Smoky Bypass #14868

The Story

Working smoke goes twirling skyward from these two Strasburg Railroad steam locomotives pulling passenger trains and the air is filled with smell of burning coal and the sound of working machines. The white flags mounted on the front of #90 show it’s a special run for the day. The job today is hauling a load of photographers and steam railroading enthusiasts. It waits in the siding pocket for us while we do what we came to do, which is capture these old machines in motion as they were in their heyday. Though not seen in this head on shot, even the old wooden cars behind these heritage locomotives are authentic to the time period of roughly 100 years ago.

The other train behind #475 is the regularly scheduled run for the morning. It carries tourists who have come to witness old steam railroading in the heart of the Amish country of Lancaster County, PA. The engineer has opened the throttle a little more as the train moves eastward on the mainline; the smoke changes in texture and grayness as it is forced upward into the sky.

#475 is the oldest engine on the Strasburg Railroad dating from 1906. #90 is from 1924, and both these steam locomotives were built by Baldwin Locomotive Works outside Philadelphia. They were built to work and built to last, I would say.

Big smoke is certainly one of the visual allures of all railroad steam engines. For more of it, have a look at Black Gold #14845 taken at the Strasburg Railroad at the very crack of dawn. Follow this link for more information about the Strasburg Railroad.

Location: the Amish farmland outside Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks