First engine you looked at was former Canadian National #47. It was the very first excursions locomotive used by stwamtown when they were originally located in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Unfortunately her career was rather short, due to lost maintenance records that has been destroyed in an office fire. So steamtown was forced to retire her. She wasn't in service for even a month
As a kid I once climbed into the engineer's cab of an old steam locomotive. Opened the firebox and a hyperactive squirrel ran out, dust and fluff everywhere!
Wouldn't it be great to own your own private track with a small train and a few carriages on your own property? You could run your tiny home around on the track and change position depending on the time of year.
My late father worked for Southern Pacific Railroad for 28 years before retiring. His passion was trains and I'm certain he is enjoying this video from heaven. Thank you.
@@Marcel_Audubon good one Marcel but to keep calling it a “SNOW BLOWER” when you could do 2 seconds of research and call it what it is.. you know because he’s making a video to inform people with? Smartass
Awesome video guys - I used to visit Steamtown a lot as a kid and always loved watching trains from that overhead walkway they have on site. In the opening shot of the video that's a Canadian National 4-6-4T, and used to run when Steamtown's original location was in Bellows Falls Vermont. The loco with the big 6 ft driving wheel is a Canadian Pacific 4-4-4 type, known as the Jubilee.
@@yeoldeseawitchI would love to go in there with a gas torch and start cutting some scrap steam locos. Maybe I would save the snow blower for a preservation group but certainly I will cut the steam locos.
Its fascinating to see the old trains and the snow blower which funny enough only just saw a video of one that had been restored and watched on RU-vid in action a few days ago. We have lots of old trains sitting and waiting to be restored here in Western Australia too. Hotham Valley Railway is run by volunteers and at times they bring out a train journey for people to experience for the day. Sad to see them rotting away and maybe to far gone to restore now.
I really think that steamtown is rather the opposite of heaven because they have a bunch of equipment that they ignore and haven't given any attempt of proper preservation and just allows them to rot. One engine in particular in their back lot is Nickel Plate Road #44, which is the oldest nkp locomotive in existence, as well as nkp 759, a former excursion running engine that they refuse to let go so it could potentially run again. And the sole reason she'll never run again is she's too big for steamtown to operate.
There is a fully operational rotary snow plow running on the Heber valley historic railroad line in Heber city Utah. To see it in operation is truly a awesome experience. The amount of snow it can throw is mind boggling. They also have a train ride that is very cool on the track from the 1800’s
I love steam engines and the good old days of steam, wished I could go back to that era...that huge black restored loco looked like "Big Boy"...he was huge...Im from Australia and my most favorite steam engine is the good old "3801" she is beautiful...I also love the "Flying Scotsman"...thank you for this video...i loved it....take care on your adventures, Chris :)
It's a big boy. Was originally planned to be restored to operation but the tracks weren't designed for the big boys and parts were used for 4014s restoration
3:10 I wonder if that's a service car. I think some passenger cars took steam from the engine to heat them. When they switched from steam to diesel, they added a car with a boiler to heat the passenger cars. Longer trains may have needed a service car too.
I'd like to go here and explore those trains. Is that possible legally? I can't believe with the liability issues that could happen that you're allowed to just wonder and climb about? Seems like you would at least have to sign some kind of a waiver due to injury, asbestos and lead paint.
I'm glad the two guys had a sense of wonder and amazement touring the boneyard, but personally I consider it disgraceful and disgusting. The boneyard, NOT the two young men. All that equipment rusting and rotting away, unrestored and NEVER will be. That's the "Steamtown" national park. If they had any sense they'd sell off the unneeded equipment to interested parties, the too far gone ones for scrap, and the locomotives to those who can possibly use them, and the use the raised funds to save the rest. I can't help but get the impression that as far as "Steamtown" is concerned the NPS considers it a white elephant and has no idea of what to do with it. Your tax dollars at "work."
Not all engines that are rusted and just bones should be scrapped and also most of that equipment probably hasn't moved in decades and would probably break if moved or attempted to. Abandoned engine are while a sad sight also a interesting sight
Steam Town used to be in Vermont and then was moved to PA. There's a Steam locomotive in Gorham nh that used to belong to Steam Town. They were going to scrap it because they did not want to pay to have it moved. A man from the area bought it and put it on display in Gorham. He saved it because it has a special roof to go under a shoot at the place it was built to work.
I have old photos and books about steam town back when it was in Vermont. It almost looks like steam town did more and was more popular when it was in Vermont.
Those passenger cars are beyond restoration. Sure, they can rebuild it with all new wood and hardware, but then it's not a restoration. It's brand new. It's like "restoring" Lizzy Borden's axe. A new head and handle but still the same whack job Lizzy used. 🤔
The big wheels were meant for speed, probably was used for passenger service, while the smaller wheels were meant for freight, it was a locomotive that didn't have to go as fast, it was destined for the pulling power instead.
I've been to the site a few times, its always cool to look around. My personal favorite locomotive that they have is an old Shays type sitting near the concrete grain bins towards the back of the site.
