Re: Silverton diesel an steam train 7/12/21

jcpatten Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was going to comment that I'm glad to see the
> diesel smoking it up more than the steamer.
>
> A number of years ago I went to Conway Scenic RR
> in NH for their Railfan days. They were running
> steamer 7470 that day, as well as diesels.
> Someone approached me and asked if I'd be willing
> to take pictures of the steam engine for him as
> they'd forgotten their camera, which I said I'd be
> glad to do. He then made the mistake of telling
> me he was hoping to get the railroad to stop
> running steam because of the pollution. I told
> him then that nobody there that day would be
> willing to help him.

Folks who spend time worrying about the air pollution caused by steam railroad locomotives in the US are clearly in need of a few problems in their life to help them put life's concerns in perspective. In the US, there are perhaps 150 steam locomotives that are capable of operation. On any given weekday, the number that actually do operate is probably fewer than two dozen. During the months of January through March, you could probably count the number that are running on ANY given day on the fingers of one hand.

/Kevin Madore