How I spent my summer vacation (so far)!

So, a couple folks had noticed that I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve had various IRL stuff that kept me in lurk mode here and and couple other places where I still hang out on the ‘net. However the main reason is that the kids got out of school and Mrs OTR and I had a vacation planned out and paid for a while ago. Unfortunately, time constraints prevented more rail fanning but we did visit Dollywood in eastern Tennessee and got to take a train trip behind engine 192, Klondike Katie!






These are just a few of the many photos and videos I took of Katie while riding the loop twice that day. I really wanted to visit the Tennessee Valley Railway Museum in Chattanooga but we were pressed for time and running low on funds, so we had to skip it. I hope to get back there at some point, maybe to ride behind Dollywood Express 70 “Cinderella” and also to ride behind a vintage EMD diesel on the Hiwassee River loop at TVRM. Even so, riding behind a vintage narrow gauge Baldwin Mikado on the trip was truly a great experience for this rail geek!



Oh, I almost forgot the tender water and coal capacity markings and smoke box face!





Number 192 probably uses about 5 tons of coal a day but she really uses the water! Although each round trip is only about 3 miles, the trains have to pull grades of between 5 and 6%. Upon returning to the station, the Fire(wo)man spends a considerable amount of time refilling the water tanks.