How amazing.

I grew up down the road from the old Delaware & Hudson Railroad. Would have loved to see it back in time. Oneonta has such a rich Railroad past but often forgotten or unknown.

It’s also worth noting that the D&H Northerns were among the lightest and least powerful of their wheel arrangement

Imagine if a single diesel or electric tried to pull that amount of cars at once.

Well one steam engine pulled more cars then that and that goes to union pacific 3985

But if a diesel pulled 140 cars it will be tired

​@Rob Stewart it'd go pretty well because modern diesels are stronger pulling than steam locomotives

My mind is blown! I’ve been looking for pre-1980s vintage footage on #3985 or #3977 with no luck, yet suddenly I’m seeing a bunch of Challengers running around in my home state! I can’t believe it😍

I know! And the K-62s are still probably the smallest Northerns I've seen in the country. They must've packed some power!

Keep in mind that was the 40 foot car era

Union pacific 3985 pulled more cars than that like 143 they were all double stacked well cars and they are fully loaded

They have a powerful tractive effort, that’s why I believe Steam is stronger than diesel

@@Im_TheLineageLifter and geuss what DM&IR 2-8-8-4 234 pulled a 180 car long train on September 30th 1957

I’d say early 1950s. One Saratoga shot showed the train on a high fill with little vegetation. It looks like the Ballston Spa relocation project, which was in about 1950. My house is along the line. It is in the mile stretch between the Saratoga and Ballston relocation projects.

It said at the very beginning that all footage was from 1951-52.

Then the railroad would be old

@@amtrakproductions-mx9ib What do you mean?

@@nathancorcoran5347 the president of the D&H didn't want any steam locomotives to be preserved from delaware and hudson

Is a Hancock 3 Chime whistle

No, these are real audio, made by Fred McLeod, a Pittsburgh area railfan who was photographing steam with 16mm sound-on-film equipment during the post-WW2 decade. You can also tell because the steam from the whistle, when visible, is right in synch with the audible blasts.

Luke Roman That's because many of those cabooses were made of wood. There have been incidents where a wooden caboose was crushed between a heavy freight train and a pusher engine, often with deadly results for anyone that was in it. Those 2 challengers have a combined peak tractive effort of 188000 lbs. If you put a wood caboose with a wood frame between those locomotives and the rest of train, the Conductor and Brakeman might not even make it out of the yard alive.

Good answer. I appreciate the incite.

Luke Roman No problem. Feel free to ask anymore questions if you like.

Those "pushers" are helpers that were only used on inclines so the train wouldn't get stuck or bogged down. They were not a part of the train manifest. Once the train was over the crest of the hill, the helpers go back down to the bottom of the hill to wait for the next freight train to do it again. This was and still is a common practice on roads with steep grades. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_engine

This is why a few eastern roads...specifically the DL&W built hacks on old tender frames. They could handle the forces of having helper engines

No

@@stephenheath8465 the only PRR and NYC steamers that survived were by deception, it seems! A waste to be certain. That scrap value didn't save them from failure, sadly. Say what you will about the U.K., but they saved a lot of their classic steam locomotives.

The only major piece of a D&H steamer that still exists is a tender from a D&H Challenger, used as CP 2860’s aux water tender

But there has to be full size replicas of all the D&H Steam Locomotives except for the one that were failures. And some will be on display and operational.

The boss of the D&H didnt want any steamies from the railroad to be preserved but if any survived, then he'll be ded

Quasimoto7 They kinda remind me of LNER & LMS locos over in Britain but on a much larger scale.

I don't think they look typically built by the big 4 British companies. But British locos built for export by North British, Vickers or Peacocks were built in a very similar style. Also I think they look more French as they also put a capuchon around the chimney top. I love the brutal beauty of the big north American locos. Hi to all steam buffs from the UK.

Nice to meet you, Nigel.

Max Medaglia. I always think Max, how much we owe these men who had the foresight and the huge pleasure to record these great events in our history. I only wish I could have stood next to them. Thank goodness for u tube so we can all share them, cheers!

Agreed, mate!

Push as hard as you can. The lead engineer used its whistle to tell the rear to ease up when stopping.

Greatdome99 That’s about it. The helper has to use his head though. If there are lots of empty cars just ahead of him, or he could push the cars right off the track. On the coal trains just push as hard as you can. Besides the whistle signals, the helper must watch the air gauge. He can see if the head end is applying brakes. Knowledge of the line is also important for the helper to know what to do. An example would be in Worcester, NY. Northbound trains were often pushed out of Oneonta. There was a bypass line with a steady grade between Schenevus and the summit between E. Worcester and Richmondville. This bypass was abandoned and parts of I-88 are on its roadbed. If for some reason the train ran the original line, which is what is still used, there is a big sag through Worcester. The helper would know to shut off or cut back some there.

The great news is the beautiful, gorgeous #3985 is coming back! They are working hard on her rebuild in Silvis IL right now. Cozy news is finding this video of all her older sisters!

@@SweetSunrising I know and I'm happy but I really like the Delaware and Hudson challengers and I wish they were they were surviving I'm more interested of steam trains in the northeast especially the Delaware and Hudson

Jason Matthew this is the least favorable part of railroad history for me , the D & H steam locomotives at least from my study were not standard railroad designs but standard designs of the D & H which as you know were influenced by Mr. Loree , but I hear your sentiment , those challengers of the D & H were workhorses and deserved to be preserved , if I had the room to model this railroad I would definitely model this division so I can run those challengers and keep the memory alive for future generations , great post.

Well at least another northern reading 2102 was dressed up as D&H 4-8-4 302 to remember the steam trains of D&H

Considering that freight cars were lighter back then, it probably weighed around 2,000-4,000 tons. Still cool to see considering the amount of cars though.

Whoa! On the flats, they really had some power! Thanks! So...how many intermodal well cars do you think they'd manage?

No problem! I'm guessing around 50-80 (or even 100) on the flats.

The Union Pacific several years ago had a request for the challenger 3985 to haul one of its double stack trains, It totaled 143 cars.