FREE cab rides

The city of Cincinnati is offering FREE CAB RIDES to anyone who needs them tonight. Wow, what about Chama...any free cab rides. Of all the C&TS engines the only ones I have ever had a cab ride in was 487, and 484 but both were very short. Maybe in Cincinnati I could get one with N&W 611, or Nickel Plate 765, or C&O 614, or a Southern RWY engine. I did ride one time each in 611 and 765 though. 611 was a real treat cause it was on the same line that runs through my hometown. I was doing some preliminary shooting for a video we did for the Cincinnati Railroad club, and this was a one-way trip. I got off half-way down the line so I could shoot some trackside views the rest of the way. The actual excursions were 3 weeks later. The crew and trainmaster offered to let me go another 15 miles to Batavia, where I had told them I was from, but I declined. I am now having second thoughts, as it would have been cool to step off on in front of the station from the engineers side of 611 where we used to see these things in regular service when I was very young. I was lucky to get that cab ride. Although it had been somewhat pre-arranged with the club and one of the officials, another one wanted to nix the ride cause this was 1986 and the crew car did not have tight-lock couplers, and this was a few months after the dismal swamp derailment. Engineer Frank Collins told me he had not gotten the message on the cab ride, but after talking to the trainmaster who was along with us, they said to climb on up. Collins had run steam on the N&W in regular service. He retired in 1987, one year after my cab ride.
Ironically the two other crewmembers turned out to be Bob Saxton, who took over for Collins, and Tim Sposato, then mainly a shop guy in Birmingham. In 1989 he was hired by Jerry Jacobson to be his CMO, and is still with him today at the Age of Steam Roundhouse. A steam guy for life I guess!!!
Enough rambling. Hope you all enjoy your free cab rides!!!
Greg

I guess these folks in Cincinnati don't understand how some folks think when it comes to cab rides, eh!!!

Happy New Year!
Greg