i would just like to know why southern put gold eagles above the headlights of leased steam locomotives for the steam excursions such as the 610 and 2716 i also noticed the chessie put one on the Reading T-1 2101 for the chessie steam special was there a purpose for the eagle or was it just for decoration and who came up with the idea of putting them on and does any one know what year the trip to the dixie days festival featured in the video majestic mikado the trip was called the dixie limited

-- Kirby Grubb (kirbydonald2002@yahoo.com), June 21, 2002

Answers

The eagle that appeared on 610 and 2716 was decorative and the practice goes back to the days when RRs assigned locomotives to crews and allowed them to add decorations, such as flag sticks, eagles, etc.

-- Frank Greene (fgreen01@midsouth.rr.com), September 08, 2002.

It must also be remembered that those fittings are private property, owned by the railroad employees who were operating the locomotives.

-- Alan Walker (awalker2002@comcast.net), January 13, 2003.