North Carolina Train Museum Day 2 – The Leviathan Steam Locomotive

There were several locomotives that pulled the Lincoln Funeral Car but one of them was a 440 named Leviathan No. 63. From 1999 to 2009, Dave Kloke basically built a replica of the original. It is period-specific in EVERYTHING except where the Federal Railroad Administration required modern safety features. 🙂  Check out the images. What do you think?

And yes, we got to ride on the Leviathan. There is something very different about a steam train versus the sleek silence of modern Amtrak. The rocking and swaying, the chugga-chugga sound, the water dripping from the front, and the steam billowing overhead, like a trail of clouds that followed us. You could even feel the humidity in the air from it.

Image Collage: Julia checking her shots. The Leviathan, steam locomotive that drew Lincoln’s funeral car. Leviathan’s engineer checking the water levels. Me, on the ground with Gamma trying to get “just the right shot.”