service). You could sporadically find some steam locomotives in service on short lines and industrial railroads throughout the 1960s, and a few isolated cases after that.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 03:03:21 No.1080841 Report

Quoted By: >>1080909 >>1080938

>>1080731
Interesting to think that when the Beatles were working on Sgt. Pepper, they could've ridden a steam train back to Liverpool.
>>1080813
And in West Germany you could've taken a steam train back home after seeing Star Wars.

And didn't steam end in China only around 2004? I do know there are many Chinese steam engines newer than me (b. 1982).

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 03:04:15 No.1080843 Report

Quoted By: >>1080910

>>1080711
Spain went from steam to HSR in less than 20 years. Commercial mainline steam operations ended in 1975 with the electrification of the Madrid-Guadalajara corridor. The first HSR line opened in 1992.

Pic related is fmr. King Juan Carlos, substituting for the then head of state Francisco Franco in the ceremonial shut off of the final steam locomotive.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Woltersdorf_tram_in_Rahnsdorf_02.jpg, 60KiB, 400x306

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 03:12:56 No.1080845 Report

Quoted By: >>1080912

>>1080813
>it's quite intriguing that Eastern Germany continued until 1988.
it actually isn't. It's pretty typical for the eastern bloc that technical innovations weren't introduced as quickly, at least not in the large scale. Since it wasn't a consumer economy but a planned economy, things were made to last. It made perfect sense to keep steam trains running if you had the know-how, the coal and the manpower, while lacking production capacity for newer-type diesel locomotives and difficulty getting oil. I hear steam trains are still in use in china for similar reasons.
East german trams for example were of a simple but sturdy design. To this day the streetcar in Woltersdorf uses tram cars from the 1950's in a not-quite-heritage operation: it runs regularily and connects the village with the train station, so it still serves a useful purpose. For special event they get the actual heritage trams out which are from 1911, the year it was opened.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 09:08:23 No.1080908 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080840
That I saw in in another anon's reply about the San Juan Express.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 09:10:47 No.1080909 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080841
Interesing coincidences indeed, China's not the only country building new steam locomotives.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 09:15:04 No.1080910 Report

Quoted By: >>1080919

>>1080843
Interesting to see that steam services ended in Europe, US and China later than the UK. In Spain do you have branch lines or something that's equivalent to it?

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Allerton tram.jpg, 36KiB, 600x381

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 09:24:32 No.1080912 Report

Quoted By: >>1080915

>>1080845
At least you have trams like that running.

In the UK the trams were being closed left right and centre yet in northern England there are more modern trams running.

However we have the National Tramway Museum and Douglas Bay on the Isle Of Man has horse drawn trams.

Plus I'm gonna say this, your reply made feel quite dumb. I only know little bits about Germany's railways.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 09:42:33 No.1080915 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080912 Allerton Tram
This photo was of the Leeds Tramway.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 10:04:51 No.1080919 Report

Quoted By: >>1080923

>>1080910
Well, in Spain steam ended late because the country was poor as shit after almost four decades of dictatorship. The "spanish miracle" of the 1950's-60's was little more than a fiction, a collateral effect of the general improvement of the european economy in the 1950's.
And after the dictatorship came the bubble economies and generalized corruption which led to the building of the second largest and most idiotic HSR system in the world.

What do you mean by branch lines? There's the occasional secondary line, but in general the spanish rail system isn't very dense, pic related. Also many lines with low traffic were closed in the 1970's-80's because the government since then (and until today) wanted to favour the sale of cars and trucks.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Railways before and after Beechi (...).jpg, 114KiB, 1417x1322

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 10:50:49 No.1080923 Report

Quoted By: >>1081066

>>1080919
Branch lines are essentially railways that branch away from the mainline and travel to rural villages and small towns. Somewhat like a secondary line.

