My favorite operating locomotive is the UP Challenger a 4-6-6-4 that's almost as big as the "Big Boy" locomotives. I saw this locomotive coming at me with a huge plume of black smoke coming from the stack. It looked like a tornado.
We live on the route of the Transcontinental Railroad, and these steamers occasionally pass our house. I've never been alert enough to see one, however. I usually read the newspaper about three days late.
-Joe-