Given the distance, what does it matter how clean they are or which runs. Its all steam and good either way. As for engines being clean, I too enjoy it when the engines are clean-faced like in the last years of the D&RGW. However in most places I have visited if the engine was pool power it never got much attention. On the other hand in places like South Africa if they had a regular driver(Engineer over in the USA), then the crew or engine wipers would be shining things up both inside the cab and outside. Some engines even had some brass ornaments and female names of relatives or friends. The guy who was assigned a specific engine was ready to show pride in his work and the steed he used when he was running steam. 483 was running here just after being painted, and the tender lettering wasn't even done yet(1971). I like the clean smokebox look, even though it doesn't stay clean very long.
Greg Scholl
[
www.gregschollvideo.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2019 01:30PM by Greg Scholl.