In the UK the branch lines were being closed in the 60s by a man called Beeching.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 12:07:09 No.1080931 Report

Quoted By: >>1080932 >>1085775 >>1088647

Malaysia
Steam train still in use for revenue generation (as tourist attraction)

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 12:37:55 No.1080932 Report

Quoted By: >>1081001

>>1080931
That's good, sometimes there are steam specials on the main line in the UK. Even preserved railways for tourists, somewhat like in Mayasia if you may.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 12:54:59 No.1080936 Report

Quoted By: >>1080951

They ran revenue steam in India into the '80s or even '90s, right?

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 12:59:11 No.1080938 Report

Quoted By: >>1080950

>>1080841
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jining%E2%80%93Tongliao_Railway#World.27s_last_mainline_steam_train_service

The world's last mainline steam service was on China's Jining-Tongliao Railway on December 8, 2005.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 14:19:05 No.1080945 Report

Quoted By: >>1080949

>>1080711
South Africab here.

Most lines were steam up until the mid 1990's. The big ones were electrified. The entire system was build to survive in the event of any petrol blockades because of apartheid. Ironically, South Africa long has had the technology to turn coal into gas if they wanted to.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 14:32:12 No.1080949 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080945
Was that 1997? Or am I thinking of somewhere else in Africa?

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 14:34:27 No.1080950 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080938
The locomotives pulling that train, I'm sure one or two are currently in the US.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 14:40:17 No.1080951 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080936
I believe so, yet I do know that the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway runs steam.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 17:15:12 No.1081001 Report

Quoted By: >>1081022 >>1081031

>>1080932
There are also steam specials on the mainline in the US. Quite a few steam engines have been preserved here...although not as much as people sometimes think. Unfortunately not a single steam engine of the New Haven Railroad (a pretty major line) was preserved.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 19:18:01 No.1081022 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081001
Shame, though there's nothing to stop you finding the working drawings and making new ones with all the modern bells and whistles.
>>1080722
Only a few million dollarpounds. You could actually spend more on buying a helicopter.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Fifteen Guinea Special 2013.jpg, 140KiB, 500x336

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 20:23:32 No.1081031 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081001
It's the same in the UK. In 2013 there was a 45th anniversary rerun of the Fifteen Guinea Special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm11bSib9OU

It's a shame about what happened to he locomotives on the New Haven Line though.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 3835313538383761.jpg, 239KiB, 1000x690

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 21:44:03 No.1081052 Report

Quoted By: >>1081059

>>1080813
>"Non federal lines", are they like preserved railways?
They're all lines that are not owned by DB (both the federal railway and the current """privatised""" but still federally owned company).

Instead they are owned by the states, by cities or counties or by other non-DB private companies.
These are mostly rural branch lines and were not affected by the 1977 DB steam ban. While most of them weren't operating steam anymore but switched to cheap DMU operation early on (otherwise they wouldn't have survived to this day), some saw the touristic opportunity of heritage operation and allowed preservation societies without their own track to use theirs.

Pic related was on a line of the HzL railway that is owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg and two counties.
>>1080809 is from a preservation group called UEF that operates on the tracks of the AVG, a rail company owned by the city of Karlsruhe.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 21:56:27 No.1081056 Report

Quoted By: >>1081061

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-3IhppvPkc

Japan still use steam locomotives as well and they had some interesting collection as well, from the UK, the US and even domestically made. Some of them were produced as late as 1950s, when everyone else already embarking on dieselization

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 22:11:46 No.1081059 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081052
I see, I have heard of the Harz Railway before and it runs through some great looking scenery.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 22:21:15 No.1081061 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081056
The UK was making steam locomotives in the 50s too. The last steam locomotive to be built for British Railways was an 9F Class locomotive back in 1960.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 23:30:12 No.1081066 Report

Quoted By: >>1081069

>>1080923
Dude, I'm an /n/ regular, Beeching is like the fucking antichrist.
You people had a brutal rail network, shame so much of it went the way of the dodo. Nowdays it's gotten more common to turn branch lines into LRT and sheit.

In Spain there are very few branch lines the way you describe them. Just look at the map I posted, you can see the vast majority are main lines.
There is one line that runs from Lleida to a small village, it was supposed to go all the way to France but that never happened. The spanish govt closed the line, but the catalan govt asked for it to be transferred so they could keep it running. Service eventually was cut back, at one time there was one train a day each way. Now they got some new, smaller trains and service is back to a couple of trains a day, and passenger numbers have improved. They're also advertising it for tourism because it runs through some very beautiful scenery. Pic very related.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Jun 2017 23:41:43 No.1081069 Report

Quoted By: >>1081082

>>1081066
I know, here in the UK it is debated if Beeching was right to do what he did. Yet I don't think he was, so many branch lines lost.

However you're right that scenery does look very nice indeed.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 00:23:56 No.1081082 Report

Quoted By: >>1081086 >>1081193 >>1081194

>>1081069
It depends on the point of view. Wether government policy regarding transportation should react to demand tendencies, thus cutting back on public transit if immediate demand is low, or wether it should favor public transit as to induce demand, and try to get to the latent demand.

In the 1960's it was pretty clear that it was the former. It hadn't really gotten to the point of extreme traffic congestion we got as a consequence of it. And that's what goes to show that it was an erroneous concept in the long run. Noone expected cars would be so inefficient in moving people.

Nowadays there's a divide between those points of view, despite the fact that reacting to demand tendencies was a complete and utter failure. Some cultures tend more to one side, others more to the other. The tendency to induce demand in public transit has become somewhat commonplace though. And that's where Beeching's concept was wrong. In many of the branch lines you could have established convenient, low-demand services with small trains which are cheap to operate. Switzerland is an example of a country full of branch lines which as a general rule still have at least an hourly frequency, but they instead adapt train set capacity to suit the line's demand.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 00:32:14 No.1081086 Report

Quoted By: >>1081116

>>1081082
Sounds like America, where of course until Amtrak in 1971 all non-transit passenger service was privately run, so little by not-so-little branch line and even a lot of mainline service was eliminated, and now the whole states of South Dakota and Wyoming as well as Las Vegas (one of the country's largest cities) have no rail service at all. (There have been countless plans to run a bullet train from LA to Vegas, but I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon. Probably best to split a train off from the California Zephyr at Salt Lake, like how the Sunset Limited to New Orleans splits off from the Texas Chief at San Antonio.)

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 01:41:23 No.1081116 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081086
In some ways there are similarities in transportation policies. Cutbacks in rail service, lots of highways. Notable differences are that there's only residual amounts of rail freight in Spain, and a ridiculously oversized and pointless HSR network.

Spaniards have an inferiority complex because of the dictatorship having lasted well into the 1970's and thus a late economic development. Add to that an obsession with american films, and now the average spaniard literally wants to be like a burger, living in a suburban mcmansion made of cardboard, with three cars in the garage and sitting in traffic for two hours every morning. They almost seem empowered when they talk about traffic like it's the most normal thing, like they're proud of "look, we have lots of traffic, we 1st world now", while many people see the conventional trains, especially regional trains, like something for poor people, something to be ashamed of. The irony being that they're half a century late to the party, and actual 1st world countries have gone back to planning for rail and public transit, not for cars.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 04:41:45 No.1081165 Report

Quoted By: >>1081190

>>1080761
Honestly, i'm not 100% sure. I think steam was essentially gone by 1964-ish.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 07:42:36 No.1081190 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081165
Fair enough.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 07:52:00 No.1081193 Report

Quoted By: >>1081212

>>1081082
Money also played into it, as a lot of UK branchlines were not making money and some say that's why Beeching closed them.

And after the war the railways were in a dire state.

But alas, the rural areas didn't truly want to loose their branch lines.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 07:53:12 No.1081194 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081082
The big mistake that Beeching made was selling off the trackbeds.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 10:19:02 No.1081212 Report

Quoted By: >>1081242

>>1081193
>Money also played into it, as a lot of UK branchlines were not making money and some say that's why Beeching closed them.

There's an argument that looking at branchlines in such absolute terms was short sighted; branch lines fed freight & passengers into the larger network, and when they were closed freight & passenger numbers across the network collapsed.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 12:11:13 No.1081222 Report

Quoted By: >>1081244 >>1081272

Czech Republic

last scheduled duties in 1980, occasional secondary duties (station pilot, industrial etc) until 1983. Tourist/preservation steam service wasn't a thing until the 90s.

