Thanks everyone.

The part of the story that didn't get told is that the steam crew had spent the previous two weeks frantically re-assembling the engine (which had been taken apart for winter maintenance) so that Preston could ride the train with his family behind the steam locomotive. The day of the event, we lit the fire off at 7:00 am, and began building pressure. We had a few leaks here and there we thought we could live with for the day (we would have to completely disassemble the engine right after Preston's visit anyway, to have the engine inspected by the FRA).

One leak had us particularly concerned--the cylinder relief valves were spewing vast quantities of steam. This meant the throttle valve was likely open. In the cab, we opened and closed the throttle a few times to get it to seat (there wasn't enough pressure to move the engine yet). But the throttle didn't feel quite right--maybe that was because of the low pressure. Eventually, when we got up to around 50 pounds, I tried to pull the throttle again to get the engine to move a little--I opened it up all the way, and nothing.

We were devastated as it slowly dawned on us what may have occured--in our haste to get the throttle back together, one of our guys missed placing the cotter pin through one of the linkages--a mistake any one of us could have made (since you need to do it by feel only--you can't see anything with the throttle body in place). We knew that it would be impossible to have the steam engine ready for Preston, and we all felt so terrible. We dropped the fire and began to shut the engine down. We had spent so much time and effort to have the engine ready for Pretson, and we felt so helpless--there just wasn't a thing we could do.

But, I guess everything worked out for the best in the end--without the steam engine, the diesel would have to pull the train--which is when we thought that it would be great if Preston could run it. With the steam engine on the point, he wouldn't have been able to run the engine.

While we all like to go out and "play trains," it's when you're able to put a smile on a kid's face that is the most rewarding thing about doing this.

How very sad.

You should all be very proud that you were able to give him and his family such a wonderful memory.

I think its awesome you were able to make that little boy's dream come true! My company would never allow that to happen (too much liability) However, whats up with looking away from the camera? lol.