Haha - newer is almost NEVER better. When diesels were first coming out of the shops in the '40s and '50s, they were always breaking down in the rotten weather and the steamers were always coming to the rescue. 'The Old Reliable', some engineers came to call them. I remember one time at my last job when a diesel-powered passenger train broke down just out of the station, so they sent another diesel to go rescue it, and THAT engine broke down. So out went our little old 1925-vintage steam engine, hitched up, and pulled both stinky, dead diesels and a loaded five-car passenger train up a 500-foot incline on a sharp curve and back into the station without once slipping its drive wheels. Smokestack just BLASTING!! Times like that, and this, renew my hope that steam will rule again someday. ;) Thanks for sharing such a rousing story.
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branchandroot
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Date: Dec. 24th, 2009 04:32 am (UTC)