The Steam Whisperer of Nelsonville: Ross Ballard

The Steam Whisperer of Nelsonville: Ross Ballard and the Soul of Engine #33

Saturday, October 1, 1983 – Nelsonville, Ohio

A faint plume of smoke rises over the Hocking Valley rail yard in Nelsonville, curling into the crisp October sky like a memory refusing to fade. The rhythmic hiss of steam and the clang of metal echo through the still morning, signs that something alive is stirring. In the middle of it all stands Ross Ballard — age 70, soot-smeared and slightly stooped, with a permanent scowl etched beneath his soot-caked cap — coaxing life back into a machine nearly as old as he is.

Being as old as Engine #33, Ballard doesn’t so much work on her as much as he communes with her.

The locomotive — a Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation built in 1916 — is the original heart of the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway, and Ross, in many ways, is its soul. A lifelong steam man, Ballard is part craftsman, part curmudgeon, and part historian. He has spent more years than he can remember shoulder-deep in iron and grease, chasing the elusive perfection of a well-tuned engine.

“She’s got her moods,” Ballard says, wiping his hands on a rag, nodding toward the boiler like an old friend. “But once you learn how to listen, she’ll tell you what she needs.”

“People today don’t know how to feel a locomotive anymore,” he growls without looking up, tightening a valve with practiced precision. “They listen to manuals. You gotta listen to the engine.” 

Ross is one of the last of a vanishing breed — the kind of man who grew up with cinders in his hair and steam in his lungs. As a teenager, he apprenticed in the roundhouses of southeastern Ohio, swept floors, cleaned fireboxes, and learned every inch of a steam locomotive from the ground up. By the time he was in his twenties, he could tear down a boiler in a snowstorm and have it back on the rails before dawn. While he worked as an engineer for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company from 1943 to 1976, retirement never really happened. Instead, he found a second life with the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway.

Ross isn’t just turning wrenches; he’s tending to a legend.

In 1972, when the HVSRy acquired trackage in Nelsonville, a dream took root — to preserve the experience of steam railroading for future generations. Engine #33, then sitting idle and forgotten in a Columbus rail yard, was brought to Nelsonville. While some saw a rusted-out relic, Ross saw a sleeping giant. He signed on almost immediately.

“She was rough,” he recalls, voice thick with gravel and reverence. “Flues shot. Bearings gone. Rods frozen. But the bones were solid. Baldwin built ’em to last, not to look pretty.”

Over the next several years, Ballard became a fixture at the shop, often working alone late into the night, lit only by the glow of a welder’s arc or the dull warmth of a shop light. He rebuilt the injectors, re-bushed the rods, re-machined parts that hadn’t existed since the Hoover administration, breathing new life into century-old iron. His gruff exterior earned him a reputation — part legend, part warning — among the younger volunteers.

“It always was about more than trains,” he reflects. “It was about heritage. About keeping something real alive. Young fellas come in here thinking they know everything,” he snorts. “I let the engine teach ‘em otherwise.” 

But underneath the bristly demeanor is a man deeply committed to his craft. Ask him about steam timing, and you’ll get a thirty-minute lecture laced with curse words and engineering brilliance. Ask him about #33, and he gets quiet — the kind of quiet that reveals more than words.

Now, more than a decade later, the payoff is real. “She’s a temperamental old girl,” he says softly. “But she’s got heart.”

On this autumn Saturday, the small town of Nelsonville buzzes quietly as families gather to board the train. Children press their noses to the windows, while grandparents speak of steam and smoke with a gleam in their eyes. In the yard, Ross Ballard and his fellow volunteers make sure the engine is ready with Ballard making final adjustments before the afternoon run. 

The mission of preservation and olde time experiences is at the core of the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway (HVSRy), a 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer-operated heritage railroad nestled in the rolling hills of Athens County. A short drive from the bustling trails of Hocking Hills State Park, the railway offers visitors a passage through both time and terrain. The tracks, once laid by the historic Hocking Valley Railway and later operated by the Chesapeake & Ohio, now serve to carry curious tourists and passionate railfans alike.

