Valley Railroad Your Hand on the Throttle

Each April and November, the Valley Railroad operates a "Your Hand on the Throttle", where participants get an hour at the throttle of a steam locomotive. Here are some clips shot on April 11. For information, visit www.essexsteamtrain.com

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Valley
• Railroad
• Essex
• Steam
• Train
• Hand
• on
• the
• Throttle.
• railroad

[97trainman]

is it free to drive the train, and does anyone who comes that wants to do this get to do this? also, what is the your hand on the throttle?

[ebtmikado]

@97trainman ---Try this link:

essexsteamtrain(dot)com/thrott­le.html

[ebtmikado]

Valley Railroad, Essex Connecticut

[Shahoofah]

Love it Lee!

[sailorman3816]

Awesome would be a nice word, and loved the fact you put your camera down between the tracks. When I get enough nerve, I'm going to try that.

[Conraildan]

wheres this at?

[btrw44]

Unlike some larger steam engines with a lot of linkage, the throttle on #40 was extremely well balanced and responsive. You only had to ease it out to take up the slack and notch it out from there. It was quite responsive and with the engine alone there was no wheel slip. Ease it out and the engine dug in and took off. Whistle was also easy to operate and get tones out of it. If you have the funds and opportunity, don't miss out on the chance to operate steam.

Fred

[DanielVolker]

Was the throttle easy to move? Was 40 very responsive to the throttle?

-Dan

[neighborlynut]

yeah that was a great idea

[neighborlynut]

thanks for sharing this video. I really enjoyed watching it

[btrw44]

Thanks for the comments.

This was a once in a lifetime experience before I retire. If you get the opportunity to participate in the program, do it as the guys were great and the experience was awesome.

I'll always remember the day.

It was great to be able to play the whistle while running.

btrw44

Fred

[amtrakboy37]

Good job on the whistle!!