The amount of smoke generated is a function of the way the locomotive is being fired and the capacity of the boiler to generate sufficient steam to do the job the locomotive is being asked to do. British steam locomotives sacrificed easy maintainability for greater efficiency, therefore used less coal than their North American counterparts, but spent more time in the engine sheds. A properly fired steam engine should only show a slight haze coming from the stack.

Most tourist railways purposely overfire their steam locomotives because the tourists expect to see black smoke. If you see "white smoke", that isn't actually smoke, but exhaust steam, which is a lot more visible in cold weather.

The picture is too poor to identify anything. But, the mention  of a 78 percent grade makes it the Yosemite Valley. There was an operation that pulled logging flatcars using a cable of the side of the valley to a logging camp above. All this was gone before I was born and I'm 67 years old.

Some of my N scale work:











There are a lot more where those came from. I've been in N scale for 40 years!

Current membership list:

http://www.aslrra.org/our_members/Railroad_Members/

North American short lines as of 2008. Almost all are members.

Clear vision tenders are for switching locomotives, and a 4-8-4 is most certainly not a switch engine, so a clear vision tender wouldn't look very prototypical. The strealined N&W "J" tender might look a little odd behind an ATSF 4-8-4, but try it and see. Doubt you'll find a 4-8-2 minus tender for sale, Bachmann made the tenders available for other models to improve current pickup.

That's 'cause Bachmann announced nothing at the Derby City Express!  

It's in North Carolina on the "A-line" of CSXT, formerly the main line of the Atlantic Coast Line. Rode it in 1991 on a CSXT OCS. 

Quote from: Santa Fe buff on June 14, 2008, 10:39:45 AM
Some say UP, because they may not just be used for yard work, but some are chained to it with the Union Pacific Yard Locomotive symbol on it, if I ever work for them, I will just take a SD70M. By the way, a SD70M for UP had the roadnumber: 4669. Is that number different if it's a diesel, for if it was a steamer, wouldn't it be a big boy?

No, the Big Boys were 4001-4025 ('scuse the typo)

How far back to you want to go? In the modern era, the following operated in Florida:

Atlantic Coast Line
Seaboard Air Line
Southern Railway
Louisville & Nashville
Burlington Northern (ex. SL-SF)
Florida East Coast
South Georgia
Live Oak, Perry & Gulf
Apalachicola Northern
Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay

Some, like Southern and Burlington Northern just barely got into the Northern and Western parts of the State. Southern reached Jacksonville, Palatka and Madison, BN reached Pensacola. NS still reaches Jacksonville.

Quite a bit of trackage has been abandoned or spun off, mostly by CSXT. New operators are Florida Central, Florida Midland, Florida Northern (Pinsly roads), South Central Florida Express, and Seminole Gulf. The BN trackage is now the Alabama & Gulf Coast. Apalachicola Northern is now AN Railway, and ASAB is now The Bay Line Railroad, both Genessee & Wyoming companies.

Since I have no local hobby shops, I buy mainly from Feather River Train Shop, but also buy from Wig-Wag Trains and Brooklyn Locomotive Works. Get excellent prices and top service from all three.

URL's are: http://www.featherrivertrains.com/

http://www.buynscale.com/

http://www.wig-wag-trains.com/

Try Here:

http://www.naisp.net/mfischer/m_train2.htm

Check out this website for all kinds of information:

http://www.steamfreightcars.com/

Let's see this one, with 68" drivers. A Bachmann motor ought to fit in this:

 

http://www.dapol.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=1&id=17&Itemid=65

http://www.railway-models.co.uk/

https://www.connectstores.com/hattons/


The above should give you some idea of what's available. Both stores gladly ship to the USA and Canada.

I became a railroader when I got out of college and applied with the NYC and EL in New York. They weren't hiring, so I went to Philadelphia and applied with the Pennsylvania Railroad. It promptly sent me back to New Orleans, and except for two years with the Veterans Administration I worked for railroads all my working career. The last 18 of that I spent in charge of marketing and ancillary functions for a short line.

As far as model railroading, I got an American Flyer set after World War II at the age of six. There is a world of difference between being a modeler and being a railroader. You might want to change the thread title.