Re: Most difficult to fire in terms of skill

MD Ramsey Wrote:
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> That is a good point...those that have fired on
> the Grand Canyon Railway know about the
> "up-down-up-down" grades. Gotta be on top of it
> all the time....!

I used to take some pride in that I had never really had any student trips on several dozen locomotives that I had fired, that is until I encountered 4960 in 1999. She kicked my ass for several afternoons until Richard Ferguson took pity on my frustration one day and showed me what I was doing wrong. I had been used to getting away with over atomizing if behind and it had always worked until I met the Big Black Bitch. I was told that her burner came off of one of the ATSF 3751 class 4-8-4s and that the slit for atomizer steam was worn so wide that you only needed a slight turn on the valve for most yard and slow speed moves. Things were tolerable after that.