Steam locomotives are living, breathing objects. I don't think there's a person on earth that won't sit up and take notice when one goes by.

Exactly, it's no mere dead piece of metal, but a living machine. As someone once said, "If man has invented a machine with half the soul of a steam locomotive, he hasn't filed for a patient yet."

1MTSRider as the savior of the 4501 once said "displaying a cold steam locomotive is like propping up a corpse"

Steam locomotives, finely crafted shotguns, and violins - three objects that are as lovely in form as in function, and represent the pinnacle of the artistry of their makers.

I thought it was me walking with a cigar

A MEN!! 😊

Beautiful Indeed Lets see this with a Y6B as well ...Love those Articulated class A's and Y6's

The online

The only reason diesels are added is for dynamic brakes for downhill

Stronger than any diesel

+Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions yep she does have nice hooters lol

But with a classic 1980s VHS camera ;)

The haunting sound almost sounds like a ghost train.

Yeah but way to much wasted steam every departure 😫

​​@@mikeCAT-D813Awasted steam?

Some steam is going to be lost, even sitting idling. That's why you have a tender or tenders that have plenty of fuel and make-up feed water.

@@mikeCAT-D813A wasted steam??

william harlos I think 765 has a better whistle but 1218 still sounds badass

Big Boy is better

Joao Ricardo Araujo Granzoto no it’s not

I think 4501 has the best personally but the hooters do sound good.

@@joaoricardoaraujogranzoto3050 I spy another UP foamer

4014: i can pull more

@@union_4014 2156: I can pull more than you and I'm stronger

@@SteamKing2160 y6a is good yes but y6b is slightly better lol

@@TheBroughamGamer lol even I know that I just wish 2174 wasn't cut up for scrap

@@SteamKing2160 you got that right! N&W for ever!

The N&W held out for a long time with steam power. Longer than any of the big roads. I have a book on the N&W, written a long time ago. They did a test between diesels and steam. Day to day, the steam locomotives were more economical to operate. Their outstanding pulling power made them efficient and their coal cost per h.p. was less than the diesels. The kicker was maintenance. The diesels could travel much, much farther between maintenance intervals. And when in the shop, diesels were in for a shorter period of time and less costly.

IKR

It was indeed quite thrilling to see this engine in person.

If you ever get the chance...try and hang out in danville va when NW 611 comes through. It is the most mournful experience ever. I cried when I heard her in the distance. Such an eerie sound of a different era echoing through the town...

Jon's Garage Thanks for the tip! :) Seeing a steam engine is both a wallop of nostalgia for an era a lot of people never experienced first-hand, as well as a swell of pride, hope, and joy.

If you want haunting, listen to O.W. Link's recording "Rural Retreat" Turn your volume to max, mute everything else, close your eyes, and listen.

That's a real shame too!!

Actually to redo 1218 it would not need nearly the work rumored. For a while it was said that the parts were lost or destroyed, that a ton had to be recast-ed etc.. but they do still have everything and it would probably cost similar to 611s restoration. The problem is 611 is enough work for the VMT solo before you even consider the cost of another restoration.

I agree! I would love to hear it's whistle one day even if it isn't on the 1218, I'd just love to hear it.

@@TheUnflushedToilet I can't confirm it as actual fact, but the whistle now being used on Western Maryland 1309 (former C&O 2-6-6-2 1309) is the whistle from the 1218 and it sure sounds like it. Checkout some of the many videos of the WM 1309.

@@espeescotty I have seen vids of it but I don't know if it has the 1218 whistle, I'll check some of the comments and see if I can confirm.

@@TheUnflushedToilet I know some steamers running today will have 2 whistles. After your comment I looked, and I have now seen vids where there are 2 distinct whistles on the 1309. But I don't hear 2 in the same clip. There is a definite N&W "hooter" like 1218's and then what I presume is 1309's original C&O whistle.

+TheMasterClue not to sound like a downer but is it possible that the only reason they could service a y6 faster was because they where used to them.

TheMasterClue they could have just built replacement parts themselves

TheMasterClue Environmentalists probably faint when they see steam locomotives operating lol

6 F7s to replace one Y. Hahaha dream on. Now I know F7s were low tech first generation diesel-electrics, but 6 F7s would produce 9000 HP and have a combined 339,000 lbs tractive effort starting and 250,000 lbs continuous tractive effort. 6 F7s would destroy a Class Y in a test.

