Railroad Nation

VIRGINIA CITY, Mont. —Faced with the ever rising costs of running and maintaining a steam locomotive these days,   Montana’s Alder Gulch Short Line has announced they will not be able to operate steam  on its railroad this year. Train rides will continue to operate using its  normal lineup of tourist trains. The decision comes as part of an effort to save money.

The tourist railroad normally runs the  30-inch-gauge 2-8-0 No. 12, a 1910 Baldwin product that came from Ferrocarril Mexicano RR, on its route. Paul Reichert, executive director of the railroad’s operator, the  Montana Heritage Commission, said the costs of keeping a steam locomotive in operation during a recession led to the decision.

Originally purchased in 1992, restoration of No 12  continued on for  several years.  The work took  four to six people full time on the engine, often ten hours a day, five days a week, and eight hours on Saturday. Beginning with the bare frame, every part was rebuilt to like-new specifications. Moorehead Boiler of Minneapolis, Minnesota rebuilt the steam boiler. Every bearing and wearing point was renewed. The cab was rebuilt with a beautiful polished mahogany interior, and outfitted with brass gauges, injectors, oil cups, and other parts whose polish would satisfy even the most critical army sergeant. When it rolled out of the Baldwin factory in 1910 it could not have been more beautiful than it is today.

The railroad will instead use a gas-powered vehicle to operate the 1.5-mile route, with a diesel-powered vehicle held in backup.

To see more on train rides in Montana, visit: http://scenicrailexcursions.com/montana_trainrides.php

Floridians and tourists don’t often get to ride live steam trains outside of Disney World.  So during the month of February, for a steam train ride experience outside of the Magic Kingdom,  a little railroad that could and will, the Florida Railroad Museum in Parrish, Fl will be running steam excursions for four weekends. Pulling the steam train rides will be the 1930 Flagg Coal Company’s  No.75 Vulcan 0-4-0T coal burning tank engine. This is the fourth year the FRM has run these excursions.
After acquiring the #75  in 1991 and performing a 10 year restoration,  the this little steamer has now traveled all over the country to various museums and tourist railroads.

The #75 participated in TrainFestival 2009 in Owsso, Michigan and appeared again last fall  double heading steam train excursions in October on the scenic Hope Valley Railway in North Carolina.

This is a truly a unique chance to get up close and experience a live steam train ride in central Florida for the whole family.

Lots of extra activities are planned this year including the Party Caboose, Rent-a-Freight Train and the NEW opportunity to be a Steam Engineer.

Party Caboose - available for charter on every trip

Rent-a-Freight Train - Take charge of a 1,500 horsepower diesel locomotive and five car train for one hour.

Steam Engineer - NEW for 2010! At the end of each day, a limited number of participants will be able to operate the throttle and run the #75 on our railroad for 15 minutes.

The Museum is located 25 miles north of Sarasota and 35 miles south of Tampa off Interstate 75 at exit #229.

For more on Florida Train rides, visit: http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/florida_trainrides.php

Trains News Wire:

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261 has been sold through rail equipment broker Sterling Rail to a California-based collector, the company reports. The locomotive’s present owners, the National Railroad Museum, had no comment on the possible sale.

The Minneapolis-based nonprofit Friends of the 261 leased the locomotive from NRM and operated it from 1993 to 2008. The engine is presently in the Friends’ Minneapolis shop, having been torn down for its federally mandated 15-year inspection. When talks between the NRM and the Friends on a new lease stalled last fall, overhaul work on the 4-8-4 ended and plans were to return the engine to Green Bay for display.

The 261 was built in 1944 and weighs more than one million pounds. After retiring  from the Milwaukee Road in 1954, the steam engine was rebuilt in 1993 and began new life pulling steam excursion rides leased through the Friends of the 261.
The 261 traveled  to Chicago in May of 2008 for the making of the movie Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp. (more…)

Steamfest II will hold two events, the first one  will be held on March 14 and a weekend event will be held on March 20-21,2010 in Fremont California.

Sponsored by the Niles Canyon Railway and the Pacific Locomotive Association, these weekend  events will feature train rides with three to four participating steam locomotives  .

The Pacific Locomotive Association has been collecting rare and unusual railroad equipment since the early 1960s in an effort to preserve the Pacific Coast railroading history for the enjoyment of future generations. The PLA was recently awarded TRAINS  2009 Preservation Award of $10,000  for its restoration of the 1924-built Clover Valley Lumber Co. 2-6-6-2T No. 4 for operation on the Niles Canyon Railway in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Planned Steamfest Participants include:

Niles Canyon Railway’s Quincy Railroad #2 , a 1924 Alco 2-6-2T and the  Robert Dollar #3, a 1927 Alco, also a  2-6-2T.  California State Railroad Museum’s Granite Rock #10, a 1942 Porter built 0-6-0T and the  Roots of Motive Power/Chris Baldo’s Mason County Logging #7, a 1910 Baldwin built 2-6-2T will also be there.

