TRAINS & THEIR SMOKESTACKS

 


We’ve played around with trains in other prompt pictures in the past, so this time I decided to concentrate on one feature - their smokestacks.

Historic train smokestacks at “Railtown 1897 State Historic Park” in Jamestown, CA

Leviathan Steam Locomotive in North Carolina train museum.

The Leviathan up close.  In operation in the good old days, the engine (& smokestack!) would not have looked this neat & tidy of course!

Leviathan steam locomotive in its heyday.  This photo labels the train as “The Lincoln Train”.  I’m supposing that might mean it was one of those President Lincoln rode to promote his presidency.  The smokestack might have been polished up on those occasions?

Early photo of a wood burning locomotive.

A bulbose stack.  Ma-Ao #5 ready for the long haul up the mountain.

Wood burning steam locomotive.

Steam train taking on water.

Steam train with a straight stack.  If that’s steam, though, it’s pretty dirty looking?

The “movie star” steam train - #3 at “Railtown 1897 State Historic Park”.  It’s called the “movie star” train because over the years it has appeared in several Hollywood movies: “The Virginian”, “High Noon”, “The Unforgiven”, and most recently “Back to the Future III”.  TV credits include “Death Valley Days” and “Petticoat Junction”.

#3 outfitted for its movie star roles.

Now-a-days it rambles along the Sierra foothills carrying park passengers for fun. 

:->

La Nightingail





























Comments

  1. KristinJanuary 21, 2023 at 6:38 AM

    That is some dirty steam. I wonder if it was colorized or if it was just dirty coal steam.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La NightingailJanuary 21, 2023 at 9:23 AM

      It does look awfully dirty. I'll bet you're right & it is from using coal.

      Delete
  2. Barbara RogersJanuary 21, 2023 at 8:05 AM

    What a great novel takeoff for trains! Love seeing some of these. Didn't know there was a train museum in NC...now I'll have to look it up and maybe go visit. My dad would have loved that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La NightingailJanuary 21, 2023 at 9:24 AM

      Ah-ha, a new adventure for you to pursue! I hope you find it & have fun looking at all the trains! :)

      Delete
  3. Mike BrubakerJanuary 22, 2023 at 7:48 AM

    Very clever spin on the theme. The antique steam engines looks quaint and charming now but back in the day those smokestacks belched soot, ash, toxic gases, and sparks onto the crew and passengers. Not pleasant, especially in tunnels!

    I hope you're finding blogger's editor to be acceptable. I looks like you're using the default setting for image size, but there's an image toggle button in the editor that will resize them to fill the width or they can be stretched larger by grabbing a corner of the image box. One nice feature compared to your old simple site is that we no longer have to limit our comments to 125 letters! :—)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La NightingailJanuary 22, 2023 at 10:49 AM

      Thanks for the info re: resizing my photos. I will be anxious to try it. And yes, it is really nice that comments don't have to be limited anymore - either way, although I will say this about that: being challenged to say what I wanted to say in my replies in as few words as possible was a great lesson in how to edit myself. :)

      Delete
  4. Monica T.January 23, 2023 at 9:43 AM

    You seem to know your stuff... In spite of my dad being a steam train nerd all his life, I have to confess I never picked up a real interest - even though until I moved away from home at the age of 20, I'd had more rides on various museum railways with steam trains than on modern ones!

    ReplyDelete
  5. ScotSueJanuary 24, 2023 at 12:44 AM

    You are so good at finding an original take on a prompt. The phrase "smoke stack" was new to me, but so evocative - we just call them "chimneys". Great photos.

    ReplyDelete

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