Here's one of the pilot crew members, he said he was "Ready to go!". I bought some souveniers to remember the last run, these I have displayed on my dresser, a pencil drawing, some magnets, a couple brochures, and even a Missouri state road map from 1995-96 that features the 1522 in 1994 on the (then) BN on the way to the NRHS convention in Atlanta on the front cover, the train was called the Peach Blossum Special, using Norfolk Southern equipment. With the servicing complete the train then backed up around the curve at the west end of Newburg.

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Here's the 1995-96 road map. The train then reversed and came back east. Here we see it's progress as cameras clicked away in the photo line.

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Backing up.

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Heading around the curve.

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The train then stopped and backed up, smokebox directly in front of me.

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We're gone! The passengers boarded and the train headed back east.

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See ya...

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...later 1522! When we passed through Rolla, there was still smoke drifting around in the air after the train passed. In Cuba, we stopped for a bite to eat, something we hadn't done all day, I forget the name of the resteraunt, but what a good pork chop and soup, yum, yum! We then proceded back to STL around dusk, we thought we may catch the train near Sullivan or something but a large wreck on I-44 greatly delayed our progress, 2 semi's and some other vehicles were involved, I hope there were no railfans involved :'( . As we we're arriving back into the St. Louis area, we could make out some smoke around Eureka (imagine that). We arrived back at the St. Louis Amtrak Station around 8:30, the train had also been delayed by a troublesome switch and the Amtrak Texas Eagle was supposed to call at the station before the 1522's train. So, we once again, waited. Then we heard scanner chatter of the train entering the yard. I took one last night photo and sadly watched as the locomotive disappeared behind some parked Amfleet and Horizon Amtrak cars, knowing that that could very well be the last time, I will ever see it under steam again, I managed to crack a couple tears, being aware that a chapter in restored steam's history was coming to a close.

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One last night shot. :'( It was something I will never forget. P.S. I finally got to visit my favorite steamer in 2004 again at the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, it was so great to get to see an old friend such as this again after almost 2 years, the locomotive is under cover and is in great shape, nice paint and still greased up and ready to go, pour it full of bunker C and water, light that thing off and let's hit the (rail)road!!!