Wow, what beautiful eyes.

I agree completely with having a diesel stuck in the consist, but they do it for a few reasons, one to conserve coal, because they wouldn't have enough to make it up and back and the logistics of having coal at the destination is a headache. Depending on routes, the diesel may be needed for dynamic braking and assisting with grades. Also, a lot of the excursion trains are 19-24 cars.

On the ferry move on April 21 from Spencer to Greensboro for the Greensboro to Roanoke trips they took a gondola full of coal and a crane to load with them in the attached photo.

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N&W 611 on a recent trip from Spencer, NC to Lynchburg, VA. The first photo was taken in High Point, NC, the second at Lexington, NC

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I thought they had the Heisler running. Yes, I do not think they have restored the Climax. As a volunteer at the NC Transportation Museum, Spencer, NC, they have a 3 truck Shay #1925 from the Graham County Railroad in Robbinsville, NC. At the present time it is not running, major boiler work needs to be done on it. The Buffalo Creek and Gauley, #4, which is a side rod engine, that was used at the NC Transportation Museum as Southern 604 has been sold to the Greenbrier and Durbin and is the Cass Shops to finish a major boiler overhaul. I was part of the crew that went to Sacramento for the 1999 Railfair. We had a Shay race in which we got the Graham County, #1925 to 18 mph.

Shays are 1 of three types of geared locomotives. Climax and Heisler are the other two. Traditional three truck shays have two axles per truck meaning 6 axles with two wheels per axle jinxed 12 wheel drive. Capable of climbing 8 to 10 % grades. Cass Scenic RR in Cass WV have numerous Shays an climb to Bald Knob at about 4800 feet. They also have 1 Heisler

I sent mine last Tuesday, have not received an acknowledgement yet that the have received it or the progress on being returned

Adorama books are very well done, I have ordered 2 and recommend them to people after showing the quality of the book to people.

Like many good photos, you were in the right place at the right time. Great photo and story

September sunrise from our cruise ship entering Vancouver, BC

Alaska, such a vast state, we caught this Brown bear (grizzly) on our tour of Denali National Park

Alaska Grizzly

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Wow, aren't we picky, when the "cropped" photo is larger than the original photos than I'd say they are "enlarged"

I believe photo 1 (top) photo is without filter because of the richer colors of the doll and the background colors. Also, the enlarged photo, the strands of hair on the forehead and eyelashes look more focused

We just returned from Alaska about 2 weeks ago. Took land tour and cruise which gets you familiar with how vast Alaska is. Our next Alaska trip will be on the Alaska Ferry System and rent a car to our own thing. Tours through the cruise ship lines you may or may not see or get close to wildlife and they are on schedules. Also be prepared for a wet environment especially, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway because they say they have 250 days of rain.

I wear glasses, and my eyesight is such that no diopter would help, so I use the autofocus on the camera and hope for the best while wearing glasses.