*_New videos are in the works!_* Sorry it has taken so long, but this has been a very busy year for me so far! *_An Update:_* • In January, _The Walt Disney Company_ found me and presented an offer I could not decline to join their roundhouse crew that takes care of the 5 steam locomotives as well as the steamboat at Disneyland. • The roundhouse at Disneyland is very much so off limits to the public so creating videos there is not permitted (as of right now). • I travel back home (Colorado) very frequently to help out as well as do contract work with the various railroads in the state (Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Colorado Railroad Museum, etc.). • During these trips to work on the locomotives out in Colorado, I come up with new ideas for videos and collect all the footage I can to create them. Thanks for everyone's patience and new videos will be out very soon! -Jeff Berrier For more content from me, see my Instagram: instagram.com/denver_and_rio_grande_western/?hl=en Or my new FaceBook page: facebook.com/JeffryPBerrier/
Congratulations!! It is evident that you are fulfilling a lifelong dream! Your work with steam locomotives is one of the ways to preserve that chapter of American transportation history. With your contract work, and the work at Disney, it is evident that you are very good in what you do! Maybe we should also bestowed upon you the title of “Traveling Engineer.” May your job give you great success and happiness!
Such a complex machine for it's day. Today we may have more complex machines like an airplane but that doesnt require mechanical labor like running one of these great huge mechanical marvels, hats off to you. love your videos. they are so well detailed and informative. Thomas the train has my full respect now too.
I can see why my dad and grandfather's loved being engineers, thanks for your dedication in preserving those pieces of history. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I love that you captioned details of what you're doing in your videos. They've totally demystified steam locomotives for me. I've learned so much. Thanks and keep them coming!
Thanks for ALL the videos,without your trouble to set the camera Everywhere we would not get to see this awsome stuff sitting clean behind the iPad. To me ,impatient as I am at work like this, it’s so much trouble to work, weld , grind,build, much less moving a camera and narrating. So thank you for showing us this awsome steam machinery of a time past . Without guys like you it will be lost. The malineals of today will never appreciate this or ever care about STEAM. I LUV THIS STUFF WADE, IN Louisiana
Another thought, it’s not just a machine, it’s a living thing. One has to care about it as you do,wipe it with oil to prevent rust, like lotion on our hands and body. This shows an attitude that people are losing. Most workers are just there for a check. You show a great quality as an engineer, patient ,caring ,climbing all over that engine. Good man! Wade
Thank you Jeff for the videos. My dad started as a fireman on steam locomotives in the late 1930’s. By the time I came along, he was an engineer. Eventually, the company phased in diesel. I am happy to say that I was the son of a locomotive engineer and proud of it. Now, to binge watch your channel. Earl
Your videos are absolutely the best of their kind that I've ever seen on RU-vid! It's the kind of thing I've been searching for years for. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to make them!
Wonderful display of people who care and know what they are doing. The behind the scenes view of what goes on before the passengers are seen and board the train. Lovely video, showing a steam loco in all glory, rust leaks and steam just as they are, a working beast. The fireman working round the firebox with coal before starting put me back on a footplate and had my hand twitching to have a shovel in my hand once more. Great work all round. Amacf
As far as hands-on jobs go, you have a good one. What a rare experience to be able to see a true steam engine up close, let alone work on one. I'm sure you have several jealous viewers.
Just recently discovered your videos and enjoy them very much. A dream come true, really! I grew up in Durango in the 60s. My friend and I would ride our bikes down to the roundhouse to see the locomotives (all K-28s at that time as I remember). Now, as a mechanical/aero engineer, I really appreciate seeing your videos on the inner workings of my beloved D&RGW engines. So cool! I love the cab ride videos as well. My brother and I plan on riding the Cumbres Toltec this summer. I've never been there to see it in person. Keep the videos coming and congratulations on your Disneyland gig.
I've much enjoyed your videos, Jeff. They bring back great memories of running ex-Florida East Coast #113 in Miami, Florida during the late 80s/early 90s. 113 was a light Pacific, oil-fired, and was very much my "baby." Absolutely loved that engine! Alas, unless some munificent benefactor comes along, she'll never run again. Requires a major rebuild, including a new firebox and new tires. Someday I hope to have a chance to run a steamer again. Watching you and seeing the cab, I can STILL feel my hand on the throttle and brakestand, and all the little (but important) things that must be remembered when running, like keeping an occasional eye on the hydrostat, and opening the cylinder cocks once in a while. And knowing that the blowdown is a very effective means of extinguishing a small trackside wildfire that thank goodness was on the same side of the engine as the blowdowns! Passengers got quite a show that day.
What an incredibly filmed video. Excellent in all regards. Im a train nut , so this is right up my alley. Thx. I was enthralled by it all. respect from MAINE USA .
Yeah the best part of NOT having some silly voice narration OR stupid music track!!! Ok, so who can identify what the levers do? I think I figured out the long horizontal one is the throttle, and maybe the tall vertical lever is the brake, but what about the two smaller brass levers to his left that he opened and shut?