@@markantony3875 The cost of running and maintaining 6 F7s would be much higher. Also Y6 locomotives were powerful enough to pull more than couplers could handle at the time, so I dunno about that..

Funny, this random European steam locomotive sounds exactly the same: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/er9-l5t6362-nIE.html

chris donner that was 1987. 1218 is atatic at VMT today

Yeah it's a shame. In there youth and they get scrapped. Except for 1218 of course.

I think she's an A-Class. 2156 is a Y6 tho

@@electrik_loss You are absolutely right. The 1218 is indeed an A class. Plus the 2156 is a Y6a.

@@ronanvave560 ah, I forgot the difference between 6a and 6b! Thanks for the reminder though!

@@electrik_loss Y6a has 166,00 tractive effort Y6b has 170,000

@@ntytp oh thank you!

+PlugMartian Disgusting crime indeed.

I wonder if they will ever get her going again. From what I hear, she is well cared for.

She's far more than a shell and would be fairly easy to put back into operation, far easier than 4014 is turning out to be. 4014 WAS pretty much just a rusted hulk, 1218 was alraedy halfway through a restoration when they stopped. PRetty much all she needs is the boiler work finished and hte dust brushed off.

I would be happy to know you are correct. Maybe I'll get to see her run again before I die. I just assumed that since a RTM worker told me she was nothing but a shell, that was the case. "You can open the smoke box door and see clear to the backhead because there is literally nothing inside her. They were supposed to renovate her but they gutted her and sent her back to us. She's just a shell. Doubtful they'll ever run her again." That was around 6 months or so after she came back to the museum. Perhaps the guy was talking smack or something, but I figured he would know better then I would.

stop acting like a little bitch

Mark Schofield From what I've read they'd run em 80mph + through the dismal swamp in the 80's. Some old N&W book I got.

@@joshandkorinna Was that book N&W Giant of Steam, perhaps?

Super Heated STEAM is one of the most POWERFUL forms of Energy . This locomotive Begins pulling a MANY THOUSAND TON train from a Full DEAD STOP . All the Engineer is doing is introducing STEAM into those 4 Cylinders that are DEAD Still and that Energy ALONE starts the TRAIN in MOTION ! No Diesel locomotive even today can do this by itself .

@@Wilett614 It's not a many thousand ton train, it's about a one thousand ton train, actually less (but similar) in weight than what this engine pulled on excursions(12-20+ 80-100 ton passenger cars). A lot less than what it pulled in freight service (about 3-5,000 tons, 60-80 freight cars). An empty hopper is less than 10 tons.

​@davidstarkweather7764 what is the purpose of this comment other than the distraction and take away from 1218's accomplishments? But a lot of your facts and statements are wrong. Newer Aluminum lightweight hoppers come in at just shy of 50,000lbs. 1218 was pulling older and heavier hoppers wich would weigh even more. Thats 25 tons per individual car, a lot more that 10 as you stated... so 1 statement is incorrect. Also, a 100 car train of empty hoppers (estimated 50,000lbs per hopper) equals out to be 2,500 tons. A lot more than 1,000 you stated. So thats 2 statements thays your incorrect. Starting from a dead stop with the best roller bearings in the buisness, 114,000+ Lbs of tractive effort with ease is amazing. That would take multiple diesels to do. This locomotive was made to haul large amounts of loaded freight through the Blue Ridge mountains during war time. Come on man.... don't disrespect

@@thetoycannon9813 You are wrong. Empty hoppers do not weigh 50 tons. Go look up some facts and get a grip.

LOL. So true. Steam is interesting to watch from a historic perspective. However, I think many of these people commenting that steam should return were on vacation when God was handing out brain cells. I think many of them also think the Earth is flat, and cars should be replaced with Conestoga wagons.

heh thats the power of steam, heck I was told even the 765 npk would pull 100 car trains unaided, though the freight cars were half the size back then that is still 50 cars I very seldom see a single engine pull 50 freight cars unaded, let alone a coke run like today on my way home they used two of those 4300 hp jobs on the csx and though there is a speed limit of 15mph for heavy trains like that it took them forever to get up to speed, I bet the 765 could have got up to speed faster, but its not apples to apples to compare them, all I know is that with steam you can put almost all the power into it at once, it will spin the drivers but with a diesel electro it has a limiter and will only wind up so fast while that will help prevent wheelslip it dont change the fact its slower to accelerate. ah maybe one day 1218 too will get fired up, it would be one of few double driver mallet style locos running I think the only other two were the challanger and the big boy and both are out of service I hear right now, though big boy 4014 is in the steamshop under restoration as we speak and has precedence in getting the attention right now.