The longetivity was mostly down to shortage of good diesels for heavy duty freight - most of the 4 axle locos were on pax duties, the ones that weren't lacked the power, Czech-built 6-axles were few and far between and the Soviet M62s (THE most numerous class with 600+ locos) were 2000hp fuel hogs and a nightmare with regards to track wear.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 15:33:29 No.1081242 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081212
That's true.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 15:36:43 No.1081244 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081222
I see.

How many tourist trans are running there nowadays?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Jun 2017 17:23:13 No.1081272 Report

Quoted By: >>1081480

>>1081222
>a nightmare with regards to track wear.

19.2t per. axle? I guess Czech trackwork was laid a little light?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 14 Jun 2017 10:11:45 No.1081480 Report

Quoted By:

>>1081272
Lighter than the US and UK, sure (mainlines 23-25t per axle, most local lines are 16-20), but the main problem was with rigid three-axle bogies on tighter curves.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO NWY52110.jpg, 205KiB, 1400x876

Anonymous Tue 20 Jun 2017 04:28:38 No.1083242 Report

Quoted By: >>1083282

The last Class 1 Railroad in the US to retire steam is generally accepted to be the Norfolk and Western, when they retired the last of their big Y6b 2-8-8-2's in June 1960. However, steam survived longer in a few places in mainline, revenue service, such as on the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range, who ran their M4 Yellowstones, 2-10-4's and 2-10-2's up until 1962, and and ran several excursions in 1963. The Colorado and Southern was still running M-4 class 2-10-2's west of Cheyanne as late as May 1960, and the C&S' Leadville Branch used 2-8-0 #641 until October 1962, when a GP9 took over. The Illinois Central ran some of their big 2500 and 2600 class 4-8-2's until April 1960.

Most American Class 1 lines kept a reserve off steam power, usually until 1962 or '63 and in some cases as late as 1965, to protect against traffic surges that never came, or because they weren't completely trusting of an all diesel roster. By 1961 though, it was all too clear: the steam era in the United States was over.

Photo shows N&W Y-5 class 2-8-8-2 #2110 drifting downgrade in reverse after shoving a train to the summit of Blue Ridge grade.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 20 Jun 2017 09:08:08 No.1083282 Report

Quoted By: >>1083321 >>1085114 >>1085232 >>1085560

>>1083242
Are there any Class 1 locomotives in preservation?

That would be nice if they were.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 20 Jun 2017 13:15:25 No.1083321 Report

Quoted By: >>1083335 >>1083337

>>1083282
Quite a few. Just off the top of my head there's Santa Fe 3751, which occasionally runs on the mainline rails of Southern CA and the Southwest (though it's in the shop for service at the moment).

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 20 Jun 2017 14:58:47 No.1083335 Report

Quoted By:

>>1083321
That's good to know.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 20 Jun 2017 15:10:06 No.1083337 Report

Quoted By: >>1083374 >>1083383

>>1083321
>Santa Fe 3751, which occasionally runs on the mainline rails of Southern CA
on what occasion does it run? Does it just pull random freight, or is it like a special passenger train or something?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 20 Jun 2017 18:54:02 No.1083374 Report

Quoted By: >>1083418 >>1085775

>>1083337
It pulls passenger excursions, sometimes as far as from LA to the Grand Canyon. (It's the oldest remaining 4-8-4.)

