It's been awhile since we have produced anything on contemporary excursion steam, but this one should be a welcome addition to your collection. Southern Railway 2-8-0 number 630 is seen on two weekends of steam trips in North Carolina in April of 2013. First we see three runs in one day from Spencer(Salisbury) to Barber Junction. These three roundtrips were unique for the spring of 2013 as they did not have diesel assist. At Barber we see trains being turned to head back east. We get some spirited running on these trips with an nice passenger train consist. The following day(A Sunday), 630 provides the power for the 3 afternoon museum trains at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer. This is a short run, but we get to see the engine again without diesel, and there was no water car on these trips. On the second of three trips, we ride the train to provide some different perspective from the trackside views. 630 looks great on all these runs.

The following weekend we are in Asheville, North Carolina for two days of trips to Old Fort, NC. There would be a total of 4 runs, since there was a morning and an afternoon run each day. These trips climbed the mountains in both directions, and traversed the famous loops that helped the railroad gain elevation. You will also see a tunnel scene, and the train passing by Andrew's Geyser, as well as several views of the loops from various angels. In two different scenes you get to see the train pass in one direction on one level, then pass in a different direction from the same camera location. These trips had diesels behind the 630 since the grades were more than the engine could handle, but the steam action was quite good as was the weather for both days. You will also see station scenes in Asheville and Old Fort, plus a little of the wye used to turn the engine.

To finish off the show we included two scenes of the train on a one- way trip west of Asheville toward Knoxville, including a scene at Marshall, NC, and one in Tennessee. The last time I saw this engine was 1970 in Charleston, SC. Also in this new program are some vintage scenes of 630 and history of the engine before going to the Southern Railway's excursion operations in the 1960's. This show has a chapter menu and is in 16:9 wide-screen format