THE ROMANCE OF a steam engine has always attracted me. It is really something to sit at the throttle and have all that power under your control. In theory, the power of a steam engine is unlimited, unlike a diesel. On the other hand, diesels are more comfortable, especially on a hot day, so it's kind of a tradeoff. I'll tell you, on some days during the summer, the cab of a steam engine can really be a miserable place.

Every locomotive is a little different, and steam engines tend to vary a little more than diesels. For example the feedwater heaters on 8444 were really temperamental on cold, humid days. The feedwater pre-heats water going into the boiler but on 8444 sometimes it wouldn't pick up the water. When that happened, we'd have to use the injectors to get up steam and that meant using cold water. Of course, that would slow us down a bit.

UH-OH

But the worst thing to happen was on a special railroad club excursion from Denver to Julesburg. They used to make it from Denver to North Platte on a single tank of fuel so some genius figured they could make the same distance to Julesburg on one tank. Well, of course we ran out of fuel between Brighton and Hazeltine. They had to call out two diesels to bring us into Denver and that delayed a lot of trains.

It was really embarrassing. Train Number 17, the Portland Rose, had to push us onto the northbound Brighton siding and wait there with us to let Number 10, the old City of St. Louis, go south into Denver. Naturally, some passengers on our excursion had to make the Number 10 that night. By the time they got the diesels out to pull us in, they had delayed the Number 10 by about two and a half hours. What a mess.

Then I remember a couple of times how, when I was a fireman, I smoked out the engineer. You see, when he shut down on the throttle, I was supposed to shut down on the supply of oil going into the firebox and I just didn't shut down the oil fast enough. When that happens, the locomotive put out a lot of smoke. Well, all that smoke poured out of the stack and blew in through the cab windows. It filled up the cab right away. That was pretty unpleasant. We had to open all the doors and windows fast. The engineer told me to keep a better eye on his hand.

Then I remember one time when the locomotive was in the roundhouse at Denver overnight waiting for another excursion. A group of railfans stopped in to visit and pulled out some washout plugs for souvenirs. The engine can't run without them. So that night the railroad put out the word nobody would be punished if they gave back the plugs and the next day every washout plug was back in place.

WHY I DO IT

I became an engineer because, as a little boy, I always loved trains. I used to dream about running them. I guess I've been a little more lucky than some because my dream came true.

I prefer being an engineer on a road engine because of the distance I can travel and the enjoyment of going across country. Switching in a yard can get boring. But most of my work now is on local freights. With a local, no two days are exactly the same. You always have something different to do and no two trains ever handle the same way. Most local freights we run now use a pair of GP38s or GP40s and we do our own switching on industrial sidings. It's really the best of both worlds.

The only things I really miss are cabooses. I miss not having something and somebody back there. These days we run with two-man crews. When you run that lean you often wish for another human being at the end of the train instead of a flashing rear end device. Sometimes, with an eight thousand foot long train, FRED will come on and say the train is stopped when you're going 50 miles per hour. Sometimes FRED doesn't come on at all. Sometimes you have to get out and walk eight thousand feet to check the back of the train just to find out nothing is wrong because FRED goofed again. But I don't think cabooses will ever come back.

To be honest, the biggest frustration is how big business runs so many things today, including the railroads. The bottom line always seems to be money. And some of the newer kids don't seem to mind if they tear up a piece of equipment. A few years ago, maybe fifteen years or more, men seemed to take more pride in their work and we really worked as a team. But the pay is good and I still get a big kick out of the job.

Really, it's still the romance of it, especially, as I said, having all the power of an engine under your control.

One thing I'll leave you with: When I was first learning to be an engineer, the guy teaching me said, "Anybody can run a train. The trick is stopping it where you want it stopped."