Posted by Dean on June 21, 2018 at 06:00:04 from (68.50.160.151):
In Reply to: Re: Stack Talk posted by Larrystn on June 21, 2018 at 05:02:14:
Thank you, Larry.
Yes, it was the Chessie steam special.
The B & O line runs through Aurora, IN and passes about 1/4 mile from the farm where I grew up and now live.
The nearly 15 mile hill up out of the Ohio River valley starts about two or three miles west of my place. In the days of steam a helper engine was stationed in Aurora, less than 1/4 mile from my window as the crow flies. The freights, sometimes with double-headed steam freight hogs and sometimes with F Units would stop about 1/2 mile beyond my window to allow the helper to couple to the caboose before attacking the hill. I am just old enough to remember the twilight of steam before the B & O dropped the fires in 1957. I have many fond memories of the sights, sounds and smell of steam railroading from my childhood and have been a railroad fan ever since.
For three or four years in the late 1970s, the Chessie Steam Special, powered by Reading 2101 4-8-4 ran the route from Union Central Terminal in Cincinnati to the Y in North Vernon, IN, passing our farm on it's way. I rode it with my son in 1977 and chased it in a car on two or three other occasions. All wonderful experiences.
Though down to 25 MPH or so cresting the hill near Moores Hill, IN, the 2101 pulled its 18 coaches and over 2000 passengers up the hill unassisted. Following behind a mile or so were two EMD units as contingency in case of breakdown or stall. They never coupled, and we passengers did not know that they were following.
Sadly, the 2101 was destroyed in a roundhouse fire in the early 1980s. Subsequently, the Y in North Vernon was removed, rendering steam excursions west from Cincinnati problematic.
I have many photos but no audio as I had no audio equipment at the time, but the sound of the 2101 pounding its way up the hill will live in my memory as long as I live.
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