I agree riding at night behind steam is pretty neat. The above post made me think of a return trip from Sumpter in the Cupola of Cab. 5 after a night train 8 or 9 years ago. It was probably about 10:00PM and quite dark out. Casey Carlson and I were the only ones in the caboose and we had a kerosene brakeman's lantern for light. It was kinda eerie, surreal and damn cool all at the same time. You could see something far ahead from the locomotive headlight, but what was the neatest was the flashes of light from the sides of the firebox on the cuts. While in attire and manner of operation SVRy's crews try to portray the old days, there are always certain compromises to modern times like carrying a radio. That night was one of those times when riding along in the cupola it could have been just as easily 1920. The hopefully subtle compromises fade away in the dark. I am sure we must have had the spirits of a grizzled old SVRy brakeman and conductor riding with us in the caboose that night. EEeeooo!