Re: 3' Steam Beauties-DIESELIZED *LINK*

We CERTAINLY were disgusted. The main thing that chapped our backsides was that the people who did the hiring wouldn't take the time to go out and find more people with the intelligence and DESIRE to operate a steam locomotive. The few of us that WERE around all had regular jobs and in most cases families, and there were some weekends when we just couldn't be there; not to mention during the week! It was easier to blame us for not being there than to go out and find more folks.
Now as a sad update...the Texas tender was gutted to accomodate a diesel prime mover, and most of the firebox was torched to make room for a hydraulic drive. Amusingly, it was too light without water in the boiler and wouldn't move the train, even on level ground. SOOOO....they cut out part of the front flue sheet and stacked sticks of 132 pound rail on top of the tubes.