SP 4449 in Wisconsin and Illinois

Southern Pacific 4449, a restored Daylight 4-8-4 steam locomotive that pulled fast passenger trains between Los Angeles and San Francisco around the middle of the 20th century, was captured at four locations as part of a roundtrip from Portland, OR (her home) and Owosso, MI for a steam locomotive convention. A monopod was used at the first 3 locations, so there is a bit of "waviness" in those scenes.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• SP4449
• Southern Pacific 4449
• 4449
• steam locomotive
• Naperville
• Fall River
• Wisconsin Dells
• West Salem
• passenger train

[DocXmas]

Canon HV 30, which records to HDV cassettes. I'm going to move up to something closer to a pro camcorder soon, but i recommend the Canon consumer models very highly. I'm sure I'll be looking at the Canon pro machines very closely.

[DocXmas]

Not really true in this case. There were several hundred excited people gathered at the Naperville station, over an area about two blocks long. Since 4449 does not exactly have an attention-getting whistle, one way to make sure everyone was aware of the proximity of the train was to hit the horn. But since I was not filming in the direction of the crowd, I can't say for sure that somebody was actually too close.

[DocXmas]

Diesels are part of the consist on virtually all mainline steam excursions I've seen in recent years. I believe the main reason is to provide auxiliary power for the passenger cars. I've never heard them do much more than idle.

[DocXmas]

In the back of my head, I knew 4449 had the horn for penetrating coastal fog, but it made me jump anyway when it sounded. Sure got the crowd on the Naperville platform's attention!

[deloreanman14]

@DocXmas - I'm a volunteer with the 4449 and the air horn only comes out when Doyle gets really pissed. Were people doing something stupid out of frame?

[DocXmas]

@deloreanman14

Well, I don't know what was going on behind me, but I do recall that the crowd was pretty big in Naperville. That almost always means there are some little kids threatening to get out of control as well.

[bizzer261]

It looks so pretty with 261's fleet. :)

[Metracab123]

What Kind Of Camera? Loved It When He blew the airhorn and everyone stepped back about 6 feet lol

[Drewster327]

If the 4449 uses the horn, you or someone close to you is too close or doing something Stupid!

[chibichan1701]

uh, why is there an amtrac diesel pushing as well? Is the 4-8-4 not pulling under its own power?

[Xantec]

gorgeous!!!