Double Headed

It looks to be working hard at this point including the fireman who's stoking -what's the gradient? I bet there were no fat firemen on this route

Maybe 2 to 2-1/2% don't really know. I'm not familiar with the one in the back, but the 4-8-4 is stoker fired. An auger pulls coal along a V-bottom in the tender, then another auger lifts it upward to a sort of shelf in the back of the firebox. From there a bunch of adjustable steam jets can blow it out over the grate area! 1940s high tech! According to Wikipedia, the grate area is 94.5 square feet, partly that is due to being designed to burn anthracite (the product they frequently transported). If you've got the bandwidth, an iPhone video of this pass is out on my website. The iPhone auto-leveling on the audio deprives you of the chance to experience "being there," as the barking exhaust can be felt in the body as it passes (note that near the end the whistle which can easily be heard a mile or more away is barely audible over the "stack talk!")

The square format suits this rectangular locomotive; perfectly.

Thought your phone video was brilliant, nice steady hand there.

Mick Fagan said:

[...]
Thought your phone video was brilliant, nice steady hand there.

Click to expand...

Ah -- thank you -- but no, I cheated! The phone was in a clamping bracket mounted to a tripod. It's taken a while to get back in the groove, but I would start the video, then shoot some stills, and as I got better organized (ha!), turn and sweep the video phone around during the actual pass. My last attempt even used my mirror-less SLR to zoom in for some distant approach shots, then switch to the 124G for a closer in B&W -- and then maneuver the video a bit! An anti-Alzheimers challenge for my aging brain. There's more out there at my website. (And slo-o-o-wly my video editing is improving.)

Interesting short videos, no motorcycle helmet needed?

Some intense smoke emanating from those locomotives at times.

Mick Fagan said:

Interesting short videos, no motorcycle helmet needed?

Some intense smoke emanating from those locomotives at times.

Click to expand...

Helmets are optional in Pennsylvania (probably accounts for some of our politics! )

I think there is more smoke in the early fire building process -- the one showing the departure from Jim Thorpe was amazing. But that was preparing to start a 20 car train and head upgrade after a three hour layover, so it was probably loaded up with a lot of fresh coal. For sure they don't qualify as "green energy!" Those big guys can turn on a steam jet blowing up the stack to pull a draft when the engine isn't actually moving; I suspect that may alter fuel/air ratios a bit, and probably knock some soot loose in the process too.

The two videos at the upper left on that page show passes through Leesport, that's only about five miles from the excursion start and they were bookin' through there with full afterburners.

An impressive paean to steam power! A bit of overkill but clearly intended to make a good photo op; I'm sure the 4-8-4 could haul all twenty coaches without breaking a sweat. Puts me in mind of seeing a Big Boy in Cheyenne as a kid--pulling a string of freight cars as far as the eye could see. You captured the sheer muscle of these locos...a classic image.

can help but admire everything about those old trains, the melange of cars, the noise, the engines shine, the pounding power, the strength and authority... a bygone era well captured. thanks