Re: not the main rod

That was me sir!!
At the Omaha Zoo railroad, which is 30" gauge, we have two steam locomotives. One is a Crown 4-4-0 and the other is an Austrian Narrow Gauge 0-6-2t.
The Crown even though is no where near as powerful as the Austrian engine, and can only pull four cars up our grades (up to 6%) can bark pretty good. But the Austrian Engine can be very loud, and the whole locomotive is only about 25 feet long. It can easily walk 8 coaches up our grades.
I ran it a couple times the other day for the first time (im only 16) and my dads been running it on the weekends for more than 25 years. He told me alittle bit of what to do the first time, (mostly telling me what to do with the brakes because its 6% down grade sometimes too) but since I fire so much, I have a pretty dog gone good idea as what to do. I got to the point where I pretty comfortably could open it up alot on the 6% grade, and then slowly drop the gear as speed decreases. And it just gets louder and louder!! Very exciting little locomotive!!!
I have alot of cab footage inside the 463 on the C&TS as the lead engine of double headers and stuff. My dads got a real nice pair of head phones, and I just sit there with those things cranked way up and listen to my favorite cab sceen, and that is the 463, as the lead engine of a triple header, starting from a dead stop at Lobato trestle!!!
I hope I get to run the 463 when im an employee at the C&TS! I hope the railroad will even be in operation. I have to wait 3 years. Damnit
Kevin Bush