On 24/05/12 03:19, Thomas Conroy wrote:
> For me, even the memory of the smell of a locomotive is swamped by the memory
of its sound: the way it really seems to be breathing, not just making noise,
and the shudder of its breath fills the air around you and  in you and makes
your own breath and heartbeat move at the same rate. That's another one I
haven't experienced for a long time, not since the middle '70s.
>
Well, here's an offer for you foreign galoots: visit Melbourne 
(Australia) and go on Puffing Billy:

http://www.puffingbilly.com.au/photos-videos/

It's a steam train that goes from Belgrave (near my house) out to 
Gembrook. We can hear the whistle from our yard. It's a tourist thing, 
but a really enjoyable one. Driving up the hill on weekend mornings, you 
often see the smoke and steam billowing up from the station, and smell 
the tangy coal smoke. As a kid, I used to go on it with my family, and 
the best best best thing as a kid? Sitting with your legs hanging out of 
the side of the carriages, trying to kick the tree branches, and 
squealing in delight and terror as the train went out over the big 
trestle bridge.

So when we had our own kids, I was really happy to take them on Puffing 
Billy too. Yes, I knew that in these litigious times, obviously they 
wouldn't get the thrill of hanging out of the carriages, but at least 
they'd get to ride a real steam train. So imagine my delight when the 
first thing the conductor said to them was "you get the best view if you 
sit up on the side of the carriage with your legs hanging out". Oh, and 
when the train was in the station, they invited the children to come up 
into the engine's cabin and look around. I smuggled myself in too :-) 
While we were waiting next to the engine, billows of steam phwooshed out 
and swirled around us, much to the delight of the kids. And me :-) 
There's something awe-inspiring about standing right next to a steam 
engine - you can sense its potential power.

Everyone gets smuts in their eyes from hanging out the windows, and you 
come home smelling of smoke. There's no way I'd want to travel in the 
closed carriages - the open ones are way too much fun.

And for the obligatory OT content: I've toured the workshops where the 
volunteers restore and maintain these trains. A-mazing! I got to see 
some very large metal lathes, and oodles of work areas. It's a working 
repair shop, not a historical re-enactment. I'll have to see if I can go 
again, and maybe get some pics for the steam enthusiasts out there on 
the OT list, if there's anyone interested?

Cheers,
Philip.

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On 5/23/2012 11:05 PM, Philip Yarra wrote:
> Oh, and when the train was in the station, they invited the children 
> to come up into the engine's cabin and look around. I smuggled myself 
> in too

Okay, I'll confess.  I've been lucky enough to have a short 'cab ride' 
in two different steamers.  Both times it came about just from hanging 
around just a little bit longer than everyone else at the end of the day 
as they were hostling the engines back into the building for the night.  
And I have to add, I'm not a big believer in the hereafter, but after 
peering into the firebox of a locomotive under steam, if there is an 
afterlife, I wanna go up and not down...

> And for the obligatory OT content: I've toured the workshops where the 
> volunteers restore and maintain these trains. A-mazing! I got to see 
> some very large metal lathes, and oodles of work areas. It's a working 
> repair shop, not a historical re-enactment. I'll have to see if I can 
> go again, and maybe get some pics for the steam enthusiasts out there 
> on the OT list, if there's anyone interested?
>
Oh, heck yeah!  The lathes, presses and breaks would be interesting to 
me, even without the locomotives. :-)

Ed
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Galoots,

I rode in this one with my father a few times in either the late 1930s 
or early 1940s.  It was used to pull gondola cars of gravel from the TCM 
(Texas Construction Materials Co.) gravel pits in south Texas to the 
main railroad lines. I thought it was fun in those days - probably still 
would.

https://picasaweb.google.com/Dilloworks/DadInLocomotiveCab1930s#5746355688411391938

http://tinyurl.com/74sa32x

Frank Sronce (Fort Worth Armadillo Works)

 

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