The 1977 Chessie Steam Special with Reading 2101, "The B&O's 8,000 Mile Birthday Party" 1977

The B&O's 8,000 Mile Birthday Party is a 1977 Promotional Film produced by Avanti Productions that documents the 1977 Season of the Chessie Steam Special (the 1st of 2 seasons of the Chessie Steam Special, that crisscrossed the Chessie System Railroad to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.) pulled by Reading T1 2101. 2101 Pulled the American Freedom Train of 1975-76 & the Chessie Steam Special of 1977-78. On March 26th, 1979, The 2101 was damaged in a roundhouse fire in Russell, Kentucky & was traded to the B&O Railroad Museum for C&O 614 (which went onto to run excursions in 1980-81, Pulling Freight Trains in January of 1985 & pulling excursions over NJT Trackage in 1996, 1997 & 1998. 614 is now on display at the C&O Railway Heritage Center In Clifton Forge, Virginia.) & 2101 was placed on display at the B&O Museum. 2101 is currently in the process of undergoing a cosmetic restoration, due to be completed by 2026. This is a much better quality copy of this film sourced from an old DVD set from the early 2000s.
Nickel Plated Productions does not lay claim to the ownership & copyright of this film. Ownership & copyright belongs to Avanti Productions. This has been uploaded in an effort to preserve the historic contents of this video.

[@DinahIsMyGal]

One of the finest railroad films I've seen. So beautifully produced.

[@IonlyPlayz]

its great to see this film again

[@GoofyVirginian630]

The song is pretty fire ngl

[@nicholasmedovich6729]

RIP William. Your intelligence with the C&O will always be the fallen flag never forgotten. Specifically William Francis Howes Jr.

[@gusshadleythelunaticfromar7125]

Seen Ole Ross back last fall he was in goshen running 611.

[@lashendawest7509]

Great video

[@gusshadleythelunaticfromar7125]

Whats funny some of them younger folks that worked on this crew are getting close to 70 now.

[@robkrasinski6217]

Class 1's today, except for UP only care about the bottom line and shareholders and their stock performance. NS did host steam excursions again from Sept. 2011-May 2017. You can ride behind T-1 #2102 at the Reading and Northern again. The #2101 is at the B&O museum in Baltimore and is painted in the AFT scheme. CSX hosted steam excursions like on the New River Train through 1994 then was anti-steam for a long while. Now, they are more willing to tow steam locomotives that need moving on their own wheels like what they did with the C&O 2716 in Kentucky. The newly merged CPKC will run their Empress 4-6-4 from Calgary to Mexico City next April with stops for the public to view it, no excursions.

[@SuperFoxyRailwayProduction6702]

Is there any more footage of Reading #2101 on the Chessie Steam special?

[@jamesmccann1097]

Unfortunately this was before video tape equipment became widely available. It was also very expensive for several years.