The machine is a Snow "Thrower". It worked in "2 stages". The front blades, that resemble a fan, would bite into the snow, breaking it up and feeding back into the "Thrower" part of the machine. At 7:02 we can see where the snow was fed into the paddles, round part and shoot. In reality if it was a "Blower" it would not work very well at all especially in hard packed snow. Most people call the small "2 stage" snow "throwers" we use to clear our driveways and sidewalks snow BLOWERS too but they are not, they are "throwers". They work just as this machine did. The Augers in the front bite into the snow breaking it up and feeding it to the "Thrower" part of the " 2 stage" machine. A snow "blower" might work somewhat with light powdery snow but would never blow the heavy stuff this thing did.
Alright so the reason why a lot of this stuff hasn’t been restored is because Steamtown doesn’t have a lot of money to spend on restoring their stock (even though they are a national park!). There also isn’t a lot of space in their roundhouse and shops for all of this equipment. It’s really sad the Steamtown is probably the least paid national park in North America. Maybe even the world.
There’s a video I’ve seen on here it’s a caboose in the woods in Canada really cool they built it to last back in the day unlike today it’s built to be replaced 🤔🙈🤷♂️🥲
Such Powerhouses these old Iron Horses! Even their bones are Beautiful! Luv seeing this history of our country's bygone days. Great job filming and Huge Shout out to Jay for sharing! 🚃 💛 💚 💙 💜
When I first watched this, I thought he was two blocks from my house in Strasburg Pa. Love these videos. Always informative and easy to understand. Would have killed me to think I missed an opportunity to meet him and possibly learn more about his story. Hope he keeps these videos coming!
I was on a train like that when i was 4 yrs old. It was 1981, and I can still remember begging my mom for a toy train set from a gift shop when the locomotives brakes suddenly caught fire.
Thank you for this AWESOME video. I've been to Steamtown USA. One day just isn't enough time to cover everything there. I visited there pre covid and the cost to get in was a donation.
Somewhere in the northeast "post 10" recorded a video of a old steam locomotive,cars and he also walked the old railroad bed. If I remember correctly it was a old logging railroad. Great video BTW from a guy who has been interested in trains for years now.
Thanks for posting this video..I have been to the museum many times over the years..urge anyone with especially children to take a trip and see and feel real history..also can go inside and see ones being refurbished in real-time..real craftsmen at work....also a ride on a live steam engine...now you can`t pass that up right?..how do you say no to your child..once again thank you..
So for you pre-WWII is very old. There are still people alive today who were born before then. It would be nice to see you make a video of you jumping a freight. I am old now, but I did that when I was about 20. It wasn't difficult and a cheap way to go a long distance. Better to do it in the Spring or Fall for, I think, obvious reasons.
I was a home heath aide for some families. One man told me his stories of riding the rails. They had to in those days to find work. His first car had no rubber on the wheels, so they made them with newspaper. Fantastic. He got together with a chemist, I think, and made household cleaners in 55 gallon barrels. They had to bring them down 3 flights of stairs for pick-up. He ended up retiring and selling his formulas to Johnson&Johnson. Stuff like Mop&Glow.
You had a great video today. Those old trains. Isn't there a way to get rid of those trains? YOU HAVE SHOWN US MANY OLD THINGS THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN CARE OF. BUT THAT WOULD NOT BE GOOD FOR YOUR CHANNEL. I ALSO REALLY LOVED YOUR HAWAII ADVENTURES.
As a museum for the preservation and operation of steam locomotives, Steamtown is a disgrace and a failure that those of us in the preservation community find appalling.
Geez!!...... for me this would be the equivalent of going on a vacation to some far away places!!!! I could pack me some food and whatever else I need and stay for days....... damn.......
Just a couple of comments on your RR videos. I realize you're not a railfan or expert, but some things would help viewers who are. When you can, please show a 3/4 or full side view of the locomotives, as you did with the CN 4-6-4 tank engine. It will ID the engines' wheel arrangements & often its builder &/or original owner. The passenger car was probably from the 20's or early 30's; they didn't build cars with clerestory roofs and plain seats (except for commuter cars) later than that. The freight car is a standard wood box car, not a stock car, which would have slatted sides so the animals inside could breath while packed in there. Also, those "big" driving wheels, really aren't big at all. That was a freight engine, while passenger engines of that vintage would range from app. 72"-80"! Thanks & keep 'em coming.
You should see the driving wheels on a Stirling single at the National Railway Museum in York UK. I think from memory that they are 8 foot in diameter. It just cost over £3m to overhaul the Flying Scotsman. I dread to think how much it would cost to restore one of the locomotives from your "boneyard"
The Clearstory at 8:30 if you were to hire a team to restore it maybe in best speed and management could be done for as low as $250,000.00 but if they did everything under staff and did it to Private car level of opulence could go as high as 1.5 million to pay someone to do it over a 3-9 month period.
That steam locomotive at the beginning is from Canada. It was used in the beginning of the steam town tourist trains in the 1960s. It was banned from being used because of all the maintenance records were destroyed in a fire up in Canada.
Love the videos my man. Do you take requests? There are a few places you need to see. One is an old factory set to be demolished this year... get ahold of me... thanks. again for showing off all these cool places
One day, 47 deserves to be running again in the future instead of being stuffed and mounted or rusting away, I wonder if Steamtown decides to give away 47 to the AOSR or somewhere else?
Lots of that stuff is pre 1900, so older than you think. Restoration is done a lot by volunteers. Time and money are always a factor in restoration. I do restoration in Kentucky and have spent thousands of dollars of my own money towards projects. So if you want to help. Donate to your local museum, time or money. Too many to work on and not enough people, so we would like to save them all but we can't.
