Full disclosure: I provided pro bono narration for the re-mastered version of the movie.īut before we get to the film, a few words about the magnificent setting: the cab of perhaps the ultimate Hudson. They are also the custodians of Santa Fe 4-6-4 3463, displayed in Topeka and sister to our movie engine. The video was buried for years in the archives of the Kansas Historical Society until it was rediscovered by the Coalition for Sustainable Rail (CSR) (a Duluth (Minn.)-based organization dedicated to historic rail preservation and the development of sustainable locomotive fuels. It’s called Operation of Steam Locomotive ( ), a short movie produced by the Santa Fe in the early 1940s and featuring a wild ride aboard a truly elite locomotive, 4-6-4 Hudson No. I can recommend just such a video, without reservation. What about riding with a steam crew under real-life circumstances, under the pressure of a timetable, sharing the railroad with other trains, at the very limit of the speed restriction? But current ones are generally made under the controlled circumstances of excursions or short trips around the yard. There are always cab-ride videos, of course, which give you a taste of the experience. ![]() Operators of today’s big engines don’t exactly invite people into the cab on a whim, and the occasional “engineer-for-an-hour” experience doesn’t come cheaply. Abbey photo.One of the top items on any railfan bucket list is also mighty difficult to get: a ride on a mainline steam locomotive. ![]() 3464, its stack extension raised, eases off the bridge at Chillicothe, Ill., heading west with train 23, the Grand Canyon, in 1951.
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