The DisFort's Chit Chat Cafe

[bama_ed]

This past weekend I was at a convention in the Chattanooga, TN area and on Sunday morning before heading home I went to visit a family friend.

When my 3 kids were at home, since they were little, we made 2-3 trips a year to Chattanooga from Birmingham (about 2.5 hrs away). It's a good family town to visit and do things. But the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is my/our favorite. It offers rides behind a real steam locomotive which is not something you can do ever day in many places during summer and weekends spring and fall.

It has a short 3-mile line with a wye (Y) turn-around on one end and a turntable in the shop area on the other. The ride includes a brief run through a 1,000' tunnel under Missionary Ridge. It's very pleasant for an hour of your time.

Yesterday I rode behind locomotive 630 (TVRR has 3 steam locos two of which are currently active and one awaiting rehab). Plus several diesels.



Having done this ride many times in the past (we even had a family membership for years), I have a pattern. The best places to experience a ride on a real steam locomotive are at the end of the cars (watching the track disappear into the distance while hearing and smelling the experience). And also at the front of the coach stack (immediately behind the tender/coal car). Closer to the loco than the first location and you can hear the loco and whistle better plus all the squeeks and noises of this metal monster. Out on the outside platform in both directions.



Going thru the tunnel particularly close to the loco can be a smoky, loud experience but it only lasts 15-20 seconds. I also made some mp3 recordings at various points that I have to listen to and edit down. I have a whistle blow from TVRR as an available ringtone on my phone (maybe I will assign it to tiggerdad's number ).

I've ridden most available steam trains over the last decade or two from Florida to Pennsylvania and visited several museums in between. Next year I might be able to head west and ride some there that I have on my bucket list.

Any way, if you get a chance to ride behind a steam loco, do so. They are a piece of American history.

https://www.tvrail.com/ (I rode the Missionary Ridge Local ride).

Bama Ed

PS - and yes we've done the Steam Train tour at MK. But the MK trains don't offer what I would call a real operating railroad experience. But they are a nice piece of Walt's past.

 

[tigger92662]

Although riding is much better than seeing, Union Pacifics Big Boy came through our area. Truly an awesome (and large) sight to see

 

[bama_ed]

Although riding is much better than seeing, Union Pacifics Big Boy came through our area. Truly an awesome (and large) sight to see

Yes the Big Boys are HUGE. I think there is now one or at most two of them that are still operational. They are a single locomotive but functionally deliver two loco's worth of power (and two wheel sets of tractive power).

Joe, if you saw a Big Boy under power, I'm jealous.

Ed

 

[tiggerdad]

I have a whistle blow from TVRR as an available ringtone on my phone (maybe I will assign it to tiggerdad's number ).

I approve.

 

[PaHunter]

This past weekend I was at a convention in the Chattanooga, TN area and on Sunday morning before heading home I went to visit a family friend.

When my 3 kids were at home, since they were little, we made 2-3 trips a year to Chattanooga from Birmingham (about 2.5 hrs away). It's a good family town to visit and do things. But the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is my/our favorite. It offers rides behind a real steam locomotive which is not something you can do ever day in many places during summer and weekends spring and fall.

It has a short 3-mile line with a wye (Y) turn-around on one end and a turntable in the shop area on the other. The ride includes a brief run through a 1,000' tunnel under Missionary Ridge. It's very pleasant for an hour of your time.

Yesterday I rode behind locomotive 630 (TVRR has 3 steam locos two of which are currently active and one awaiting rehab). Plus several diesels.



Having done this ride many times in the past (we even had a family membership for years), I have a pattern. The best places to experience a ride on a real steam locomotive are at the end of the cars (watching the track disappear into the distance while hearing and smelling the experience). And also at the front of the coach stack (immediately behind the tender/coal car). Closer to the loco than the first location and you can hear the loco and whistle better plus all the squeeks and noises of this metal monster. Out on the outside platform in both directions.



Going thru the tunnel particularly close to the loco can be a smoky, loud experience but it only lasts 15-20 seconds. I also made some mp3 recordings at various points that I have to listen to and edit down. I have a whistle blow from TVRR as an available ringtone on my phone (maybe I will assign it to tiggerdad's number ).

I've ridden most available steam trains over the last decade or two from Florida to Pennsylvania and visited several museums in between. Next year I might be able to head west and ride some there that I have on my bucket list.

Any way, if you get a chance to ride behind a steam loco, do so. They are a piece of American history.

https://www.tvrail.com/ (I rode the Missionary Ridge Local ride).

