I was determined to make a good ac-
count of myself and turned to load my shovel. I dug into the coal pile above the tender coal auger and immediately spilled one quarter of my coal onto the deck. Chagrined, I spun toward the firebox doors with gritted teeth and aimed for the spot Steve had identified. Half of the coal made it into the firebox and the other half bounced off of the doors all over the cab floor. This was go- ing to be harder than I thought. “You got some coal in,” Steve said, “but you missed that low spot.” This was going to be much harder than I thought. I grabbed the broom available to crewmembers and quickly swept up my mess. I smiled meekly and, once again, grabbed my shovel. My second try re- sulted in more coal going into the fire- box with but little of it going where it was needed. I went for the broom again and Steve said not to worry and to focus on the coal. Now the 765 had a coal auger and jets for repositioning the coal so I inquired about how that might help. “You cannot shovel enough coal to keep this locomotive steaming,” Steve replied. “The auger is needed for that. You’re simply practicing.” I was not re- assured. I continued to shovel and after ten minutes forlornly handed Steve the shovel. I would need more practice. Steve smiled. All the while as I struggled with my
duties as fireman, Eddie was oblivious to the coal being flung about the cab.
He was busy practicing his whistle blasts. Two longs, a short and a long. He was in locomotive heaven. The whistle was, indeed, loud. Rich Melvin inserted cotton in his ears. Eddie was not going to stop practicing any time soon. Rich settled in behind Eddie and
Steve joined me and motioned towards the valves I would have to learn. As the smoke turned from deep black to ash grey, Eddie pulled back on the throttle and we eased out of the depot. I was determined to be a good fire-
man and intent upon learning the pur- pose behind turning this valve and that. Steve was patient and it was ob- vious from the start that he was experi- enced at his craft. “Watch the color of your smoke,” he advised. “If the smoke is dark and in- tense you are not burning efficiently.” Steve showed me how to reduce the amount of coal fed by the auger. We weren’t pulling much of a train and there was no grade. I don’t think the 765 was working hard at all.
I could only glance over at Eddie oc- casionally because I was not about to lose my focus as fireman. I was embar- rassed enough already after spraying the cab with chunks of coal. I was eager to earn my engineer’s denim. Of course, there was not much doubt about Eddie enjoying the seat I coveted. He was working the whistle for all he was worth. Each grade crossing got more than the rulebook whistles. I’m not sure Eddie ever let go of the chord. In the meantime the crossings were popu- lated with folks amazed at the show of steam power. I had the fireman’s wave perfected. In my denim outfit high- lighted by my wife’s red bandana I was the real deal. No wave was left behind. The 15-minute trip down three miles
of track set aside for the novice crews was over in a twinkling. Eddie engaged the reverser and I, now a bit more con- fident, turned the appropriate valve handles. Several dozen whistles later, we backed into the depot and crawled to a stop. We never really exceeded ten
“Rich told me to signal forward movement... I yanked the whistle cord twice and a chill drove through me as never before. I was not only in the engineer’s seat of a giant Berkshire steam locomotive, I was the engineer...”
With the throttle eased out, NKP 765 begins its low-speed journey down the “high iron” at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum... 56 JANUARY 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68