SVRy #19 in B&W

Here is Sumpter Valley Ry. Mike #19 taken Oct. 23rd, 2004. The engineer is long time crew member Dale Olsen. There is a pretty good chance that his wife Mary Michael "Mike" Olsen is in the fireman's seat. Before he retired, Dale was a United Airlines pilot based in Anchorage, Ak. so it was a big deal for the couple to come volunteer at SVRR which they did regularly for many years. As you might imagine, Dale is a particularly careful and smooth engineer at all times. I had the privilege of firing the #19 on a photo special with Dale on what I believe was the longest train that SVRR has ever put together. IIRC, it was 17 cars, which was nearly every operable car on the railroad at the time. Backing this train up grade from S Wye to Sumpter was a real challenge, as #19 was down on her knees, with the bar in the corner, the firing valve way open and the fireman's injector running constantly. This while having a foaming problem which exacerbated the water consumption, requiring over-firing to keep up. The scan is from the SVRR Archive.