When are you going to do a face reveal?
Can you do a face reveal and show your face?
Will you do a face reveal for the 500,000…
When will you do a face reveal..
….Face Reveal!!!
Alright.
It’s time.
Hello, everyone!
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Mike Armstrong and I’m the creator behind
the CoasterFan2105 YouTube channel.
Welcome the 500K Subscriber special and Face Reveal!
Now before we go any further, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank each and every
one of you for subscribing to the channel and following me over the years.
It really is surreal in a way that I can’t even put into words to think that over half
a million people are now subscribed to my YouTube channel and follow me and the videos
I post so from the bottom of my heart, thank you to each and every one of you.
Now, some of you are probably thinking “Mike, didn’t you already do a face reveal?”
And the answer to that is, yes.
In my Auto Train video that I did last year, I snuck a clip of myself in toward the end
of the video and then I also worked on that video with Amtrak’s Social Media team last
year, but I wanted to take this opportunity because a lot of you have been asking me for
an “official” face reveal for quite a while now.
So I wanted to introduce myself, and say hello and, you know.
And what not.
And now that you know what I look like, all of you know what I look like now, umm, this
really opens up the door for me to appear in more of my content on this page in the
future, so, umm, that’s always an option.
Now, for the 500,000 subscriber special.
I was trying to come up with an idea of something I haven’t done before and I realized that
since we are at least by at least some accounts at the end of another decade and I’ve never
done a “Top 10” video before, I thought it would be kind of neat to do a top ten railroad
events that I saw over the last decade.
So, without further delay, here it is.
The top 10 railroad events that I saw during the 2010s!
It’s time for the top 10 railroad events I saw over the last decade!
There were a lot of exciting things to happen to railroads in the United States during the
2010s.
Here’s my pick for the top 10 railroad events that I saw over the last decade.
Number 10: Santa Fe 3751 Steam Excursion to the Grand Canyon
Santa Fe 3751 is a large excursion steam locomotive based in Los Angeles, California.
However, it’s not all that often that this locomotive gets to stretch its legs on a long,
multi day excursion trip.
That’s why it was a big deal when the locomotive got to pull a week long special excursion
to the Grand Canyon and return, back in 2012.
This was the longest excursion the 3751 made since 2002 and people from all over the country
came to follow or ride on the train.
While this excursion was super exciting to see, we still have several even more exciting
and noteworthy events to get to before we reach number 1.
Number 9: Amtrak F59PHI Locomotive Retirement The F59PHI is a passenger diesel locomotive
that is mainly used on commuter and intercity trains.
Amtrak had 21 of these locomotives on lease for Pacific Surfliner and Cascades service
from the late 1990s until early 2019 at which time they were returned from their lease and
then sold to the Chicago Metra commuter train service.
The last two of these locomotives were pulled from service in late February of that year,
bringing to a close a chapter in intercity passenger rail history.
I included the F59 retirement on the list because these are the locomotives I grew up
with on my local passenger trains and I saw them in service for many many years.
It was quite an experience to see them in their final days of service as one by one,
they were replaced with new “Charger” locomotives built by Siemens.
Number 8: Cass Scenic Railroad Climax Restoration A number of steam locomotives have been restored
over the years, but this is among the most interesting I’ve heard of.
Cass Scenic Railroad number 9 is a climax logging locomotive, built to a 3 truck design.
I saw this locomotive in November of 2019, shortly after the locomotive was restored
to operation.
This restoration was noteworthy not only because climaxes are incredibly rare, with less than
5 currently operating in the world, but also because it was one of the longest and most
thorough restorations I’ve ever seen.
When the locomotive arrived at Cass in 1970, it was very worn out and many parts on it
were beyond usable.
Starting in the early 2000s and lasting almost 20 years, up to 2019, the Cass Scenic Railroad
restored Climax number 9 to an almost factory new condition.
Today, the locomotive looks just as good as it did when it first rolled off the assembly
line in 1919.
Number 7: AEM-7 Electric Locomotive Farewell Excursion and Retirement
Locomotives come and go, but some leave more of a mark than others.
The AEM-7 was the locomotive that saved Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.
It brought increased speeds and better reliability to a critical passenger rail corridor that
now sees tens of millions of passengers each year.
With over 37 years and 220 million miles of service, Amtrak pulled off something special
on June 18th 2016 - a final farewell excursion for this locomotive that was loved by fans
and railroaders alike.
While farewell excursions are not unheard of, they are exceptionally rare for Amtrak
so this was definitely a welcome surprise for the much celebrated AEM-7.
Farewell, flying toaster.
You served the railroad well.
Number 6: The Norfolk And Western 611 Steam Locomotive restoration and Trip to the Strasburg
Railroad Seeing mainline steam locomotives in the 21st
century is a big deal.
So, when the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they would be returning Norfolk
and Western 611 to operation once again, rail fans went wild.
611 is one of the most famous steam locomotives in the United States so a lot of people were
understandably very excited to see the locomotive return to the rails, particularly those in
the eastern part of the country.
In 2015, the locomotive began its second excursion carrier, pulling mainline excursions out of
Roanoke, Virginia.
During that year, 611 participated in the very end of the Norfolk Southern 21st Century
Steam Program and then made several independent excursions the following two years.
But the excitement wasn’t over.
