Armchair Railfan

Being stuck here in the Midwestern United States, I don't' get a chance to see the magnificent steam locomotives of the UK live and in person; so I have to settle for the next best thing: watching videos of British trains on YouTube!

Here is a wonderful example of what I'm talking about: a 5 minute video of a LMS "Black Five" 4-6-0 #45407 climbing up Hemerdon Bank, and really making a show of it. You can plainly hear the exhaust grow louder and slower as 45407 struggles with it's short train up the bank--fabulous! One can easily count the four "beats" per exhaust revolution of the drivers, a hallmark of two-cylinder steam locomotives.

Watch the video for yourself:



This video, along with a host of train videos from around the world, can be found at YouTube.

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Trains of Turkey

A wonderful site I've discovered is Trains of Turkey which features an outstanding collection of photographs of Turkish steam trains taken by Robin Lush during the late 1970's. Turkey was well known for featuring a wide variety of steam engines purchased from all over the world, especially from Germany, the UK and the USA.

Here is a sample of the visual feast awaiting you:


The mountians in the background make for an incredibly dramatic photo.

Go visit Trains of Turkey and check out the amazing collection of photo's. You won't be sorry.

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Polish steam alive and well...

In my previous post, I mentioned a wonderful article on RAILROAD.NET about steam engines in Poland. Well, while browsing through YouTube, I found some excellent videos of those very steam engines. Here a couple of clips:



A beautiful 2-8-2 Mikado type steam engine being turned on a turntable! (You don't see images like this every day!)



A similar locomotive, pulling a small passenger train.

God bless Poland!

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RAILROAD.NET - The Railroad Network

Want to find out more about trains, or talk to other people who are interested in railroading? Then RAILROAD.NET is the place to be. It is an online forum for talking about trains and railroads with people from all over the world.

While the focus of RAILROAD.NET is American and Canadian railroads and operation, there are forums dedicated to a number of differnt topics, even model railroading.

Make sure to check out an article by Joe Grossman about a modern day steam powered mainline railroad in Poland, where you can drive and fire the locomotives! The article is entitled The Wolsztyn Experience - Steam Lives in Poland. Basically a couple of Americans go to Poland to drive steam engines, and it's all arranged by an Englishman.

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