Ah yes, Jon -
IIRC, following her three-week stint on the AFT, #610 was leased to the Southern
for a couple of years. IMHO, the bronze eagle on the headlight looks great. Did
the Southern ever add candlesticks or paint #610 green à là their PS-4's? I was
living a hand-to-mouth existence in California at the time, so I never got a chance
to see her run in the east - but I do remember reading that the Southern was very
pleased with her performance.
As primary engine-washer & hostler (and one-night student fireman) I was on duty nearly all of the three weeks #610 was with the AFT, but I did get a chance to trade my space on the train for a ride in a fan's car on Monday, Feb. 16, 1976 - Presidents' Day, IIRC. Some of my B&W shots from that morning are posted on [
ngdiscussion.net]. Here are enhanced versions of some taken in color later that day, after the clouds had thinned a bit -
Crossing the Brazos(?) River, north of Valley Mills. There were a LOT of tools - and six bunks - squeezed into that baggage car
:
Somewhere south of Cleburne, Texas, with Andy Adams firing
:
Entering the yards at Cleburne later in the day
:
A day or two afterward, at the army base in Fort Worth
:
Later in the evening, with the aid of a car's headlights and a couple of BIG flashbulbs
:
Dig that unusual trailing truck - actually an articulated extension of the frame - to which the drawbar was directly attached. SFAIK, #610 is the only example of Will Woodard's original Super-Power design still in existence! Doyle McCormack was so impressed with her easy steaming that he later added thermic siphons to #4449's firebox.
- Russ
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2012 09:10PM by Russo Loco.