Omaha Zoo Railroad 9-19-04 *PIC*

Ran at the zoo yesterday with my dad. It was nice for me because they were short on engineers, and there was a huge Oriental Trading Company picnic with over 7000 attendees that had a contract with the zoo to run the train and all other rides or movies until 8 pm. I took alot of my dads runs. We were even harder on the boiler yesterday because we didn't make any stops along the line accept at the engine house for fuel and water, and more people. Usually we stop two other times. The depot at the top of the zoo is sort of like Cumbres, only in a much smaller scale and the grades are even worse. The rear of the train is sloping down the one side of the hill and the engine is sloping down the other side....by not stopping, going upgrade the water glass was completely full, both injectors on, and then we immediately head down a 5% grade and the water drops completely out of the glass, and then slowly comes up!
When the UP steam crew first ran on that railroad, their jaws dropped to the floor when they saw the glass was empty! They just weren't used to that sort of thing...it is pretty crazy after-all.
Enjoy the pictures.