Today we took the whole gang (our 8 plus Julie’s Dad Ralph, his wife Terri and our friend and neighbor, Ed Walker) over to an old lumber railroad that was converted to a state park back in the 1960’s.
The old Shay steam locomotive’s are from the early 1900’s and were specially designed for logging as they needed to climb step grades, run on poor tracks, and take sharp turns. They are gear driven to all 12 wheels which gives them high torque and a lot of traction. Because of the direct gear drive, they actually have enough power to run on the ground without a track!
They have a special device (basically a specially formed ramp) for when they derail that allows the engine to drive itself back up on the rails. Each wheel is mounted in truck that can turn independently so it can better follow the sharp turns of the tracks. Steam engines are pretty cool in general but these ones are extra special.
The fall colors were beautiful, the weather was a perfect, the steam engines and ride to the top of the mountain was spectacular.
After our trip on the railroad, we drove by the nearby National Radio Astronomy Observatory only to find out it is closed on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s so we couldn’t take the tour – bummer.
On the way home, we stopped by the Homestead resort which founded in 1766. Talk about old money! It is a beautiful resort tucked in the mountains only about 1/2 hour from the house.
We then stopped by a pizza place across the street from the Bath County High School and ordered way too much pizza! It was good so we won’t mind having it tomorrow for lunch… and snack… but not for dinner! I’m going to smoke a brisket from one of our grass fed cows for dinner tomorrow. A real treat!