WHAT CAN I SAY, HAVING THE AMERICAN STEAM TRAIN ENGINEER JOB REALLY IS FOR EVERYONE OF AMERICA!!!! AND WE LOVE STEAM LOCOMOTIVES SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
I don't know if you'll see this comment but, if you do, I just wanted to tell you this. I'm a pretty frequent visitor at Disneyland and I've seen you and another roundhouse crew member running Ernest S. Marsh (my favorite locomotive) occasionally. You guys seriously put on quite a show and demonstrate how a locomotive should truly be run. Its awesome to see such a love and passion for steam power that it has rubbed of onto me. Starting in October, I'm going to start volunteering to do maintenance on Ventura County Railway #2 at the Orange Empire Railway Museum.
Very interesting video of all works that have to be done to run a steam locomotive. Descriptions, camera work and cut are perfect, thank you. You are a very young team running this aged engine ;-) Thank you for preserving and running this relict of a important phase of our engineering history.
You sir are a professional. I hope you make a good living doing this. I would trust my safety to your good hands. This video put a smile on my face And I wish they would bring back steam locomotives on a limited basis. They are feats of engineering and there is a beauty in their ruggedness.
Great video! Love your series. Visited the CRRM last summer with my dad and saw 491 under steam on display that day. I would like to see a video about putting the engine to bed for the night, I've wondered how that's done. I've heard of a few methods (banking the fire, capping the stack, "breaking" the injectors, etc.), but would like to see how you guys do it. Keep up the great work, Jeff! Cheers from Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
This. Was. Glorious. ...and I was thinking about the people that had to have performed a full-on F.R.A. Certified restoration. Mad Skilz, labors of love.
so good to see a man who truly works and cares about the machinery it is the old way I have a million questions but only two I will ask is this your favorite ? do you have names for the engines ?
Awesome Jeff - I enjoy these videos! So funny, just as I was thinking to myself "man if that were me I'd take some oil and a rag and wipe down the rods...then, lo and behold at 10:05/06!! Nice to know I'm of the same mind as the guys I look up to.
I just found your videos. Fantastic! I'm an airline pilot but I've always secretly dreamed of being a train engineer...steam only of course! Thanks for your great videos and to your devotion to these great machines!
Thank you Jeff,I was confused thinking the push rods where stainless steel,I cant believe the amount of work you do to fool a old man in thinking they are not SS.LOL.Very cool..Ty73s
Fantastic job, Jeff! All three videos are outstanding. The photography and editing is excellent as is the depth of the content, showing the grit and grime of these magnificent beasts and the herculean effort necessary to make them run. If only you could include the heat and smell, too. My only gripe is with youtube itself and the placement of their stupid ads over your text. Nice work.
You have it easy for a fireman. I had wipe down the whole loco before oiling and greasing, while the fire was started. Also had to clean the smoke box once a month and Firefox cleaned of clunkers before starting a fire
You probably won't see this, however what are the requirements to becoming a locomotive engineer? I'm thinking about going into the field. I've always been great at working with my hands and I can possibly use my experience of building robots (competitively) to help me in this profession. I suppose that's quite a time travel going from working on new tech to tech hundreds of years ago haha. Thank you so much for keeping these huge beautiful machines running fresh like the day they were built. 🙏
Ive said it before great to see a young person working with this old machinery !! I wonder why they do not nickel plate some parts to keep them from rusting ??
If you're thinking of the side rods I saw him wiping down, my guess is that the cleanliness is also an inspection for tight fasteners & possible stress/fatigue cracking.
That's only marginally true look at the N&W they had stenciled on every tender BLACK SMOKE IS WASTE if you fired them right they smoked not too bad look at some of there vids on here they ran with a clean stack a lot and always in tunnels if they could plus they took pride in how they ran there engines the fireman's on them now over fire a lot for photo ops I have hand fired some and there is a art to doing it right .
Did you not notice that video you posted that he's going up a grade with a rather heavy load? Of course it'll be smoking up heavy. When you take into account the weight, the strain on the engine and what the fire is doing, that's normal. What John said is true, Black smoke is waste! Not to say I don't like it, but if you look at old passenger trains, especially high speed ones, once they were up to speed and the reverser was set for max efficiency, there was almost no smoke. He is correct on the black heavy smoke being used for photo ops now. Don't knock someone for age when they actually know what they're talking about Steve.
Yes I remember the end of steam as a kid . I my self have hand fired old locomotives rail fanning also qualified on several diesel units my brother retired from CSX pulled strings and got me a lot of time on there equipment I hope to visit this railroad and maybe get a cab ride I am only 61 YO Own a metal fab biz and co own a small fleet of trucks 50 that are leased to a heavy haul out fit we move all those long wide and tall superloads on multi axel units my now departed partner was involved with a test unit of fluidized combustion at AEP he was there lead software engineer at that time Its VERY clean (the Germans use it a lot at there power plants they retired all there nukes ) if you have a good draft and the right fireman you can get a clean burn along with the cut off right settings no its not going to be like you have scrubbers on it like a PP does but I think you could build a coal fired locomotive utilizing those 2 technology's even upfit older ones but these old machines are just fine for what they are used for .
At 16:51 - this Class K-37 2-8-2 Mikado most likely got fitted out with Superheating when she was rebuilt in Aug 1928. If that is true, then prior to that it was Saturated Steam. Especially being originally outshopped in 1881 (before Superheating), and this locomotive was not built for speed (as the saying goes).
Un grand merci pour le partage de cette très belle vidéo qui est très intéressante . Vivement une prochaine vidéo . Encore merci. ( À big thank you for sharing this very beautiful video very interresting...eagerly a next video. Thanks again ) 👌👍
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