The smell of burning coal greeted us as we neared the town of Durbin. For me it was a nostalgic smell. My grandparents on both sides of the family heated their house with a coal fired furnace. My grandsons, who were with me to ride the Durbin Rocket, experienced the smell of coal for the first time that day and got to ride behind one of the few remaining steam locomotives in America.
Built in 1910 for use in the logging industry, the locomotive that powers the Durbin Rocket is one of three Climax geared engines still in operation.
There's nothing like the sound of a steam locomotive. I heard it when I was a kid a time or two. Good shot.
ReplyDeleteI remember steam trains fairly well. In the 1950s, Norfolk and Western were still operating lots of steam locomotives in the coal country of Virginia and West Virgina. Unfortunately, by the time I became intersted in photography, working steam had disappeared.
ReplyDeleteTrains are very photogenic. I suppose it is possible to take a bad picture of a train, but you would have to work at it.