Grassroots Railroad Sports?

FPA-4 #6771 (oddly delivered with a mismatched numberboard from #6780) pulls up in front of the Cumberland, MD station on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. The #6771 was eventually repainted into WM "fireball" livery and given the fictional number of #305 (WM's FA fleet was #301-#304). It was moved out to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad shortly afterwards, and at that point G.W. Hockaday was involved and the CVSR was running a lot of their power in D&H livery. The #6771/#305 was repainted into D&H livery (despite D&H never owning any FAs or FPAs) and was renumbered to #15, one number under D&H's fleet of Alco PAs, and then later was renumbered back to #6771 and painted into the "new" Cuyahoga Valley livery of red, black and yellow. #6771 is still active there on the CVSR, which is an operation I really need to go ride.

The #6771, still in VIA paint and still wearing mismatched numberboards, rounds famed Helmstetter's Curve paired with a second FPA-4 that WMSR acquired and had painted in Western Maryland "fireball" livery, and then either the RS-3 or RSD-5 that they had as well. Both FPA-4s went to Cuyahoga, with the second unit now in Baltimore & Ohio paint, while the RS-3 went to Railroad Museum of New England (it was actually ex-B&M) and the RSD-5 went to Illinois Railway Museum (it was actually ex-C&NW)

Well that's pretty cool. UP recruited Big Boy 4014 to help shove a stranded revenue freight over a hill. 
 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Just like the old days of #844 shoving a stalled freight train over Sherman Hill, or #3985 leading 134-car container train. That should quiet down those who think that #4014 never gets to work hard, or the contingent who think that #4014 isn't even fully operational and is just shoved around by a diesel everywhere.

Union Pacific's attempt to auction off a cab ride in the #4014 ended up backfiring. Some kid bid it up to $20k, won the auction, then, lo and behold, he didn't have that kind of cash. So now Union Pacific is just selling off two cab ride tickets at $9500 a piece.

With Grand Canyon Railway coming into existence in 1988, right as a lot of the FPA-4s were coming up for sale, they ended up buying up five FPA-4s and two FPB-4s for use on their line. This made them the largest operator of Alco cab units in the United States in the preservation era. Their seven units were painted in dark green with a gold stripe, which was almost evocative of the PRR livery. It's funny that, between GCRY and Napa Valley, the Southwest became such a hot bed of Alco FPA activity, because the Alco FA had never been a terribly common machine in that part of the United States. Missouri Pacific had rostered about 30 of them, and the Rock Island, Frisco, and M-K-T all had small batches that made occasional appearances in the area (Frisco and Rock Island repowered theirs with EMD 567s, while Katy put 251 V12s in some of theirs) but nothing that compared to the big fleets on the B&O, New York Central, L&N, and New Haven in the east.

Two of the GCRY's A-B sets of FPA-4s wait at the south rim of the Grand Canyon

GCRY #6776 and a B-unit back down into the ex-ATSF depot at Williams, Arizona to load another train up and run to the Grand Canyon.

In the early 2000s, GCRY began repainting the FPA-4s, replacing the dark green with a light silver. Unfortunately, this was right around the time that the F40PHs began to show up on the property, which started supplanting the FPA-4s as primary power. The F40PHs were newer, easier to get parts for, had Head End Power generators (the FPA-4s required a HEP car that was also used behind the steam locomotives) and, the major benefit, they had dynamic brakes. With a 3% grade on the line, the lack of dynamic braking on the FPA-4s was hard on brake shoes. The other thing was that the GCRY realized that the main reason that people rode was to see the Grand Canyon, and they weren't as discerning about the motive power, so whether they ran steam, F40PHs or FPA-4s, people still came to ride. That's also why the steam program has also been whiottle down from regular runs with two steam locomotives to once a month with one steam locomotive (a tenuous water supply also contributed there). While the FPA-4s are still on the property, they are mostly display pieces or used on special events and charters.

GCRY #6793 called back to action after two of the F40s suffered mechanical failures 

GCRY #6793 on a photo charter hosted by Pete Lerro in 2017

A rare catch of all four types of GCRY power in the Williams yard, a sight likely to be replicated any time soon. From left to right is, ex-Lake Superior & Ishpeming 2-8-0 GCRY #29, two of the F40PHs, ex-CB&Q 2-8-2 GCRY #4960, and one of the old FPA-4s. The #29 went down for FRA-mandated boiler overhaul the same month and year this photo was taken, October of '19, and some have said that with GCRY pulling back steam operations for the reasons I've mentioned above, it might be placed in display status.

GCRY #6793 passing by GCRY #29. Both of Grand Canyon's steam locomotives are almost completely unrecognizable from their as-built configurations, and in addition to their cosmetic differences, they've also been upgraded with Worthington feedwater heaters (they generate a noticeable reduction in water usage), Lempor exhaust nozzles (an experimental design that showed up too late to save the steam locomotive but was noted to generate a 100% improvement in drafting capacity over traditional exhaust systems and a 40% increase in ejector performance), and they are set up to burn waste vegetable oil, making them some of the more efficient and environmentally friendly steam locomotives out there.

While the Grand Canyon has largely put their FPA-4s on standby status, the FPA-4s are still kicking elsewhere. Napa Valley Wine Train still has their four running, although one of them has had an EMD 12-645E installed (the horror!) and converted to run on natural gas. This photo does highlight one thing that always looks terrible, boxcars converted to HEP generator cars. They don't blend in with the locomotive or the cars and stand out horribly. It's always much nicer when they convert an old baggage car to a HEP car. 

Napa Valley #70 passes Merryvale Vineyards in St. Helena, CA.

NVRR #71 passes through the Dominus Estate in Yountsville, California.

The Monticello Railroad Museum in Monticello, Illinois, also grabbed an A-B set of the old Canadian National FPA-4s and restored them to original CN appearance. They've got the #6789 looking absolutely gorgeous and run her fairly frequently, including when NS would allow it out over their tracks to run Christmas trains to Decatur. I really need to get out to MRM some time.

Canadian National #6789 at the old ex-Wabash depot in Monticello.

CNR #6789 crossing Camp Creek on a wooden trestle. The impressive thing about Monticello Railroad Museum is that they stay completely focused on their mission of preserving railroad heritage that is relevant to their locale. They aren't running out grabbing stuff that doesn't match that mission, and as a result, they are capable of keeping the stuff they have in terrific shape.

The #6789 eases into Monticello's yard while an ex-Milwaukee Road NW2 switches a photo freight.

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad also ended up with three FPA-4s, the #6771, #6777 and #6780/#800. Two, #6771 and #6777, had been painted in Western Maryland colors as WM #305 and #306, when they were over at Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, and the #6771 also wore D&H paint when it first arrived at CSVR. The #6780 was numbered to #800 for a while, and wears (quite badly weathered) B&O paint in recognition of the Baltimore & Ohio heritage of the line that Cuyahoga Valley operates over.

The #6777 leads a train through the Goodyear plant at Akron, Ohio on it's way to Canton, Ohio.

CSVR #800, the B&O heritage unit, rolls through Brecksville, Ohio.