The railroad will be running a double-headed steam-powered freight March 14.

For more on Bay Area and California train rides, visit http:/www.scenicrailexcursions.com/california_trainrides.php

F

A combined celebration of the 100th birthday of the historic Bartlesville, Ok  Santa Fe station and the homecoming of AT&SF No. 940 will be held for the public on. Thursday, Dec 17, at the depot. Built in 1903, this Santa Fe type 2-10-2 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive works. Originally, the engines were  built as 2-10-0’s.  They worked well as pushers but getting them back down the hills was difficult because of their long rigid wheelbase. To solve this problem the AT&SF ordered more 2-10-0’s with trailing wheels to help guide them while traveling backward. This resulted in a new wheel arrangement — the 2-10-2 or “Santa Fe” type because of their long rigid wheelbase.

The event will begin at 4:30 p.m. and end at 5:30 p.m.

Children and adults will be able to enter the cab of No. 940 and ring its bell, which has been silent for more than 50 years while the historic locomotive stood behind a high fence in Johnstone Park. Last week the 150-ton locomotive was moved back to the depot, which itself is a historic landmark that opened on Dec. 17, 1909.

For more, visit http://www.bartlesvillelocomotive.org/index.html

OWOSSO, Mich. — The Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225,  made famous in the movie Polar Express starting an animated like Tom Hanks, has been sidelined again with the same problems it had  during Trainfestival 2009 last July, another  blown  boiler tube.

While Pere Marquette 1225 was under steam and the star of the show for the first trip on opening day, during a routine inspection of the locomotive at the North Pole a mechanical issue was found. The crew decided that in the interest of preserving the locomotive and keeping the North Pole Express trains operating, as planned, it was best to remove 1225 from service. “We would love to continue to run the locomotive,” said Greg Udolph, Chief Mechanical Officer of the Steam Railroading Institute, “but the truth remains, the 1225 is a 70-year old piece of machinery that was built on an assembly line the same way an automobile is built. During its career the engine has racked up well over a million miles. The boiler on 1225 has shown the crew that it is ready for some serious work. Next year starts a major rebuild of the locomotive to try to put some of the miles back into her. With the current mechanical issue at hand it is best for the locomotive and the schedule of the North Pole Express trains to bring the engine down and prepare for her rebuild.

The steam engine will not make any additional Polar Express trips this year, however,  the train rides for the Polar Express will continue to run behind diesel power.

This past July, during TrainFestival 2009, the engine had a couple of tubes that cracked and released some steam. After being taken out of service, the crew was able to fix the problem by replacing the tubes. The engine then successfully ran a two-day photo charter, hourly excursions during Hamburg Railroad Days and an all-day excursion to Cadillac, Michigan, in conjunction with the Ft. Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s Nickel Plate Road 765. Unfortunately, this repair was not enough. It is time to fully inspect the boiler and figure the cause of these problems. This process will be costly, intense and take a minimum of one year.

In order to continue to give the passengers the experience they deserve SRI has decided to bring 1225 out of her storage building and put her on display for all to see. She will be fully visible and located next to the Christmas trains. Volunteers from SRI will be on hand to answer questions, show off different parts of the locomotive and provide cab tours. Passengers will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the engine. Kids will have the rare and unique opportunity to sit in the engineer’s seat and ring the bell on the locomotive.  Should make for some great holiday photo opts.

Due to the Federal Railroad Administration’s-required 15-year inspection scheduled for May, additional operations in 2010 before that deadline will take place only if funds to replace the failed tube can be raised.

All 2009 Polar Express train rides are currently sold out.

GARIBALDI, Ore. — Two locomotives will return to steam as part of a unique agreement between West Coast preservation groups in which a California tourist line will trade a three truck Heisler to an Oregon tourist road for boiler work on another engine.

The agreement, reached earlier this month after two years of negotiations, is between the Pacific Locomotive Association, which runs the Niles Canyon Railway near the Bay Area of California, and the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad in Garibaldi.

In return for boiler work to return the association’s Sierra Railway 2-6-2 No. 30 to operation, Oregon Coast will take ownership of 85-ton Sunset Timber Co. Heisler No. 1. The 1913 engine was last operated by the Pickering Lumber Co. of Standard, Calif., and sold to an individual who partially dismantled the engine and moved it to Monterey, Calif., then donated the engine to the association. The association moved the engine to Fremont, Calif., where it has been in storage.

