Re: Sumpter Valley Railway

Having never fired with coal, I am assuming it does not suffer from the "sponge effect" like wood. Several years ago I had a pretty good time firing the first two runs. On the second, we experienced a cloud burst with large hale at Sumpter. The hale was pretty severe and actually built up on on the running boards of the engine. The deluge of water that came with it soaked the wood on the engine but more importantly the wood down at the yard which was pretty good dry wood soaked up the water like a sponge. The next trip to Sumpter in which a young lady had arranged for a cab ride, was one of the two worst runs I have fired. I had the box full of wood long before the we reached the highway with the steam steadily dropping. By the time we reached S wye it was apparent a stop to build steam was required. I had seen this happen to others, but had blamed it on their ineptitude and felt pretty cocky that I had not gotten in this shape having made many trips. It was definitly an ego blaster. Like Jim says, Jerry Huck is probably one of if not the best fireman on either engine, making it look easy.