Bama Ed

PS - and yes we've done the Steam Train tour at MK. But the MK trains don't offer what I would call a real operating railroad experience. But they are a nice piece of Walt's past.

Steamtown National Park in Scranton PA does the train rides. We have not done one yet, need to fit it in the schedule. Love walking around seeing the trains. Used to go up every year for the Christmas train that CP does.

 

[Teamubr]

Very cool, Ed. I also grew up loving trains. Probably from living 1/2 mile from a MoPac switch yard and standing in the kitchen window watching them when I was little. Have you rode the steam train in Bryson City, NC? Great Smokey Mountain Railroad

They have diesels, but also a WWII era steam train that was rehabbed a few years ago. There are 2 routes you can choose, both are several hours long. These trains are amazing. Living, breathing, beasts.



j

 

[tigger92662]

Joe, if you saw a Big Boy under power, I'm jealous.

For me it was also the fact that as it approached, utter silence from the crowd that had gathered.
There isn't an audio system in the world that can duplicate that sound or feel.

 

[bama_ed]

Steamtown National Park in Scranton PA does the train rides. We have not done one yet, need to fit it in the schedule. Love walking around seeing the trains. Used to go up every year for the Christmas train that CP does.

We've been to Steamtown, Chris, and done the short ride in the yard (15-20 yrs ago). I loved walking around the big roundhouse where the loco's "sleep". We spent the night at the hotel in Scranton that is the old station/railroad headquarters (don't recall the name).

Pennsylvania is a rich railroad state (especially for steam). We've been to the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum in Strasburg as well as the Strasburg Railroad Museum (across the street from the PRRM). I believe that is where "Thomas the Tank Engine" lives when he is not out on the road raising funds for museums like my TVRR. We even stayed at the Red Caboose Motel (in a caboose) nearby.

We've also ridden the East BroadTop Railroad several years ago before it was shuttered waiting for a buyer. It's in Rockhill Furnace (narrow gauge RR in the Alleghenies serving mostly the coal mines of the prior century). If I won the lottery today I would buy that RR tomorrow and pay the millions to get their loco's in service.

Of course, my family (dad and uncles) weaned me and my cousins on Horseshoe Curve near Altoona since that is very close to my paternal grandmother's family homestead. So trains are in my blood so to speak.

Very cool, Ed. I also grew up loving trains. Probably from living 1/2 mile from a MoPac switch yard and standing in the kitchen window watching them when I was little. Have you rode the steam train in Bryson City, NC? Great Smokey Mountain Railroad

They have diesels, but also a WWII era steam train that was rehabbed a few years ago. There are 2 routes you can choose, both are several hours long. These trains are amazing. Living, breathing, beasts.

View attachment 442281

j

Jim, no I have not. I purposely passed on those in favor of hitting those further away. My logic is since this (and the Tweetsie and the NC/Norfolk Museum in Salisbury, NC) is closer, I'll more likely get to those at some point soon. But when Momma gave us the okay to hit the road I went as far as Scranton, PA to hit those. But I will get to these.

And to be fair, some places have occasional steam train "excursions" but I like to hit those that have regular (daily) steam service (during high traffic times like summer and spring/fall weekends) because they operate like real regular railroads.

I have a list and I'll try to get to all the operational steam railroads eventually.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

For me it was also the fact that as it approached, utter silence from the crowd that had gathered.
There isn't an audio system in the world that can duplicate that sound or feel.

Now you get an idea why I made my mp3 recording of the 630 (can't record "feel" but that is SO real). When the 630 approached the little valley cut to go through the Missionary Ridge tunnel and it blew the whistle (deep, loud, played like a throttle), it echoed around just as we entered the tunnel (loud, close, strong).

tiggerdad, you have a new ringtone (made on a previous visit to TVRR).

Bama Ed

 

[Teamubr]

Ed,

If you make it up to StL, we have a pretty neat National Museum of Transportation. While it doesn't have any working steam locomotives, it does have some static examples of very historic engines, including a UP "BigBoy", a 4-8-8-4 loco. Said to be the heaviest and most powerful ever built. They also have a large number of historic street cars, rail cars and other railroad relics. It is fun just to wander around the grounds, that include a rail tunnel from 1853.

j

 

[jbrostek]

Last steam ride I did was East Broad Top RR which was a narrow gauge steamer plus they had a diesel. They had a nice little loop to a picnic area and then would come back about 2 hours later. We really enjoyed that, but they lost a big doner and have not run the rails in a while. Though they still do tours and the volunteers still work on the tracks and buildings till they can find the funds to start running again.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

When we lived out east we spent some time in the White Mountains of NH. The Cog has a small steam engine (as well as a diesel) that ushers a passenger car up the side of Mt. Washington. It's nothing like the beasts show above, but riding a train up the side of a mountain was an interesting experience in its own right!

