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Easy Start Engine


Subdeacon Joe

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GREAT STUFF :excl: I got to Virginia City last summer just as the steam run of the weekend was done. Got to see them uncouple the locomotive and run it to the shops. Have to get there in time to RIDE behind it. . . . Got too. And need to get thru Silverton and/ or Chama to see those trains run again also. . . . :)

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Here in California there's a standard assignment for kids in fourth grade to write a report about and build a model of one of the early Spanish missions.

 

When the time came for the Sassparilla Kid to have this assignment, the school digressed from tradition and actually allowed them to choose from a list of alternate projects. Although his ma and I had driven him across the state to visit a couple of the missions, he decided to go another route and chose - the Transcontinental Railroad~!!

 

Needless to say, I heartily approved, and helped guide the kid through his project. One of the REALLY cool things he did was an early morning interview with Mr Max Stauffer, owner of the Sugar Pine Railroad! Max was very, very gracious, and gave the Kid a goodly amount of time, then a tour of his shops, and then the Pièce de résistance... the Kid got to climb into the cab of one of the Shay engines for the morning firing... and even got to help "drive" 'er when steam pressure was up! ^_^

 

Although an oil-burning Shay, she was still a steamer.

 

Following weekend we went to the California Railroad Museum for further "research." At one point we were in the cab of the million-lb Baldwin locomotive, listening to a bored and somewhat grumpy docent explain steam power. The Kid mentioned that he'd helped "drive" the Shay the weekend before.... and like changing channels, the docent lit up like it was Christmas morning - he and the Kid instantly became best friends! ;)

 

That was a good year to be ten years old... :blush:

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