Southern Pacific / A&TC / ASTA Mikado No. 786, early testing, circa 1991

This is "Part One" of a two part video by Mr, James R. Vaughan on the SP 786 that was taken out of a park in downtown Austin, restored by Gary Bensman of Diversified Rail Services, and put into service on Austin Steam Train Association's "Austin & Central Texas" Railroad. Part two will follow shortly. Most of this video is exactly as Mr.Vaughan gave them to me on VHS tapes he had made for my use, so I neither edited them much, nor did I ensure that all the different clips were in exact chronological order, as most clips had little hint as to the date they were shot. Please note in comments any additional information or corrections you feel would be of benefit for everyone's enjoyment and for the historical record.

A lot of interesting stuff appears in this video at different points, including people working on the restoration of cars and the locomotive, TV news reports, the principles behind the restoration and the early Engineers that came to help, like J.R. Phillips who was an older, retired steam experienced Locomotive Engineer from a railroad I have forgotten all these years later.

Since most of this was taped in and around the Georgetown Railroad and at the nearby Westinghouse plant that had shops where the restoration was done, some interesting railroad equipment makes cameo appearances, like the Georgetown Railroad business cars such as GRR No. 483 and several GRR locomotives, notably Nos. 9010 and 9012. Also Bert Dockall's ex-Santa Fe caboose No. 999418 and ASTA ex-PRR P-70 coach No. 699. Most of the footage was shot from November 1991 to December 1991. The next video posted will cover 1992-era footage.

I wanted to be involved in the restoration but never could get in on it, even though Mr. Vaughan campaigned heavily for me. I didn't get to view the scenes in this video as they were taking place or follow it's progress because I had given up on volunteering with them and I was either working on the Santa Fe as Engineer or a as a consultant to shortline railroads like the Carolina Piedmont. That had a lot to do with Mr. Vaughan making sure I got copies of his videos, and for which I am enormously grateful.