In 2019, the Virginia Museum of Transportation and the Strasburg Railroad worked together
to bring about one of the most exciting steam gatherings of the decade - the Norfolk and
Western Steam Reunion.
For the first time since the end of mainline steam, Strasburg Railroad’s Norfolk & Western
locomotive number 475 was reunited with another N&W steam locomotive - the 611.
The month long event drew thousands of visitors from all over and was a big hit.
Number 5: Amtrak’s 40th Anniversary Celebration Anniversary celebrations are often a big deal
and Amtrak pulled out all the stops in 2011 for their 40th Anniversary.
The railroad painted up 4 locomotives in specially adapted previously used Amtrak paint schemes
and placed them into service on Amtrak trains all over the country.
They also put together a special “40th Anniversary Exhibit Train” that spent the year touring
the country, filled with interactive displays depicting the history of Amtrak.
How cool!
Number 4: The startup of Brightline - America’s first private passenger rail service in many
decades When most people think of passenger trains
in the United States, they don’t think of privately run companies providing intercity
passenger service.
However, in 2018, a new service in Florida became an exception to that rule.
Brightline is a brand new passenger service that runs between Miami and West Palm Beach,
Florida with a promise to eventually link up with Orlando and possibly even points beyond.
The train service was originally started by a group called All Aboard Florida.
It has since partnered with Richard Branson and has been rebranded as “Virgin Trains
USA”.
This is the first privately run intercity passenger rail service to operate in the United
States in several decades, so it will be interesting to see what will happen in the coming years.
Could this be a new future for passenger train service in the United States or will this
be a one off exception?
Only the future will tell.
Number 3: New Tier 4 low pollution Locomotives The decade of the 2010s was marked with a
lot of changes to the American Railroad landscape.
One of the biggest was the introduction of new, tier 4 clean air locomotives for both
passenger and freight rail use.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has designated certain rules regarding
particle emissions from Diesel engines, including railroad locomotives.
The newest and most stringent regulations, known as Tier 4, came into full effect in
2015.
While old locomotives that don’t meet Tier 4 are still allowed to operate, newly built
locomotives must meet these regulations, unless granted exhaust credit exemptions by the EPA.
Needless to say, this has already begun to drastically change the face of modern diesel
locomotives in the United States.
Many freight railroads and several passenger rail services have already purchased new Tier
4 locomotives and in some cases, have already opted to upgrade their entire fleet.
While visually, the new Tier 4 freight locomotives largely resemble previous offerings, the new
passenger locomotives are quite a departure from previously built models, giving off quite
the modern vibe.
It will be interesting to see what will happen in the next decade as more and more older
locomotives are retired and replaced with new tier 4 units.
Number 2: Restoration of the Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy locomotive
It doesn’t get much bigger than this - the restoration of one of the largest steam locomotives
ever built.
For years, most thought that no big boy locomotive would ever run again.
Then, in 2012, the Union Pacific Railroad shocked the world when it announced that it
was going to reacquire locomotive 4014 from The Rail Giants Train museum in Pomona, California
and restore it to full operation for their steam program.
When the locomotive was finally completed in 2019, it made a HUGE impression, attracting
fans from all over the world to watch in awe as the locomotive traveled over almost the
entire Union Pacific System.
4014 sure was a sight to behold.
But believe it or not, there is still one more event that I think is even BIGGER than
the Big Boy.
Number 1: The Transcontinental Railroad 150th Anniversary Celebration
The importance of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad cannot be understated.
It changed the history of the United States and the world forever.
With the joining of the rails at Promontory Summit in May of 1869, goods and people could
travel faster than ever from one side of the country to the other, spurring even greater
industrial growth and progress.
150 years later, this is still one of the most important rail lines in the country,
carrying thousands of trains each year.
For the 150th anniversary in 2019, a near week long celebration of events was held in
Ogden, Utah and at the actual site of completion at Promontory Summit.
It is because of the lasting impact of the Transcontinental Railroad that I have chosen
this as the number one most important railroad event I saw of the 2010s.
What did you think of my list?
Is there anything you thought I should’ve included or something that I put on the list
that you don’t think should be there?
Would you have listed some of these events in a different order?
Let me know in the comments below!
Ah!
There’s a bald eagle!
There we go, there’s a bald eagle.
I don’t know if you’re going to be able to see this on camera, but there’s a bald
eagle that is flying across the lake right now.
It’s just absolutely beautiful here.
That’s one of the things that I love so much about being up here in the Pacific Northwest,
there’s just so much natural beauty all around.
It’s just… it’s it’s a really amazing place, but…
Oh, and there’s a river otter down there too!
Huh, cool!
Well thank you for joining me for the 500,000 Subscriber Special!
And as I just said before, if you have any comments about the list of the top 10 events
that I picked or if you have a different list that you’d like to share, please share that
with me below in the comments and, you know, certainly if you’d like to see more top
ten lists from me in the future, let me know about that as well.
New videos right here on the YouTube channel every Friday morning at 9 am Pacific time
and I also post a lot of great content on my other social media pages including Facebook,
Flickr, Instagram, so be sure to follow those as well.
That’s it for now.
Until next time, I’m Mike Armstrong.
I’ll see you down
the line!
Thanks for watching.
[OUTTAKES]