60008 Dwight W Eisenhower And 60010 Domion Of Canda

Of course, it goes without saying that I'm glad our Canadian friends can see an A4 too. It's just that I think the Yanks are more in need of education!

 

I think an opportunity was missed by not entitling the thread '60008 Dwight W Eisenhower And 60010 Dominion Of Canada - will they ever come back to Bittern?' (though admittedly this would have worked better before 60019 took on its present guise of 'Dominion of New Zealand').

Less facetiously, I think the point made about both engines remaining in 'as was' condition is a very valid one. While it's great to see Mallard being kept in such excellent cosmetic condition, there's something to be said for having a couple of 'time capsule' engines as well.

 

its a small world nowadays, what more excuse do you want for a trip to North America?

 

Indeed...


if you like driving..

A flight to Montreal (see 60010 and the Terrier)..
then head south through Toronto, and why not the Railway Children at the same time with the LSWR locomotive there)
then further south to London, Ontario (and see the GM railway works, where the 66's were built)...
head south over the border into Michigan, and stop off enroute to the the Mark 1's at Standish Musuem, (admittedly a bit of a detour)
( Vintage Carriages trust records are incorrect, showing them as scrapped, but they very much still exist: NE24199 and NE24551, pictures taken last year, and considering they havent had a repaint since the 1960's arent looking too bad).
http://www.railroadmichigan.com/boyne24199.jpg
http://www.railroadmichigan.com/boyne24551.jpg
http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1697
http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1687

head further south and up to Green bay Wisconsin and see 60008 and it's 2 LNER coaches at the Green Bay Railway Musuem..
If your really hard core then head south to kentucky to see the RSH 0-6-0T that went with the Marks ones in the 1970s.

If your an over British transport person, the west coast offers similar possibilities.. go to Seattle and see Concorde and a Comet, head south to LA and see the Queen Mary and really further south to Mexico to see the other comet.

 

That sounds like a bit of a plan... Now where's that spare £3,000? My parents saw Queen Mary last year, and said that you could easily spend two days going through it.

 

But why concentrate on British machinery when you have gone all that way - get a copy of "The Steam Passenger Service Directory" and see how the other half lives! never mind the streetcars, Route 66 et al that take you out of the UK mindset for good!

 

I think you are right. I have a plan in the back of my mind to experiance American Railroading before I die. Just need to know WHERE would be the best place to go to. I think Id most like to see some of there freight services.

 

If you want frieght try Kansas City. In the downtown area there is a three level fly over (It is quite amazing to see trains passing over each other on three levels - reality gets warped, its like watching a model railroad), and a two level rail only river bridge. In an average hour sat there in that one location you would see probably 15 trains, a mix of UP and BNSF. If you get really lucky KCS runs along on its own tracks about two blocks away, and KCT may trundle a transfer frieght through as well. Then when you get hungry go and eat on the terrace at the old frieght shed opposite Union station. Amtrak still calls there, and BNSF/UP share 3 tracks. If you don't see a train every 8 or so minutes you'll be unlucky, and since most of the trains take 5 mins to pass, there is basically something there all the time. The steak is nice too! You'll never want to watch trains in the UK again.

 

I lived stateside for 5 years, and my job luckily enough saw me visit over 45 states...some more than a dozen times..
My favourites are all tend to be in the middle of the US or the middle of nowhere!.. in no particular order...

Denver and rio grande museum,
Durango and silver town.. Excellent mountain railway with 4-8-2's
Scranton pa,
B&O roundhouse in Baltimore,
NRM at Green Bay (60008 is here)
Essex Railroad in Conneticut.
Western pacific RR in Portola, california

If your around northern California (San francisco).. you can easily do the following within a short distance of SF..
Sacramento railroad museum (used a USA 0-6-0t and or 4466 ( UP 0-6-0) for services..but also has a giant FEF3, with it's cab at the front (maybe Bulleid copied his leader from this ?)
Lesser known is the Yolo county railroad in Woodlands, ca (about 20 miles from Sacramento)
At Rio Vista is the San francisco tram museum (with a Blackpool tram)
The above mentioned western pacific museum (this is quite a drive, but has an excellant collection at an old WP shed.
And for the "Hollywood cow boy trains" and the giant smoke stacks.. Go to Jamestown, California (on the way to Yosemite park)
Or for other log burners goto the Yosemite sugar pine at the LA side of Yosemite,
Finally SF is well know as having an on par with Blackpool collection of trams (mostly pcc's painted as different US cities colours) plus a number of Peter Witt style bought from Milan, and another Blackpool tram.

Finally if you like freight.. Jack London square in Oakland, otherwise of the bay bridge, has mile long UP freights with several engines on literally going through the main street, past coffee shops and cars every 20 mins or so. Oakland shed is quite welcoming to foreigners who introduce themselves first, occasionally an operational preserved UP 4-6-2 is on shed
Close to woodland is a private railroad, California northern, using gp15s on grain trains which connects to UP at Davis, several times a day

 

I think you meant 2-8-2 rather than 4-8-2 for the Durango and Silverton. I didn't think that there were any 4-8-2s on the colorado 3ft lines. But the sentiment is spot on, amazing ride. Personally though, I prefer the Cumbres and Toltec. Much more relaxed atmosphere. Both railroads are worth the airfare even if you do nothing else. Listening to a loco lugging 12 coaches up the 1 in 25 gradient on the C&T is utterly amazing.

 

Nothing compared to the whistles as they round Windy Point and the echoes bouncing around the San Juans - there is a photo charter tour in September that has been tempting me for some time - do I just go for it???