The same thing hit me some ten years ago early in my flightsimming career. Flightsimmers have more options though, as it's perfectly possible to become a licensed pilot (as I ultimately did) and even for those who don't want to go that far introductory flight lessons and a variety of experience flights are available.
 Normally ALCO Mikado #40 is used for the program, and for regular excursions, but it is currently undergoing some extensive firebox work |
 Even though the other end is all taken apart, #40 is still a handsome locomotive from this angle |
This is the real deal, a full size road worthy steam locomotive.
The railroad operates two steam locomotives. Both are ALCO products from the 1920's. The primary locomotive is a 2-8-2 Mikado. However, that engine was under repair in the engine shop so the backup locomotive, a 2-8-0 Consolidation was under steam the day of my visit.
 The railroad's logo matches the style of the old New Haven logo |
 #97 has its water topped off in preparation for the next student engineer |
Like many railroads, this one had its ups and downs. After a period of receivership, the railroad in 1892 became part of the New Haven. This relationship can be seen in the current railroad's logo, which is reminiscent of the old script New York New Haven & Hartford logo.
Of course, the New Haven suffered its own problems. Traffic on the Valley Railroad line continued to decline until the last train ran in 1968. Concerned volunteers managed to get the line turned over to the State of Connecticut to avoid the Penn Central tearing it up. The new Valley Railroad Company obtained a lease from the state with authorization to use 22.67 miles of track for freight and passenger service and on July 29, 1971 (exactly 100 years to the day of the original run on the line) the first train of the new Valley Railroad ran from Essex to Deep River. Over the years additional track has been reopened so that now the complete route offers a 12 mile round trip.
 The book supplied as part of the program |
 A sample of the supplied diagrams |
The program is not just a ride but an educational opportunity. Upon signing up the participant receives a sizeable package of materials. It's only required that you study a small portion of it, four pages of material related to safety. This is mandatory due to insurance requirements, and participants are tested on the material and it's fully reviewed as part of the briefing held immediately before the train operations.
The entire package of materials includes a 54 page book, maps of the Valley Railroad facilities, labelled photos of locomotive controls and oversized diagrams of the Mikado type locomotive normally used in the program.
The book is made up mostly of period study materials that real engineers would have used back in the day. Included is the "Engineman's Manual, Intended ForThe Engineer, Fireman or Mechanic who wishes to extend his knowledge of the Locomotive or Air Brake". This was originally published in 1917 (price $2.50 postpaid!). This includes details on all aspects of locomotive operation (in probably greater detail than you really want to know!) along with diagrams of important systems.
Following is a section titled "Points on Engine Running" which appear to be taken from a different book. This covers in detail techniques of running a steam locomotive.
The final section is a set of detailed specifications for American Locomotive Company No. A-9859-A, which includes the railroad's Mikado, ALCO Brooks Works serial number 61858 (August 1920). If you really want to know in detail what makes up those 178,000 pounds of locomotive, this tells all!
 The classroom for "Locomotive Engineer 101" was a table set up in the engine house |
The day was not really promising...periods of heavy rain interrupted by periods of lighter rain. I arrived well in advance of the required time and used some of that time to scout the route. Only a few minutes up the road a headlight was spotted on the parallel track and sure enough, here comes #97 down the line with one of the morning session participants at the controls. A cooperative traffic light forced a stop just long enough to watch the locomotive pass pass, whistle blowing and bell ringing.
Some more of the route was scouted to check for suitable photo locations. There are numerous grade crossings and some nice scenery directly adjacent to the Connecticut River.
Upon arriving back at Essex we had to wait at the crossing as the next morning session participant pulled out onto the line. Normally any day when you keep running across steam traffic is a good one, but of course this was only the beginning.
By noon the other participants had arrived and the class session was begun.
The required rules exam was soon out of the way, followed by a review of
the safety necessities. This was followed by a session on general steam
locomotive theory.
 This model was very useful in demonstrating how the reverser controls the valves |
 Just like the real thing, this brake was used to demonstrate use of the independent brake. |
After all the material was covered and questions answered it was time to
go meet the train crew and board the locomotive.
 All aboard! |
 Yes, I really do have my hand on the throttle! |
Even as we sat, the fire was tended and the injector operated several times to keep the water level nicely in the middle of the glass. This kind of running does not require a lot of coal or water, as we run as just a light engine and at relatively low speed.
Before going anywhere, a final review of the controls was necessary. I operated the independent brake several times, moving between release, lap and apply (without looking at it, to really get the "feel" of operating it). In addition, the reverser was cycled through its limits to get a feel for that operation. This locomotive has a power reverser, sort of like the power assisted steering on an automobile. What it meant here, though, is that reverser setting changes are made at the speed that the reverser wants. The reverser was very easy to move, but it moved relatively slowly.
