Sure you’ve all heard this story, many have even read it to your kids….. Well today we rode that engine.
This little engine was originally used to move coal cars around at the mines and make up the long coal trains coming out of the Pennsylvania coal mines. But today there were no coal cars. Instead a string of cabooses and an open car.
Today’s trip was eastbound to Wittier, a small depot town, where 126 did a 
run around and pulled us back to Bryson City. The reason i call this the “Little Engine that Could” was the 2.5% grades we had to negotiate. Going up grade you could hear 126 straining and see the smoke going from gray to dark black. The scenery on this part of the line is more open.
And of course there were the tight curves. 
We will see more of these tomorrow as we head west to Andrews NC.
The finish of the day was a ride on one of the track maintenance cars. We only went about a mile (with no springs on the car that was enough) since there was a train coming at us from both directions.
Grenville
1 comment:
A mile with no springs sounds bumpy! ha! I love seeing the scenery along the way. That would be the best part for me.
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