manga12 To be sure, the big articulateds hardly had a monopoly on pulling power. A Nickel Plate Berkshire could walk away with almost 130 cars on level track, and an engine like a C&O T-1 could haul away 160 cars or better. As far as a Nickel Plate Berk being able to accelerate a train faster, I don't really think so. That's pretty much just a matter of available horsepower and tractive effort. Wheelslip in a locomotive is a much bigger problem than it is in a car (and even then, it wastes almost a quarter of the horsepower that a car can make). If your wheels slip, what little traction your engine's steel wheels may have had will be cut by a similar percentage. It will wear down your wheels and can also wear spots in the track. The traction control systems on a diesel are an advantage because the computer can tweak things so that the maximum amount of power is going to the rails, without putting down so much power that the wheels slip. And while I also hope 1218 will be restored, and 2156 after her, the 1218, 3985, and 4014 are not true Mallets, in that they don't use compound expansion, i.e. large volume, low pressure front cylinders run with exhaust steam from the rear cylinders. The 2156 is a true Mallet, but it isn't being restored for operation yet, and it might never be. However, there is one true Mallet that is being restored for operation, which is the C&O 1309 2-6-6-2, which was just recently pulled out of the B&O museum in Baltimore, and will be operated by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. There is also on-and-off talk of restoring the C&O 1601 to operation.

yes I know a real mallet was a high pressure back, and low pressure front, but the whole split and articulted drivers refers to the concept of the mallet, as for the t1s they say they were the fastest locomotives afoot going over 130mph at times though there was never any documentation about it unlike the british mallard class, as for the steam they could apply almost all the power at once and get it moving, a diesle electro has a speed limiter that keeps it slow at first, and I belive I read or heard somewhere that even the steamers had some kind of wheelslip limiters on them in the latter era like 1930's onward, but I cant say where on youtube I heard it or read it. but for raw power and pulling you cant beat a steamer, I just wish the turbine locos were more effective that first one in the 1930s was a neat concept and a small boiler that was ready in about 20 minuts to heat, but the air vanes did not work well, and the power it put out was lackluster at best, and then you have the other ones like the big blows that worked well as electro generating but ate up soo much fuel, and the experament for the hybrid diesle and turbine for hi speed rail but the small size of the turbine just dont have the ecconomies of scale unlike a large one for a ship, long range aircraft, or powerplant generator to get the amount of power out of it vs amount of fuel burned, and its too stinking bad I love turbines and jet engines, they have less moving parts to work on, more power in a smaller size and love the windup sound they make :) maybe one day they get it to work maybe one day. as for 1309 I have not heard of this loco previously I will have to check it out, and hope maybe one day just maybe that the biggest and most powerful reciprecating steam loco will return to the rails the c&o h8 class the Allegany class, it even puts the bigboy to shame with its weight and power, though it eats coal like its going out of style, too bad though you could not get a steamer to run on hard coal or coke it would be cleaner burning and produce more power though it would need a better firebox that could take the higher heat. maybe one day, for now though in the last two years the 21st century steam is up and running and for the popularity of the steam excursions it is a good day and age, you have the last northern j type being put back to shape 611 and if all goes well the 4014 will run the rails again in a few short years showing the true power of an era gone by and all but forgoten to the modern generation of kids till now.

FS2K4Pilot It takes at least 17,000 HP to pull 13,000 tons @ 60 MPH, assuming level track and no curves. The Class A was a 5400 DBHP locomotive, so there is no physical way a single Class A could do that.

perhaps howerever the steamers had a higher peak hp when they were at a certain speed and the larger drivers the more the speed, and back then they did not often have the roller bearings like they do today, however the challenger is rated at about 6200 hp roughly, I would like to add.

Bring back this engine, the 2156, and the 2050 (a Y3 preserved in Illinois, IIRC), and stick them on a 100 car coal drag with a couple executive cars and the N&W and NS heritage units (dynamic brakes are useful), then run the lot of them east from Roanoke to Lynchburg VA.