 

[team bradfield]

Ed, if you get out west, the Black Hills 1880 train is a good ride, 2 hour trip through the scenic Black Hills, awesome

 

[bama_ed]

Thanks for the suggestion, Team Bradfield. I will add that to my list.

The two I am planning for is the Cumbres & Toltec in New Mexico and the Durango & Silverton nearby just across the state line in Colorado. They are closer to other things along the way that I want to see.

Bama Ed

 

[PaHunter]

We've been to Steamtown, Chris, and done the short ride in the yard (15-20 yrs ago). I loved walking around the big roundhouse where the loco's "sleep". We spent the night at the hotel in Scranton that is the old station/railroad headquarters (don't recall the name).

Pennsylvania is a rich railroad state (especially for steam). We've been to the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum in Strasburg as well as the Strasburg Railroad Museum (across the street from the PRRM). I believe that is where "Thomas the Tank Engine" lives when he is not out on the road raising funds for museums like my TVRR. We even stayed at the Red Caboose Motel (in a caboose) nearby.

We've also ridden the East BroadTop Railroad several years ago before it was shuttered waiting for a buyer. It's in Rockhill Furnace (narrow gauge RR in the Alleghenies serving mostly the coal mines of the prior century). If I won the lottery today I would buy that RR tomorrow and pay the millions to get their loco's in service.

Of course, my family (dad and uncles) weaned me and my cousins on Horseshoe Curve near Altoona since that is very close to my paternal grandmother's family homestead. So trains are in my blood so to speak.



Jim, no I have not. I purposely passed on those in favor of hitting those further away. My logic is since this (and the Tweetsie and the NC/Norfolk Museum in Salisbury, NC) is closer, I'll more likely get to those at some point soon. But when Momma gave us the okay to hit the road I went as far as Scranton, PA to hit those. But I will get to these.

And to be fair, some places have occasional steam train "excursions" but I like to hit those that have regular (daily) steam service (during high traffic times like summer and spring/fall weekends) because they operate like real regular railroads.

I have a list and I'll try to get to all the operational steam railroads eventually.

Bama Ed

The hotel in Scranton would be the Raddison hotel, yes it is the old station.
Strasburg is also close to us, about an hour, and yes Thomas rests there.
Harrisburg is also a big hub for NS, there is a huge yard just outside of Harrisburg. It of course are all modern engines, but still neat to watch.

 

[tiggerdad]

Only actual steam I've been on is the one at Dollywood outside Pigeon Forge. Trip up mountain make the loop and back down. About 30 minute ride. Depending on the wind, we've gotten off with quite a bit of ash on our clothes. Pics aren't mine, I have to dig out my flash drive from the fireproof safe to get them but these do it justice.






It's open passenger cars, so not true feel but still closest I've gotten.

 

[bjschil]

Ed, if you get out west, the Black Hills 1880 train is a good ride, 2 hour trip through the scenic Black Hills, awesome

We camped at Custer’s Gulch in August for a week, and absolutely loved the 1880’s Train. The Black Hills are beautiful, and never gets old. We took our UTV’s and rode many old gold mine trails, roads, throughout.

 

[Teamubr]

I have kept fairly quiet about the baseball playoffs because some of my friends from other cities didn't have the season they expected...

But...

The Cardinals are in the NLCS!

I'll be sitting in the bleachers Saturday for Game 2



j

 

[bama_ed]

I have kept fairly quiet about the baseball playoffs because some of my friends from other cities didn't have the season they expected...

But...

The Cardinals are in the NLCS!

I'll be sitting in the bleachers Saturday for Game 2

View attachment 442971

j

Enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts, Jim. I've put my Indians jersey away since our season is over.

I'm gonna pull for Tampa (AL Wildcard team) as long as they're in it. Then I would align to supporting the AL team not-named-the-Yankees. And if the Yankees make it to the Series, I'll pull for the NL team. Maybe it will be your Cards. I'm fine with that.

Bama Ed

 

[team bradfield]

We camped at Custer’s Gulch in August for a week, and absolutely loved the 1880’s Train. The Black Hills are beautiful, and never gets old. We took our UTV’s and rode many old gold mine trails, roads, throughout.

Custer Gulch is our Favorite Black Hill's CG, largest sites in the Hills