It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I took this image of the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad train as it headed out for a run this past October. The locomotive, former Santa Fe 3415, is now out of service for a while as it is undergoing it's FRA inspection. I will miss seeing it run this year.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! It's a bitterly cold winter day here with a high predicted of -1F. 😨 Today's image goes back to a much warmer day at the beginning of October at the Abilene Heritage Days Festival. The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad was running some of it's last excursions for the year. I captured this image as it was heading out for it's first run of the day. Unfortunately, unless things go more quickly than expected, the railroad will not be operating this engine this year because it is due for it's tube replacement and FRA inspection.
It's an interesting number date today. 😀 It's also Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image goes back to October and Abilene Kansas. On October 7, I was in Abilene helping out at the Heritage Days Festival and the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad was operating it's steam locomotive 3415. It's a former Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Pacific type locomotive which means it has a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement. It was operating for it's last weekend before it has to undergo it's 15 year boiler rebuild as required by the FRA. This is it on the way back to the station when the locomotive is pulling the train. When it heads out it is on the front of the train and then moves around to the rear for the return trip.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! On October 7 I was in Abilene helping out at the Heritage Days Festival and the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad was operating it's steam locomotive 3415. It's a former Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Pacific type locomotive which means it has a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement. It was operating for it's last weekend before it has to undergo it's 15 year boiler rebuild as required by the FRA. They thought that last year would be the last but found that the hours had been miscalculated and were able to operate for another year. Amazingly enough to me, as much as I love trains and the ATSF railroad in particular, I have never ridden behind this engine, I have only photographed it. I have a video of it HERE heading out for it's first of 2 runs and coming back from the second.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Todays image is from this past October when the Abilene & Smoky Valley railroad was operating former ATSF locomotive 3415. It was it's last weekend of operation before it went in for it's FRA inspection and tube replacement. I decided to give this image a B&W treatment to give it a rather timeless look. It was waiting to head out with it's dinner train.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I felt like sharing a B&W photo today as I love steam engines in B&W, it somehow makes them more dramatic to me. This is the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad locomotive Santa Fe 3415 as it left on one of it's excursions during it's last weekend of operation for the year. I took this image from some video I took.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image, once again, is centered on the locomotive from the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad. This is Santa Fe 3415, a Pacific 4-6-2 engine. I was able to see it operating on October 1, 2022.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is another of the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad's Pacific type Santa Fe locomotive 3415. I took this image of it while they were loading passengers. It's a quite impressive engine. Hopefully it is able to be back up and running in no longer than the 18 months predicted and maybe quicker. 15 year FRA inspections require the boiler tubes to be replaced which is rather expensive.
I made another vide of it where I utilized both drone and regular video to show it getting ready and then leaving on one of it's 3 excursions for the day. The video can be seen on Youtube HERE.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's post is about a steam engine from my all time favorite railroad, the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe. The Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad restored locomotive 3415, a Pacific type (4 - 6 - 2 wheel arrangement) Baldwin built in 1919 and saw regular service out of Argentine Yard in Kansas City until it was retired in 1954 and donated to the city of Abilene, Kansas. In 1996, the city donated it to the ASVRR. It sat on display until 2005 when restoration began. It has been running excursions since then and is now due for it's 15 year FRA inspection. The ASVRR will also be looking at the engine and repairing anything it may need during this time. It is expected to be down for 18 months at least while all this takes place.
I was in Abilene and able to capture several photos and videos of it during some of it's last runs. I have some drone footage shared HERE where I once again messed up moving the camera because I was not paying attention because I was taking this photo. Sigh. Anyway, I was glad to be able to see and capture it run before it's long break.
