I had the pleasure to see a steam locomotive at speed once while at my grandparents. There is track about 50 yards behind the house and I just happened to be facing the window as it whizzed by. As this was in the 1970s or early '80s I'm guessing it belonged to a private collection.
As far as modern trains go, I once worked at a grainery that owned a spur line complete with a GM Diesel-Electric NW-2 locomotive. We would load up 15-30 bulk cars with grain and set aside to be picked up by the larger road locomotives. It was busy work and sometimes tedious, but it always gave a feeling of accomplishment when done.









