How Did This Web Site Get Started?

Back in the late 1980s, in their quarterly news magazine: the Minnigazette, the MTM published a list of surviving steam locomotives that had at one time operated in or near the state of Minnesota. I was fascinated by this list and couldn't help but to wonder: "Where are _ALL_ of the surviving steam locomotives?". Using the information in this list and in a booklet published by the Camerail Club, I began to compile my own list. The list was very short. I added the locomotives that I had seen in museums and parks. After a while, I began periodically posting my list in the rec.railroad USENET newsgroup. People began to e-mail additions to me. By the early 1990s, I felt the list was substantial enough to be placed on this new thing called the "Web".

I created a web site that contained two things: 1) my list of surviving steam locomotives, and 2) a few pages containing photographs of steam locomotives at several museums that I had recently visited. To the best of my knowledge, my web site contained the first Virtual Tours of steam locomotives.

What Has Motivated Me To Keep This Web Site Going?

I feel that for each surviving steam locomotive, there exists a unique story about it. I have always been interested in the history of steam locomotives between the time they were retired and where they are today. I find it interesting to hear how they were saved from the scrap yard, or why they were once used in excursion service but then placed in a park. Because it is difficult to remember all of the history for each locomotive, I prefer to write what I know about each locomotive in the form of a web page and publish it on the net. This way, others can read about them and then e-mail their comments or additional history to me (which, of course, gets added to the page). This process is instrumental in the growth of this web site.

Steam Locomotive dot Com Today

Over the years, this web site has has gone through a number of face-lifts. I would like to think that with each change, this web site has looked more and more professional. It has been over one year since I started using my own domain name (steamlocomotive.com). With each of these changes, I find that my web site is viewed differently by people visiting it. It is almost funny how I get more and more e-mail from people who think that Steam Locomotive dot Com is some sort of company. I take that as a complement because it is a reflection of its design.

I used to consider the maintenance of this web site a hobby. I would work on it when I wanted to take a break. Today, I get a lot of e-mail. Now, I take a break to get away from the e-mail. A good portion of the e-mail I receive are questions relating to someone's relative who used to work on the railroad, or questions about the worth or origin of some railroad-related appliance. I often have no way of knowing the answers to these questions. Yet, I always reply even if it is to say: "I don't know, sorry." I have created a Steam Locomotive dot Com FAQ to help curb some of this e-mail. Some days I think that I have created a monster. The Steam Locomotive dot Com monster.