Engine #33 is not just a backdrop for photo ops. She breathes. Every bolt, every pipe, every bearing and valve is part of a living machine that demands attention and respect. “There’s no substitute for working steam,” says Ballard. “It’s raw, it’s loud, and it’s alive.”

He’s been up since before sunrise, inspecting the firebox, checking water levels, and adjusting valves. The heat of the cab is stifling even in October, but Ballard moves with practiced ease. “You’ve got to know her rhythms,” he explains, “the timing, the feel of the steam in the lines, the sound of the cylinders. It’s a dance, really.”

They don’t know it, but the real engine behind the experience is the man covered in coal dust, standing with one foot on the running board and the other in the past.

As the fireman opens the firebox and feeds in fresh coal, Ross leans in, listening. “She’s burning hot,” he mutters. “Good. Let her breathe.”

When Engine #33 roars to life — chuffing steam and shaking the tracks — there’s a moment, a heartbeat of history, that ripples through the valley. It’s not just noise or motion. It’s memory made real, powered by steam and the stubborn will of men like Ross Ballard.

“He may be old and cranky,” one younger volunteer whispers with a grin, “but he’s the reason that engine runs. He is the heartbeat of this place.”

With Ballard at the controls, #33 lurches forward with a belch of smoke and a shriek of whistle, beginning her run through the valley, her heartbeat echoing off the hills. As the train disappears down the line, smoke trailing into the autumn sky, Ballard leans out of the cab, waving briskly at the people gathered along the rails, a rare smile cracking through the soot. But it’s very brief, #33 is more important right now and Ross can ‘feel’ that she needs a little more water in the forward boiler and quickly turns valves to comply to her needs.

For Ross Ballard, there are no days off, no end to the work. But that’s just the way he likes it. Because while the world outside may have moved on from steam, inside the Nelsonville yard — and inside the heart of a 70-year-old steam whisperer — the fire still burns. He wipes his hands on his ever-present rag and heads for the tool shed, mumbling something about checking the injectors again before the evening run.

“People see her and think of the past,” he says, watching the plume of smoke drift into the trees. “But to me, it’s the future too — a future where we remember where we came from.”

Ross Ballard adjusts an oiler on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard’s hand on the controls of engine #33 (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

(© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard tends to Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.(© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 photographed Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard looks over the workings of the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard watches the road ahead while on a public excursion Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio. =(© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard works on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio. = (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard climbs aboard the HVSRR’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard works on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Stoker John Simpson shovels coal into the belly of Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard climbs aboard HVSRR’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard oils and greases the workings of Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard works on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard takes a break at a stop during a public excursion of the HVSRR Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard applies the brakes coming into the station at Nelsonville. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard watches a crossing while sounding the whistle. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard talks with a conductor before setting off on a public excursion Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard, hand on the throttle of Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard watches a crossing while working the throttle of engine #33. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Ross Ballard works on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

Hocking Valley Scenic Railway’s Engine #33 Saturday, October 1, 1983 in Nelsonville, Ohio.  (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was originally located in Philadelphia, and later moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as the largest producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of diesels was far less so. Later, when the early demand for diesel locomotives to replace steam tapered off, Baldwin could not compete in the marketplace. It stopped producing locomotives in 1956 and went out of business in 1972, having produced over 70,000 locomotives, the vast majority powered by steam.

This company is not to be confused with E M Baldwin of Australia who made small locomotives for such things as sugar cane tramways.

Nelsonville, Ohio is a city in northwestern York Township, Athens County, Ohio, United States. It is sixty miles southeast of Columbus. The population was 5,392 at the 2010 census. It is the home town of Hocking College.

All images captured on Kodak Tri-X film. Processed with Kodak Microdol-X Developer. Digitized with a Nikon Coolscan 4000 ED.