Club Ride - Florida Railroad Museum's Month of Steam

Our weekly Saturday outing took us south to Parrish, FL, where we visited the Florida Railroad Museum for their Month of Steam. During this special event, the museum operates a steam engine on its tracks instead of the normal diesel-electric locomotive.

The steam locomotive, known as the Flagg Coal Company #75, was built by Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1930 and used by the Flagg Coal Company of Avoca, PA. Flagg Coal Company # 75 is a 40-ton saddle tank locomotive that saw service as # 2 for the Flagg Coal Company, where it was used as a switch engine. In 1935 it was sold to the Solvay Process Co. in Jamesville, NY and renumbered 75.

The locomotive is now privately owned by a father and son duo, who spent more then ten years restoring the locomotive to the point that it could be returned to service. The locomotive now tours the country making appearances at railroad museums and other special events.

Here are a few of the shots that I took during our one-hour ride on the train as it was pulled by the steam locomotive.

Here we are getting underway, you can just make out the museum's diesel-electric locomotive on the siding in the background:

Here you can see the fireman stoking the locomotive's boiler:

This is the same engineer that kindly treated me and Eddie to a turn at driving the diesel-electric motive during our first visit to the museum about a year ago:

A good crowd turned out for the 10 AM train ride on the day of our visit. The museum had additional rides scheduled every two hours for the rest of the day:

The conductor was all business...:

...while Lloyd just hammed it up:

This shot gives you some perspective on the length and consist of the train:

I strolled toward the caboose through two Pullman cars and another gondola car:

Museum volunteers work the train and explain the sights to guest and answer any questions about the train or the museum:

I spotted this mosquito on a lamp inside one of the Pullman cars and couldn't resist shooting a few frames. Bet you didn't get this one, Boyd!:

Eddie took a turn at hamming for the camera by pretending to be asleep...:

...but he got so tickled at himself that he couldn't keep it up:

Rounding the only bend in the tracks on the return leg of the trip:

Eddie was in deep thought as he took in the view:

Coming back into the station area of the museum, the engineer gives a friendly wave to the crowd:

Braking her down for the station platforms:

The locomotive at rest:

Some exterior detail shots of the locomotive:

And some interior shots of the locomotive's cab:

This man was nice enough to let me climb into the cab to shoot the photos you see above:

Boyd is laughing instead of crying at the realization that I have beaten him to the inside of the locomotive's cab for some close-up shots:

The view from the left side of the locomotive's cab:

Boyd walks back to his bike with a flash card full of great photos:

Robert and Eddie conspire about something back at the bikes:

Mounting up for the ride back to Plant City:

We took the back roads both coming and going:

Boyd was looking sharp astride his V-Max:

Robert leads the way for Boyd...only because Boyd let him lead at this point:

Here's Lloyd astride his new Gold Wing. Just look at that grin:

Back in Plant City for lunch, I spotted this vehicle parked partially on the sidewalk:

You'd think a university man (or woman) would be better able to park than this:

Oh, well, I guess an expensive University of Tampa education is no guarantee that someone possesses parking (or driving) skills!

Following Our Nose - March 13, 2009

We were a small, but determined group of riders who set about to explore the area on our weekly sojourn of asphalt surfing and curve-straightening. So small, in fact, that only three of us made the ride. That's okay, we still had a good time, logged some quality miles, and had some interesting adventures.

The started out in the usual -- if not traditional -- manner with a hearty breakfast and good conversation. Eddie joined us for the meal, but due to commitments involving visiting relatives, he was unable to join us on the ride.

That left yours truly, Robert, and Boyd as the only three riders for the day.

Leaving our rendezvous point, we headed east and meandered our way along one back road after another until we ended up at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City. We mainly just stopped in to see what they had going on and didn't actually enter the attraction; choosing instead to hang out in the parking lot and watch the action through the fence for a little while. And this low key approach proved to be quite an interesting way to kill some time.

This is the main entrance to Fantasy of Flight:

This is a glimpse into one of the several collection hangars:

The attraction also has a large maintenance hangar across the field from the collection hangars:

They were prepping this bi-wing plane for aerial tour flights:

She was a real beauty and the sight of her sitting on the ramp was an inviting and inspiring sight:

This PBY Catalina was sitting across the way on the extreme edge of the tarmac:

While we standing at the fence soaking up the sights, they rolled out this Stearman. You can pay for flights in this beautiful plane and they let you take the controls and fly it. And, yes, I was VERY tempted to give it a whirl:

The other bi-plane took off with a load of paying passengers as we stood there admiring the Stearman:

Looking around, we spotted this little guy swimming across the pond that was just on the other side of the fence from us:

He came very close to where we were standing and didn't seem the least bit concerned by our presence:

Walking around the entrance building, I spotted this bicycle parked up against the building. This biker could teach us touring motorcyclists a thing or two about packing to maximize carrying capacity:

Inside the entrance building I shot a picture of this large diorama of Charles Lindbergh's plane, the Spirt of St. Louis, in flight:

This Lockheed Constellation (Connie) is parked at the entrance/exit to the attraction. As you can see, it is undergoing restoration work at this time:

Leaving Fantasy of Flight, we continued our journey by just following our noses along many an unknown road:

We traveled eastward into deepest, darkest Polk County, before turning north and finally west. We ended up on Green Pond Road, where Boyd and I did a little bit of bike swapping. Here's Boyd on the Red Velvet, while I prepare to mount up on his new V-Max:

Of course I was too busy piloting the V-Max to get any shots of that action, but here is the V-Max sitting at the far western end of Green Pond Road while I await the arrival of Boyd and Robert:

The V-Max is an awesome motorcycle and I managed to give it a spirited ride thanks to Boyd's trusting courtesy. I managed to get a bit out in front of Boyd and Robert as can be seen in this photo looking east on Green Pond Road. That's right...they're nowhere to be seen!!!:

Here comes Boyd and Robert some 30 minutes later (just kidding!):

We ended up riding another 50 miles or so after all this fun and excitement before I called it a day. It was an interesting day of uncharted riding and it seemed we all enjoyed the adventure.