Besides operating a two-truck 55-ton Heisler on the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad, the Oregon Coast has two non-operational Heislers and the remains of the world’s oldest surviving Shay locomotive. Each of these locomotives is under restoration under Chief Mechanical Officer Scott Wickert.

The PLA has operated steam locomotives since it was organized in 1961, and its operating fleet consists of two Alco 2-6-2Ts. The association is also restoring to operation a 2-6-6-2 T logging Mallet under the direction of CMO Alan Siegwarth.

The boiler and the Heisler will move to Chehalis, Wash., later this fall. — Martin E. Hansen

For more on Oregon Train Rides, visit:
http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/oregon_trainrides.php

For more on California Train Rides, visit:

http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/california_trainrides.php

NORTH FREEDOM, Wis. — One of the long-time steam stars at Wisconsin’s Mid-Continent Railway Museum is nearing a return to operation after nine years of inactivity. The boiler for privately owned Saginaw Timber Co. 2-8-2 No. 2 was at Milwaukee Boiler International on Thursday, where co-owner Skip Lichter and worker Dave Wurtz were busy drilling mudring holes.

The boiler has been inverted (turned upside down) to make the work easier, much as many British preservation railway shops have done for easier access to boiler parts. Mid-Continent leased the engine after it arrived in 1983, and it last operated in February 2000. Baldwin built the 70-ton logging Mikado type in December 1912 for Saginaw Timber in Washington State. The engine later worked for Polson Brothers and Rayonier before it went to Michigan’s Cadillac & Lake City in 1962.

In addition to 302 new 2-inch tubes, the engine is getting a new firebox, throat sheet, and boiler braces. Operating pressure will be set at 180 psi. Lichter says he expects boiler work to be completed within the next two months; after that, the engine will go by truck to North Freedom for re-assembly and steam operation in 2010.

For more on Wisconsin train rides and attractions, visit:

www.scenicrailexcursions.com/wisconsin_trainrides.php

STRASBURG, Pa. — The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is raising money to restore its Pennsylvania Railroad E6 Atlantic in a special matching funds campaign with the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. The society has agreed to match up to $50,000, funds raised for No. 460, known as the Lindbergh Engine, now through March 15, 2010.

Although the non-profit Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania organization has already raised nearly $50,000, the restoration is estimated to cost around $310,000.

Built in 1914 at the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Juniata, Pa., Shops, No. 460 is also the sole survivor of the fleet of 83 4-4-2s in its class. The engine powered distinguished trains such as the Broadway Limited, and spent most of World War II working on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Atlantic Division before retirement in 1955.

Its most notable run took place June 11, 1927, the day U.S. President Calvin Coolidge made aviator Charles A. Lindbergh a colonel during a presidential medal of honor ceremony, following Lindbergh’s non-stop solo flight from Long Island to Paris. Several newsreel companies filmed the ceremony on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. One newsreel company put its film on an airplane for New York to be processed and rushed to theaters. The International News Reel Co. sent its footage on a train with No. 460 on the point, complete with a special B60 baggage car outfitted with a darkroom.

While the film was being processed on board the train, No. 460 covered the 216 miles to Manhattan Transfer in an amazing 174 minutes. At one point, while crossing New Jersey, its speed exceeded 115 mph. Although the airplane landed before the train arrived, the International News Reel Co.’s film was ready for theaters when it reached New York. Ever since, No. 460 has been known as the Lindbergh Engine.

Restoration will include lead paint removal, repair of rust damage to the cab and tender, and installation of piping, jacketing and running gear.

Work starts in November and is estimated to take 6,500 man-hours, and volunteers are needed. Donation may be made on line on the museum’s Web site at www.rrmuseumpa.org. Contributions also may be forwarded to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s advancement office, P.O. Box 125, Strasburg, PA 17579.

For more on Pennsylvania train rides, visit:

http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/pennsylvania_trainrides.php

One day until America’s Celebration of Railroading kicks off in Owosso, MI. All 8 steam locomotives are on the property ready for the public. Gates will open at 9:00am on Thursday and close daily at 6:00pm until Sunday July 26th.

This is a once in a lifetime event. No other exhibition of trains has 8 or more steam locomotive gathered in the East since the late 1940’s. You will not want to miss this festival. Hundreds of vendors, miniature trains, big train and steam powered train rides await thousands of visitors.

You can see a sneak peek at the Michigan ABC Station. Click here to see video!

Something to remember, your ticket purchase goes back to preserve the Pere Marquette #1225 for another generation. The #1225 will go done for routine maintenance next year. Please come out and support Steam for another generation!