Re: I have a question

A short and direct answer to your question would be - yes there is a school. It's called the "school of hard knocks". In the olden days (taking seniority into account) it would take mebbe 10 years before a fireman was considered for an engineer's job. That's not entirely true today, but none the less you aren't going to be turned loose with these cantankerous beasts until you have earned at least a stripe or two. And those can only be learned by hours on the wrong end of a scoop.

But that's not the whole answer. In the early days of the C&TS I had the opportunity more than once to ride with an experienced D&RGW engineer. Even with my limited knowledge I winced at the way he abused 483. I should really shut up and let people like Earl Knoob, Carlos Llamas, et al chime in here. They obviously know a helluva lot more about steamers than I will ever know.

But hang in there, pay your dues.

CJ