On 07/16/2022, the volunteers at the Monticello Railway Museum hosted another weekend of 401 in steam. The footage shown here was captured from two trains of the four that ran that day.

Southern 401 was built in December of 1907 as part of an order for 25 2-8-0 Consolidation-type locomotives by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Most of the 25 had service lives lasting up until 1947. In the case of 401, it was sold to Alabama Asphaltic Limestone, who then donated the locomotive to the Monticello Railway Museum in 1968.

401 sat as a cosmetic display for several years, until restoration began in 1995. First steam-up was in 2010, thanks in large part to the new boiler built by Continental Fabricators out of St. Louis, MO. Since then, the 401 has been pulling occasional trains around the museum and Monticello.

Footage of today's trips was recorded on a DJI Mini 2. I used up all three batteries twice over; they sat charging in a car during the second run of 401 for the day.

Audio was recorded from a Zoom H1n microphone. The volunteers graciously allowed me to place it on the tender, so there is quite a lot of whistle, bell, exhaust, and radio that is picked up.

As for the anomalies: the whistle used today is not the standard Southern whistle the 401 has; it is an Illinois Central 3-chime, built in Paducah, KY. A member from Diverging Clear Productions donated it to the museum for use on the trip today.

The other thing to note is the set of air horns on the caboose. The typical practice at Monticello Railway Museum is to run backwards on one-half of the trip. Due to the frequent grade crossings in downtown Monticello, the caboose has been equipped with an air compressor and horns to protect reverse movements.

Many thanks to the many volunteers at the MRM who make these trips happen!

свернуть