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 20 Jun 2017 19:29:35 No.1083383 Report

Quoted By:

>>1083337
It usually runs at least once a year, although I think it'll be in the shop for at least 3 years.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 20 Jun 2017 22:10:04 No.1083418 Report

Quoted By: >>1085270

>>1083374
do fucking want

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 26 Jun 2017 15:53:16 No.1085114 Report

Quoted By: >>1085123

>>1083282
There are several Class 1 steam locomotives that are operational in excursion service. Essentially, any steam locomotive that runs mainline excursions came from a Class 1 railroad, and many that are on tourist lines did as well. Most of the big mainline steam locomotives that still run are modern, superpower designs, mostly 4-8-4's, which is probably more close to the answer you're looking for. Engines such as Santa Fe 3751, SP 4449, SP&S 700, N&W 611, UP 844 and 3985, NKP 765, MILW 261 and Pere Marquette 1225 are all preserved and operational steam locomotives that, during their service lives, worked on Class 1 railroads. In a manner of speaking, the preserved sections of the former Rio Grande narrow gauge lines (the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic and the Durango & Silverton) were Class 1 lines, but only because their parent road was a Class 1 railroad; the narrow gauge lines themselves. especially in later years prior to abandonment, carried less traffic than a regional or short line.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 26 Jun 2017 16:26:31 No.1085123 Report

Quoted By:

>>1085114
Well that's good.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO images (2).jpg, 9KiB, 274x184

Anonymous Mon 26 Jun 2017 23:12:18 No.1085230 Report

Quoted By: >>1085272 >>1085850

>>1080728
Union Pacific #844 is the locomotive that was never taken off the active roster. It mostly runs excursions, but will haul some revenue freight on the way to or from somewhere. UP also has a Challenger 4-6-6-4 that was in regular operation until 2010. The UP shops are currently restoring #4014, a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 611_on_turntable.jpg, 18KiB, 300x225

Anonymous Mon 26 Jun 2017 23:30:49 No.1085232 Report

Quoted By:

>>1083282
The Norfolk and Western #611 J Class is one of my favorite surviving steamers.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 27 Jun 2017 03:20:37 No.1085270 Report

Quoted By:

>>1083418
Here's #3751 in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp-b4Ce4Mf4&t=191s

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 27 Jun 2017 03:25:40 No.1085272 Report

Quoted By: >>1085325

>>1085230
>4-8-8-4 Big Boy.
When that restoration is finished, it will be the largest operational steam locomotive on Earth.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO SigSto_BigBoyRestoration_BANNER02.jpg, 70KiB, 1067x600

Anonymous Tue 27 Jun 2017 10:01:04 No.1085325 Report

Quoted By: >>1085852

>>1085272
They were the largest steam locomotives in the U.S.. I don't know whether or not someone built something bigger.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 0fc65926014cdf6c999d381cfc0aca88.jpg, 322KiB, 1024x630

Anonymous Wed 28 Jun 2017 12:31:01 No.1085560 Report

Quoted By: >>1085929

>>1083282
Found this. It's by no means a complete list, but it includes a lot of functional U.S. steam that is still running. There is a lot of preserved standard gauge steam still in the U.S., some of it former Class 1 equipment.
http://steamengineresource.weebly.com/operational-locomotives.html
Pic is a preserved Southern Pacific GS4. It still runs excursions.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Snow_train_through_General_motor (...).webm, 3MiB, 720x405

Anonymous Thu 29 Jun 2017 06:29:12 No.1085775 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080931
We have a few of those type here in Australia too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC25GGFspQc

>>1083374
>passenger excursions
A very recent one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp1ZST5rYuk

Years ago a overseas visitor came to town: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PP01Ci2E5Y

Most of our mainstream steam wrapped up on the 60s but there were still some used for shunting into the late 70s.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Jun 2017 14:16:57 No.1085850 Report

Quoted By: >>1085853

The steel plant in my home town was one of the last examples of working steam in the us.

>Northwestern Steel's steam engines were among the last to operate in the United States. Old No. 73, as it was known, (a 1929 Baldwin locomotive) was the final steam engine to be used in America. NWSW last used the locomotive on Dec. 3, 1980 at 10 a.m.

Pic related was taken in 1979

>>1085230

I've been on a ~6hr trip on the 844. Lots of fun.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 7975096993_95a545a4c1_b.jpg, 326KiB, 1024x589

Anonymous Thu 29 Jun 2017 14:21:50 No.1085852 Report

Quoted By:

>>1085325

Depends on how you measure things.

