[whjco]

This is SP 745 which was a static park display in Audubon Park across from Tulane University in New Orleans. A really dedicated group of rail historians, the Louisiana Steam Train Association, pulled her from the park and restored her.

I was blessed to be the engineer that got to take the old girl out on the mainline for the first time in December 2004 and in March 2005 we took her and the Louisiana Bicentennial History Train out on a 1000 mile, 25 city tour through Louisiana and western Mississippi. During this trip, the locomotive consumed about 16 - 18 gallons of oil and 100 gallons of water per mile. The best part was the living history the old locomotive attracted. It's original home district was the Southern Pacific mainline between New Orleans, LA and Houston, TX. We spent two days in Lafayette, LA where the main locomotive shops are located and I got to spend time with several old master mechanics that used to work on her when she was in regular mainline service. In DeQuincy, LA, we arrived for their annual Railroad Days celebration and I got to spend an hour and a half talking to the first black locomotive engineer in the state of Louisiana which was fascinating. In Shreveport, LA, they did an early morning TV show and I got to spend some time with a retired engineer in his 90's that used to run this class locomotive when it was still in service.

I kept a journal of the trip and if anyone is interested in reading it, go to http://www.backroombluegrassband.com and click on the "Bill's Steam Journal" link at the bottom of the page.

Come down and visit us at the Big South Fork Scenic Railway in Stearns, KY! http://www.bsfsry.com

 

[Stephenscity]

Love these old engines. Wish there were more of them in my area.

 

[Lovesthedrive]

look for live steam parks in your area. More hobbyists are making these come alive in 1.6 scale.

 

[Guest]

That is one sweet looking train Bill. My PaPaw was an engineer for 40 years for IHB. Love seeing the old ones.

 

[whjco]

That is one sweet looking train Bill. My PaPaw was an engineer for 40 years for IHB. Love seeing the old ones.

Ron, I'm a part-time engineer at the Big South Fork Scenic Railway in Stearns, KY. We have a close clearance tunnel and can't take a standard 80' passenger car down our line so we have to build our cars out of flat car frames. In 2002, the IHB was getting rid of 12 ex-NYC flatcars that they had on their roster and I picked out the best 3 and had them shipped to Stearns and they've since been made into passenger cars. If you come ride with us, the IHB cars are the ones with the roller bearing trucks under them and they're 5' longer than the other cars.

 

[Guest]

That is one sweet looking train Bill. My PaPaw was an engineer for 40 years for IHB. Love seeing the old ones.

Ron, I'm a part-time engineer at the Big South Fork Scenic Railway in Stearns, KY. We have a close clearance tunnel and can't take a standard 80' passenger car down our line so we have to build our cars out of flat car frames. In 2002, the IHB was getting rid of 12 ex-NYC flatcars that they had on their roster and I picked out the best 3 and had them shipped to Stearns and they've since been made into passenger cars. If you come ride with us, the IHB cars are the ones with the roller bearing trucks under them and they're 5' longer than the other cars.

Can you post some info (links) about train rides there. Maybe someday I can make it down there for a ride.

 

[whjco]

That is one sweet looking train Bill. My PaPaw was an engineer for 40 years for IHB. Love seeing the old ones.

Ron, I'm a part-time engineer at the Big South Fork Scenic Railway in Stearns, KY. We have a close clearance tunnel and can't take a standard 80' passenger car down our line so we have to build our cars out of flat car frames. In 2002, the IHB was getting rid of 12 ex-NYC flatcars that they had on their roster and I picked out the best 3 and had them shipped to Stearns and they've since been made into passenger cars. If you come ride with us, the IHB cars are the ones with the roller bearing trucks under them and they're 5' longer than the other cars.

Can you post some info (links) about train rides there. Maybe someday I can make it down there for a ride.

Absolutely! The link is http://www.bsfsry.com and I'm usually down there the second weekend of the month. The second weekend in May is K&T Days when a lot of the retired employees come for a visit and we run a special train using the old ALCo K&T 102. It's the only time all year that there are two trains on the line at the same time and we do some special photo runbys with the old ALCo. Hope to see you there!

 

[Guest]

Thanks BIll. Looks like some neat deals there. We'll see how things go. Hope to be at Caseman's show and possibly again later in the year, say maybe Sept. or so.

 

[Stephenscity]

Thanks BIll. Looks like some neat deals there. We'll see how things go. Hope to be at Caseman's show and possibly again later in the year, say maybe Sept. or so.

Ron,Ann and I took that trip a couple years back. If you can work it in I would We had the best time.

 

[Guest]

Thanks BIll. Looks like some neat deals there. We'll see how things go. Hope to be at Caseman's show and possibly again later in the year, say maybe Sept. or so.

Ron,Ann and I took that trip a couple years back. If you can work it in I would We had the best time.

I'd love to try it. Never been on a train except with PaPaw when I was a youngin. Got to push cars over the hill in the yard one day.

 

[bettyp]

Bill J good to see that pic of the train . Only rode on a train once .
Thanks for sharing that information very interesting.