Fall Steam Spectacular

When the kids were younger, we used to ride the New Hope Valley Railway several times a year. For some reason we just don't think of it anymore; our last ride was over a year ago, back in October of 2008. Prompted by the model railroad at the fair, I looked into their Halloween Train. It was sold out, but there were still tickets for the Fall Steam Spectacular -- train rides behind two steam locomotives! From their website:

Enjoy a ride on the scenic New Hope Valley Railway behind double-headed steam locomotives. Double-headed steam is special because so few steam engines remain in operation today that being able to run two in tandem is quite rare. In contrast, when these iron horses ruled the rails, double-heading engines was common and sometimes necessary to get long heavy trains up mountainous inclines and high passes.

The New Hope Valley Railway is proud to announce that Flagg Coal #75 will visit the New Hope Valley double-heading with our very own #17 steam locomotive. The two Vulcan tank engines are very similar, built about 11 years apart at the Vulcan Iron Works in Wilkes-Barre, PA these tank engines served industry lines and switched carloads of goods for decades.

The train pulls five cars, three open-sided excursion cars with a caboose at each end. It is an out-and-back trip, with the engine(s) moving from one end of the train to the other at the mid-point via a siding track. We rode the front caboose on the way out, right behind the engines (which was thus the back caboose on the way back).

Simon took this picture of the kids and I sitting in the "front" caboose, though we didn't stay seated for long.


This is the view out the door to our right (the left of the picture).


Here's a view of both engines as they get ready to pass us and connect to the other end of the train.


A group who was sitting in the upper seats came down, so the kids (along with a new friend, and eventually his grandfather too) had a different view once we became the "back caboose".


I love the sound of steam whistles, so this was an especially fun ride for me. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll add a sound file to this post later.