11/26/23

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image goes back to 2021 in Pennsylvania when I got to see Norfolk & Western locomotive 611 at the Strasburg Railroad.  611 is a gorgeous 4-8-4 locomotive known as the Queen of Steam.  It was on loan for a fund raising trip in PA from the Virginia Museum of Transportation.  It returned home in the latter half of 2023.  I have a short Video of it HERE while it was at the end point of Paradise PA where the locomotive moves around the train to head back to Strasburg.  Locomotives pull the train out backwards from Strasburg as s being shown in the photo for today.

3/19/23

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image is another of the Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western 611 on the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania.  It has been spending some time out there running excursions and raising money for it's new home in Virginia.  This locomotive is a Northern 4-8-4 type like UP's 844 I shared last week but it has been shrouded.  They did that to some locomotives to make them look more futuristic and streamlined in the later days of steam.  It was built in 1950 and retired only nine years later.  Due to it's excellent condition it was donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

9/4/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image is a very steamy shot of locomotive 611 which was operating at the Strasburg Railway in Pennsylvania last summer.  The Norfolk & Western engine's home is in Roanoke Virginia but it had come out to PA to do some excursions to raise money for it's various needs like storage.  On it's way out of Strasburg, locomotives pull the train backwards and then in Paradise, maneuver around the train to the front to pull forward. 

8/14/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  It's steamy in a different way where I live, 100 F today.  UGH  Anyway, today's image goes back to Pennsylvania last year and the Strasburg Railroad where Norfolk & Western locomotive 611 was visiting and during some excursions.  I caught this shot as it was coming around a bend and heading back to Strasburg from Paradise PA. 

7/31/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  I haven't done much steamy this year so far so having to still dig in the archives for images.  This is from my visit to Strasburg PA last year when I got to see Norfolk & Western locomotive 611 visiting the railroad there.  I love steam trains in B&W so decided to process this image that way.  I captured 611 here on it's way back to Strasburg from Paradise.

4/10/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  I see that train a coming!  😁  This is Norfolk & Western Queen of Steam 611 coming down the track on it's way back to Strasburg Pennsylvania from Paradise on a summer day last July.

1/16/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  This is The Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western J Class 611.  I was able to see this locomotive once again in Strasburg Pennsylvania in July while it was out there for a fudraising trip.  I captured it as it passed by on it's way back to the station.

10/17/21

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today goes back to Pennsylvania once again.  I was able to see and photograph Norfolk & Western J Class locomotive 611, the Queen of Steam, once again.  I captured it here as it was pulling out of Paradise, the end of the track from Strasburg.  In Paradise it changes from the pulling the back of the train to moving around and pulling from the front back to Strasburg.

8/1/21

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  In Paradise Pennsylvania, the Strasburg trains stop and the engine moves around the train to pull it back to the station, they pull backwards out of Strasburg.  They have a nice little area to watch this occuring.  Here I captured the Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western 611 as it headed back to hook up to it's train just around the bend.

7/18/21

 It's Steamy Sunday!  I was in Pennsylvania a week ago and got to do something steamy.  The Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western locomotive 611 is out in PA again for a fund raiser. I captured it on it's way back to Strasburg on one of it's runs for that day.

11/15/20

 Welcome to Steamy Sunday on the Blog!  A friend of mine and frequent visitor to the Blog tipped me to a video on a different technique on processing images that works rather well with train images.  Here is Norfolk & Western locomotive 611 and it's train in Pennsylvania last year processed to appear as though it is emerging from a pencil drawing.  Let me know in the comments if you like the look.

10/4/20

It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  It was just a year and a few days ago now I was out in Pennsylvania in Strasburg seeing and riding behind Norfolk and Western J Class 611 that had come out for some special excursions from Virginia.  A gorgeous locomotive and a very fun time back when days were normal.  It was just starting to move out from a station stop and you can see the steam being exhausted from the wheel cylinders to make sure there is no water in them for any undue pressure and problems after it sat for a bit.

5/10/20

I am still having an enjoyable time playing with this new technique.  Hope you are enjoying seeing it.  Steam trains are a great subject for it in my opinion.  This is one from my trip to the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania to the Norfolk & Western 611 this past September.

 

4/12/20

The way things are going these days I am wondering if I will have new steam pics to share this year.  May have to be digging into the archives quite a bit more.  Anyway, today's image is a shot of the 2 locomotives I traveled to Pennsylvania late last September to see.  I mainly went for Norfolk and Western J Class 611 on the left but it was a treat to see N&W 475 as well.  The event was called The Reunion of Steam and was held at the Strasburg Railroad.  

3/22/20

Today's image is another shot of Norfolk & Western locomotive 611 and it's train across the soybean field in Pennsylvania from last autumn.  The 611 was out at Strasburg PA giving rides and doing other fun things and i had a chance to ride behind it after I took this image.

1/26/20

Back at the end of September I went to the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania to be able to ride behind this beautiful locomotive that was visiting from Virginia.  This was not long before my ride where the Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western J class 611, was sitting on display so visitors could get in the cab and blow the whistle for a fee.  In a few moments it would move and hook onto our train and pull us to Leaman Place Junction at Paradise PA and back again.  A fun if short ride.

11/17/19

At the Strasburg Railway in Pennsylvania the locomotive backward pulls the train out to Paradise PA and then uncouples and moves around to the front of the train and pulls it forwards back to Strasburg.  I captured this image at Picnic Grove where Norfolk & Western 611 was heading back while N&W 475 was heading out.  The ride is short but nice through the Amish farm countryside.

11/10/19

While I was watching Norfolk & Western 611 on it's runs to and from Strasburg to Paradise Pennsylvania I was sitting in the Picnic Grove Station.  I got this shot as it approached the station on it's way back to Strasburg.  People could get picked up here after having their picnic.

10/27/19

This is another image from Strasburg Pennsylvania of Norfolk and Western 611 heading out after 475 went past on it's way to Paradise PA.  That is where the trains go, a 9 mile trip there and back on the same track.  It's a nice ride through Amish farm country even though short.

10/13/19

I have always admired this style of locomotive, ever since I saw it made famous in the photographs of O Winston Link.  Link was famous for his night photography of steam trains of the Norfolk & Western line between 1955 and 1960.  He used numerous flash bulbs to illuminate his night shots.  One of them can be seen at the link here to his museum which helped provide some funding to bring 611 to Strasburg.  More of his images can be found if you Google him.  I learned of his photographs several years ago.  Anyway, it was wonderful to be able to see this beautiful locomotive in person in Pennsylvania.