Nickel Plate Road 311 “Cab Ride” at St. Croix Railroad

Hey Friends!
Stoked to share one last video from our trip out to St. Croix Railroad - one lap with my 1" scale (aka 1:12 scale, or 1 inch per foot on full size) Little Engines Pacific locomotive. Former Indiana Western 311, I found this loco in 2010 as several buckets of parts and a tender. With the help of many friends and fellow club members we lit the first fire in 2014, and I've been embellishing, rebuilding, and adding new appliances ever since. I'll be the first to admit we were having some draft / vacuum issues during this run (it was 311's first run of the season), so you'll see me manhandling the fire a bit more than normal... but it's all part of the fun! Looking forward to running at the WLS Annual Meet with new sealant and gaskets all around.
Thanks so much for tuning in as always! If you haven't already, feel free to check out the channel and scroll through some other videos! I've got plenty more clips of 31 back at our home club Waushakum Live Steamers, as well as other railroads, locos, and years worth of run days stacked up in my videos library.
Also, feel free to Subscribe to the channel! I'll be releasing a bunch more fun stuff for the fellow Backyard Railfans this season: 311 Cab Ride at St. Croix, 31 Work Train at WLS, track work & Club maintenance videos, solo locomotive profiles and more!
As always, drop a comment or a like to let me know what you think, or what you’d like to see more of!
Last but not least, be sure to follow along on instagram for daily updates from the shop, adventures with my flagship loco NKP 311, and photos of locomotives submitted by owners and enthusiasts all over the country:
@FoxIslandLocomotiveWorks
@NickelPlateRoad311
@LiveSteamNation
Cheers, See you down the line!
-Jimmy

[@Hozy780]

She is fast

[@Dakota3988-s7v]

I love 311, she seems like a sweet engine and a nice runner.

[@Engineer5344]

boy jim, for a one inch pacific, she eats up alot of coal.

[@FoxIslandRailroadCo]

She sure does, and this is for several reasons: first, 311 has the largest firebox I’ve ever measured on a LE Pacific, at least an inch oversize in both directions. In this video I’m also burning primarily Western bituminous coal, which burns quite like small balls of paper, LOL. Hot, but goes up the stack in 30 seconds. Lastly, the shovel I’m using is a bit small and was really meant for my 3/4” Scale Friends Hudson, but it was the best option since 311’s shovel has a two-foot handle for Highline running. Thanks for watching as always!! 🙌🏻

[@Engineer5344]

@@FoxIslandRailroadCo wow!!