When the Southern Pacific 2472 steam engine was still at Hunter’s Point railyard in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to be engineer for a few moments as part of the Rent-A-Loco program. The Golden Gate Railroad Museum offered cab rides for a donation. I had made a general donation to the org a few years earlier and they generously offered me the cab ride as a thank you. They even said that my dad could join me. It was a spectacular experience. The engine was built in 1924 (I believe) and was in tip-top condition. The thing I remember most was how alive the engine felt, with all the steaming and hissing.

Being at the controls was a heady experience. You have the large throttle bar overhead, and a separate brake control next to you. You have to coordinate the two. Also, the engine is massive. So when you work the throttle and brake, it takes a few moments for the settings to take effect. We ran the engine only a few hundred feet down the yard track, but even in that short distance I felt that I was getting the hang of the delays in the throttle and brake.

I think my dad was delighted too. He was smiling all the way. As a railfan like me, I don’t think either of us could have imagined being in the engineer’s seat of a massive steam engine. Looking back, it is definitely a peak experience. I think I’d like to try a diesel at the museum in Portola, or maybe even a steamer on the Nevada Northern.

Please note: The video below is silent because it came from a home movie with copyrighted music, so I had to remove the sound. Someday I will find the original source tapes from that day and make a sound version without music so you can hear the engine itself.