Anybody here ever ride the McCloud with the late Jack Jordan? Ray Piltz was a fine steam man, but Jack was a cut above the rest.
I remember being in 25 on a photo runby with a pretty good sized train in a light snow. We were on a grade and when he got the highball, he kicked off the air, waited until the train just started to move backward, started laying sand and then took a big bite on the throttle. Right as soon as 25 stopped her backward roll, he pulled the throttle all the way out to the end of the sliding bar and off we went...with nary a slip and on wet rail too. He had a great touch.