In terms of tractive effort the top is DM&IR's Yellowstone

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 3244860897_eaf8c07c06_b.jpg, 451KiB, 1024x682

Anonymous Thu 29 Jun 2017 14:22:53 No.1085853 Report

Quoted By:

>>1085850

oops forgot pic

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO BBF_G_HSB_05_DSC_0246.jpg, 324KiB, 1495x1080

Anonymous Thu 29 Jun 2017 18:25:04 No.1085908 Report

Quoted By: >>1085932

regular steam service, several times a day, will probably go on forever

Nathan Bedford Forrest

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO N&W 601 Tennessean.jpg, 748KiB, 1400x844

Nathan Bedford Forrest Thu 29 Jun 2017 19:21:19 No.1085927 Report

Quoted By: >>1085931

>>1080711

Norfolk & Western was the last Class I railway to dieselize and its passenger trains were among the last named ones ever hauled by steam.

Nathan Bedford Forrest

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Southern Pacific 4449.jpg, 308KiB, 1024x702

Nathan Bedford Forrest Thu 29 Jun 2017 19:22:50 No.1085929 Report

Quoted By:

>>1085560

If they ever restore the Coast Daylight service, 4449 should be given the honor of pulling the first train.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Jun 2017 19:27:53 No.1085931 Report

Quoted By: >>1085934

>>1085927
Interesting, I want to say this was in the 50s or 60s?

IIRC is that particular locomotive in your picture preserved?

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO harz-mountains-train-NT.jpg, 520KiB, 1000x667

Anonymous Thu 29 Jun 2017 19:30:04 No.1085932 Report

Quoted By:

>>1085908
I love seeing these pictures of the Harz Railway.

Somehow it always looks so good in the Winter.

Nathan Bedford Forrest

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO N&W 611 Spencer NC.jpg, 368KiB, 1024x700

Nathan Bedford Forrest Thu 29 Jun 2017 19:44:31 No.1085934 Report

Quoted By:

>>1085931

The last regular N&W service was hauled in 1959, they could've kept it running for longer but the closure of many of their suppliers of parts made maintenance ever more costly.

Sadly, 601 was not preserved, but her sister, 611 was through the efforts of world-renowned photographer O. Winston Link. It was finally restored to working order two years ago.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 03 Jul 2017 17:36:09 No.1087264 Report

Quoted By: >>1087526

>>1080711

Im from wigan, my dad and his dad are both ex-railwaymen, and apparently once or twice a steam train went through wigan after steam services had supposedly finished in the UK, either just light engine or light engine with some old wagons to be scrapped, IIRC it was basically just because one depot wouldnt want them taking up room and making work to do so theyd send the somewhere else to get scrapped

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 04 Jul 2017 06:18:23 No.1087445 Report

Quoted By: >>1087528 >>1087574

>>1080711

I'm from Poland, bitchez...

we still have a regular steam line running out of Wolsztyn, near Poznań
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf6F4j_Rpjg

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 04 Jul 2017 16:15:13 No.1087526 Report

Quoted By:

>>1087264
I see.

I do know that the industries were still using steam locomotives back then.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 04 Jul 2017 16:17:31 No.1087528 Report

Quoted By:

>>1087445
So I heard.

0:40 that wheelslip though.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 04 Jul 2017 18:37:55 No.1087574 Report

Quoted By:

>>1087445
how "regular" are we talking about?
also how fucking old are those bilevels?

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO ff68ea6e5ca040a0a30787e538439672.jpg, 368KiB, 1231x693

Anonymous Fri 07 Jul 2017 22:51:46 No.1088647 Report

Quoted By:

>>1080931
Indonesia

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 10 Jul 2017 22:12:29 No.1089572 Report

Quoted By: >>1089608

>>1080728
>Steam locomotives pulling revenue freight is among the rarest sights one can see on the rails.
Found a cool video of 3985 pulling a revenue freight train unassisted a while ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhgHrDbN4EU

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 10 Jul 2017 23:44:33 No.1089608 Report

Quoted By:

>>1089572
Neat. Footage is from 1990, FYI.

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