Ace of Black Diamonds

DVD - 55 minutes

January 1985 was one of the coldest on record, yet all through that month, ex-C&O Greenbrier 4-8-4 No. 614 was pulling 4,000 ton coal trains through the New River Gorge. She was testing for the "Ace 3000" project, which was to have led the resurgence of coal-fired locomotives in this country.

The project never came to be, but this video tells you the story of what might have been. You will thrill to the sight and sound of a big steam engine working a heavy freight train in cold winter weather. You'll ride the cab of this big 4-8-4 with Engineer Ross Rowland. He puts the throttle "on the roof" and you'll hear the crack of her exhaust as the 614 pulls a 4,000 ton coal train up river in the dead of winter in the New River Gorge.

Multiple camera crews and the Hopewell Helicopter capture all the action and stunning imagery of big steam at work in the winter.