As for steam here in the Colonies there are quite a few operating locomotives, most of which are West of the Mississippi. Union Pacific RR is the only US railroad that never completely retired all their steam, their #844 has been on their roster since it was placed in service in 1944 and is active in excursion service on the UP.
Here in the East, one of the latest bits of preservationist news concerns the Norfolk and Western 611. Norfolk & Western was one the last major railroads to dieselize. Being a cola-hauling railroad they had access to low cost fuel from the mines and it wasn't until 1957 or so that they finally dropped the fires in their steam fleet, long after most other railroads had gone totally diesel. One of their crack passenger train steamers, a 'Northern' type (4-8-4 - N&W called them class J) was in service until 1959 when its last act was pulling a 'farewell to steam' excursion in October of that year. It was then donated to the new Roanoke Transportation Museum (later the Virginia Museum of Transportation) for static display ('stuffed and mounted' in RR fan talk) where she sat rusting away.
Along about 1981 Robert Claytor became President of Norfolk & Western Railway and was instrumental in the merger of the N&W with the Southern RR to create Norfolk Southern where he was the first CEO. Claytor is best remembered by many railfans for reactivating Norfolk and Western's steam program, which rebuilt steam locomotives J-611 and A-1218 at the Roanoke Shops at Roanoke, Virginia, and operated excursion trips. Number 611 returned to the rails under this program in 1982 and over the next twelve years pulled many steam excursions ranging from Florida to New York and from the Atlantic coast to Chicago. Robert Claytor died of cancer in 1993...
...and in April 1994 NS abruptly ended the steam program. 611 was again stuffed and mounted in Roanoke, VA and left to rust. Her fate at that time was at least better than the other steamer that N&W had running, the 1218. That unit was in the shops getting her boiler tubes and other stuff rebuilt and was thus in pieces all over the shop. When the steam program ended, NS (which from that point forward became No Steam RR to railfans) basically swept up all the parts, tossed them in a basket, and shoved the 1218 out the door..
In 2011 the railfan community heard mumblings of something called '21st Century Steam' being tossed about in the lofty towers of No Steam Railroad. The early murmurings were dismissed by the railfan community because in general they did not believe that such a level of repentance could be achieved by NS management who as a class were deemed predestined to perdition. Speculation though increased when the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum restored Southern Railway 630 to operation and 'No Steam' allowed it to operate over a portion of their trackage. Then it was reported that the 611 was moved from where it was rusting away in Roanoke to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina, down Tax Chick's way (well, more her way than mine ;-) to be rebuilt and returned to service.
So after all that background, on May 9, 2015, during an event that was scheduled to be only a test firing, N&W 611 moved under her own power for the first time in 20 years and 153 days. Here is a video of that event...
Hmmm..
I think Norfolk and Western was a COAL-hauling railroad..
S’pose I can blame Otto the Co-Wrecker?