Artist Drives Diesel Locomotive at Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum

Diesel Switch Engine No. 11

George C. Clark at the Throttle   (photo by Patricia Clark)

Normally I only post my railroad paintings and drawings on this blog, but today I'm going to break that pattern to post a couple of photos of a fun railroading experience I enjoyed recently. For my birthday my wife Pat got me an opportunity to take part in the Guest Engineer program at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson, Indiana, located about 85 miles southeast of Chicago.  On August 10 we drove out there and I had a lesson in how to operate No. 11, a diesel switch engine that formerly shunted freight cars at a steel mill.  My instructor was John, a fully qualified engineer seen in the yellow shirt in the photo.  Another museum volunteer acted as conductor, grade-level crossing guard, and switchman, throwing the manual switches as needed.

I got to drive No. 11 for half an hour up and down the museum's own right-of-way.   It was a lot of fun for a person who has been a rail fan all his life and is now a founding member of the American Society of Railroad Artists.  Thank you, Pat!