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While at the Ohio Central Rail Road, I was able to observe the servicing of one of their steam locomotives.  For safety reasons, I couldn't get too close to the workers, but my telephoto lens did!  Here are a few interesting pictures of 19th Century skills at work in the 21st Century.

First things first, the train crew pulled the engine into the servicing area between the coal pile and the front end loader that helps to fill the tender with coal.  Then one of the crew placed the blue "safety" flag on the track behind the engine's tender so no other crews would move the engine.  In the world of railroading, the only person who can remove a blue flag is the person who put it out, so this was a crucial step.

Once the engine was in the proper position, the crew placed lengths of iron chain across the rails in front and behind of the last two drive wheels.  To show this small, but crucial point, I marked the location of each chain in the picture above.

At this point, the fireman has just verified the blue flag's placement (you can barely see the pole of the blue flag appearing on the track just above the hydrant system).  He has also hooked up the water hose and started the hydrant system to replenish the water supply in the tender.  (For those who are not train buffs, coal is burned in steam engine's firebox to heat water in its boiler to create steam which then turns the wheels through the rod and wheel mechanism).

In this picture, the engineer and fireman are using a air tool to apply thick grease to the bearings and rods of the drive mechanism on one side of the locomotive...

...then finishing up on the other side, so the engine is ready to make another run tomorrow.