Love the 611, IIRC PRR had some as well. Being raised in SoCal, we went
to the Knott's Berry farm annually where than ran (still run?) a steamer
with a train-robber show. The engine was farther away, so you got the
smoke but the main smell was the leather and wood of the interior.

At about 8, I went to the Sacramento railway museum for the first time.
If you like locomotives, it's fantastic. Amazing that:

http://www.csrmf.org/library-and-collections/full-size-railroad-
equipment/steam-locomotives/southern-pacific-cab-forward-no-4294

After 10+ years of sitting in the museum it smelled so strongly of oil.

I was also able to lurk around the Placerville (CA) museum where they
were (and probably still are) restoring a beautiful old shay loco. On
top of the usual odors there was welding and grinding smells. I want to
drive up there right now.

Knott's also had a blacksmith but I think they were required to use
natural gas, the smell of hot iron, oxidation a sweat is quite
unique though.

>>But I agree -- they are much more like living, breathing 'beings' than
>>today's modern diesels.

>>And oh the whistles... I can still remember hearing the N&W 1218
>>blowing for the first time. Such a low, mournful >>sound. It speaks on
>>an almost primal level.

These are the signs of an era where products were still the work of
craftsmanship and individuals. The tools and machines made from the late
Renaissance to ~1930s (depends on the industry) captured the people
making them as much as they represented a function.

Dare I say that is what draws many of us to old tools, a connection with
craftsmanship.

Brian J.M. Rytel brian.rytel@g...

On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 1:29 PM, Ed Minch <ruby@m...> wrote:
>
> On May 23, 2012, at 2:16 PM, Phil Schempf wrote:
>
>> I grew up near the tracks
>
> And this can still happen. =A0My sister lived in Northern Ohio - Rocky
> River just outside of Cleveland, and there is a set of tracks that
> ends in Chicago that went by her back yard. =A0About 2000, we heard
> that the Norfolk and Western 611
>
> http://tinyurl.com/77tlezm
>
> was heading from Chicago to Cleveland and would pass through the area
> in the afternoon. =A0We didn't know what track but we took a chance
> and started passing the football around with her 2 sons - 10 and 12
> yrs old or so - in the back yard. =A0We hit the jackpot. =A0The area
> has a crossroad every 1/4 mile or so, so we heard the whistle coming
> from a loooong way away.
>
> But wait - the engine stopped on a siding so that it was right at the
> back fence - not 50 feet from where we stood and talked to the
> engineer. =A0This is one big beautiful engine, wonderfully restored
> and impeccably maintained and we had a great 15 minutes getting our
> breathing in sync with it. =A0The kids still talk about it.
>
> OT content - aw c'mon
>
> Ed Minch
>
>
>
>
>
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