SP&S 700 Washington Steamfest DVD by Greg Scholl

Description

SP&S 700 was rebuilt in Portland and this trip in October of 1990 was its first major outing, and perhaps one of its best since its restoration. The event was the Washington Steamfest in Yakima, on the Washington Central, which has since been sold back to BNSF. This run included Portland to Pasco on the former SP&S trackage that 700 was built for, and then onto former Northern Pacific trackage to Prosser, Yakima, Ellensburg, and Cle Elum. The scenic Columbia Gorge and Yakima River Canyons form superb backgrounds for this lovely 4-8-4. There were three of these engines built to the NP 4-8-4 design and 700 is the sole survivor. In addition to the 700 we will also see Great Western 2-8-0 Number 51 running short trips and even meeting 700 at one location.
700 operated on short trips, dinner trains, and one-way trips that eventually took it back to Portland after the Steamfest was concluded. No diesel helpers on these trips, just 700 doing all the work. When this video was originally released it was 60 minutes. We re-edited the video recently for the dvd and now its 90 minutes. This is a companion video to the SP 4449 Washington Steamfest. After 4449 ran trips in and around Yakima 700 made an encore performance on its first big outing. Don't miss this great steam action.
90 minutes