 It's pretty hot in there! |
To get going the brake handle is moved to the release position, with an audible hiss of air. The reverser is moved to the full forward position. Finally, it's time to apply the throttle. There's a little more to this than might be imagined. One suprise was just how physically difficult moving the throttle is. This particular locomotive is apparently stiffer than average due to recent work on it, but still this is not something that just smoothly slides open. There's a reason for this too, that would not be obvious in simming. When closed, the throttle valve up in the steam dome wants to stay closed because 175 psi steam is holding it in that closed position. Thus, to get it to first open the force of that steam has to be overcome. After getting it to first open moving it is easier (though it did not feel all that much easier). Sheer strength really did not work well to get the throttle to move, rather hard jerks on the lever made it move slightly with each jerk. It's also necessary to allow for quite a bit of slack at the beginning of the movement before the actual valve starts to move.
Getting the locomotive started requires some techique. Simply jamming the throttle wide open would make the wheels spin (especially on the wet track we were operating on) and would accomplish nothing useful and in fact could be quite dangerous. Slow application of the throttle is the key here.
 Steam starts to appear from the snifter valve |
Things do not happen fast when running steam trains.
Still being in the training phase at this point, once the locomotive was rolling it was time to stop it again. Moving the throttle to closed cut off the steam. Then the brake was moved to apply, but only for the briefest time before being dropped back to the lap setting. Closing the throttle is easier than opening it, but not much--it still required a good push.
One more practice session and then it was time...
 Lots of steam as we get underway! |
With no load the locomotives accelerates reasonably well though we're not pushing it and we're not really planning on going fast. This locomotive has no speedometer! A query about this brought some chuckles from the crew as apparently there was an attempt at one time to install something that was much more complicated than necessary but whatever the full story is, there is no speed gauge there now. Speed control is done by feel and by the experience of the engineer. Top speed on this line is supposed to be 20 mph and that felt about right (should have brought my handheld GPS from the plane to check...how out of place would that have been!?).
The Valley Railroad route is pretty level, though we did have to adjust the throttle fairly often even so. "Drifting" on the downhill portions was interesting. The technique here is to put the reverser full forward and put in only the slightest amount of throttle. The steam going through the system is not to provide power, but to provide lubrication as the steam helps to atomize the oil inside the cylinders.
Changes in throttle setting were done as described before, with little jerks in the desired direction rather than smoothly moving the lever to a setting. It certainly takes a feel for doing this, especially when you remember than even when the throttle does move the reaction takes some time so it would be quite easy to overcontrol. Due to the guidance provided this didn't happen though.
 Chester: one of the many grade crossings along the route |
 Chester has a nice little depot too |
The route has lots of grade crossings, so I was kept busy operating the whistle and the bell. Yes, blowing the whistle is fun and playing around with the different sounds it can generate is literally a blast. The bell operation is interesting. The fireman gets it started by pulling a cord but then it's kept ringing by air pressure, controlled by a valve on the engineer's side. The crew gets tired of hearing the bell so much so immediately after each crossing I heard "bell!" as a reminder to shut it off. I eventually remembered on my own.
The route offers no place to turn the locomotive around, so upon reaching the end point we came to a stop, turned on the headlight on the back of the tender, set the reverser to reverse and headed back going backwards. In this particular Consolidation going backwords works pretty well. It's easy to turn around on the seat and see around the tender. There's even a mini windshield mounted in the window frame to keep the wind (and in this case, the rain) away somewhat. Operating in reverse is really no different than operating forward. One minor inconvenience is that the whistle posts are only visible from the fireman's side so at the appropriate positions he would start up the bell and remind me to use the whistle if necessary.
All too soon we were back at Essex. One last chance to bring down the crossing gates, blow the whistle, ring the bell and we were back into the yard. A small application of the brakes and we came to a smooth stop behind the engine house, with the next engineer ready to take his turn.
 All too soon we were re-entering the yard at Essex |
Some random thoughts:
It's fairly cozy in the cab. The heat was noticeable upon entering and was welcome given the weather. I imagine on a hot summer day the reaction would be somewhat different though! A lot of ventilation is available when there's need, including a roof vent.
Train-sim does not do justice to the view from the cab. In a real cab it's much better and easier to see where you are going. This is a problem with flightsim too I've noticed and I'm not sure what can be done about it other than making the sims run on either very large monitors or on multiple monitors allowing for much greater resolution and a wider view.
The stick your head out the side window view actually was not all that much better than the view through the windows, though it was useful at times. I'm sure on a nicer day I'd have made more use of it!
The cab offered pretty good protection from the weather, more than I might have expected. Even in reverse the only thing that got wet was the one arm I had hanging out the window.
The firebox keeps your left knee nice and warm :-)
I'm still surprised how hard the throttle lever was to operate. It's too bad we could not go fast enough to really let it out and see what that would have been like.
 Yes, it was fun! |
The Valley Railroad and the operating staff are to be commended for running a fine program. Any train-simmers in the area would certainly enjoy at least a ride on the Essex Steam Train and perhaps some of you will also take the opportunity to put your own hands on the throttle.
Nels Anderson
The Valley
Railroad/Essex Steam Train
nels@train-sim.comVideo Clips
Leaving Essex (3.4 megs)
Grade crossing at Chester station (2.8 megs)
Returning to Essex (11.9 megs)
Copyright © 2003 by
Nels Anderson.
All Rights Reserved.