Grassroots Railroad Sports?

NC&StL #582 resting between runs at Cravens Yard, near downtown Chattanooga with Lookout Mountain looming in the background, circa 1948. When David Page Morgan wrote an article on the NC&StL J3s, his research yielded two impressive facts: the first group of J3s, "Yellowjackets" #571-#580, doubled the NC&StL’s 1940 ton-mile production and quadrupled its passenger miles. Their impact was especially critical along the 151.7 miles of the Chattanooga Division, between Nashville and Chattanooga, including the 1.5 percent grade over Raccoon Mountain and a 2.5 percent grade over Cumberland Mountain.

That smooth, clean boiler, missing most of the usual pumps, pipes, and other appliances that other steam locomotives carried was the brainchild of Superintendent of Machinery C. M. Darden, who dictated that the engine frames include brackets to carry below what otherwise would have been external piping up on the boiler. Wrote Morgan: “Darden believed that a boiler should be just that, a steam generator — not a wall to tack on everything including the kitchen sink.”

While #576 isn't running yet, I did get to hear her whistle last year when I went out to Indiana to ride behind NKP #765. As part of a fundraising tie-in, they installed the whistle off of #765 for it's Sunday run. 

An excellent roster shot of the #576 herself in her post-war appearance. During her decades of display at Nashville's Centennial Park, the smokebox door was painted all silver for quite a while, which was not historically correct. The smokebox door was always painted black.

The NC&StL "Dixies" (a railroad based in Tennessee was not going to refer to a 4-8-4 as a "Northern", that's for  damn sure) were pretty modern engines, with one-piece cast frames with integral cylinders, roller bearings on all the axles, Boxpok disc drive wheels, Worthington feedwater heaters, and semi-Vanderbilt tenders. But they were also pretty small. The 70" drivers weren't too unusual, since the Reading T-1s, Lehigh Valley "Wyomings", DL&W "Poconos", and even N&W Js used 70" drivers, and the Western Maryland "Potomacs" had even smaller 68" drivers, but the rest of the specs were pretty small. Compared to a Reading T-1, an NC&StL "Dixie" was over 24 feet shorter in length, 123500 pounds lighter, had cylinders that were 2" smaller in both bore and stroke, had 17 square feet less grate area in the firebox, and generated 11000lbs less tractive effort.

The small size was necessitated by the NC&StL's small turntables, tight clearances through the mountains and light bridges. And even then, it was pretty large for their infrastructure. Though it could still fit onto a 90 foot turntable, its overall length of slightly less than 100 feet made that dicey. The NC ended up replacing it's turntables with 110 foot tables in Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta, the new engine’s initial home territory. The Atlanta table was actually donated by CSX to Nashville Steam Preservation Society for installation on the Nashville & Eastern's property for once the #576 is ready to go.

NC&StL #576 in her as-built configuration winding along an S-Curve at an unknown location with a freight train.

NC&StL #576, still equipped with the running board skirts and smokebox cover, being serviced on a bridge at an unknown location. What's particularly interesting is that the bridge carries an advertisement for The Georgian, which was jointly run by the NC&StL and the L&N, and at this point the L&N was already using diesel locomotives on their advertisements. That sure looks like an EMD E7 on the billboard (it has the square side portholes that were shared with the E7 and E6, but it has a bulldog nose, unlike the E6s), and L&N received their E7s in April of '45, so it's possible some time after that. I can't find a record of when the #576 lost her running board skirts and full-size smokebox cover.

There's actually been a number of attempts to get the #576 operational in the past, and this is the first one to be as successful as it is. When it became apparent that SP #4449 wouldn't be able to haul the northeastern segment of the American Freedom Train, they did briefly look at using #576 for that segment, but it was determined to be too far on the other end of the size spectrum from the #4449. Then, in 1978, Clinchfield president Tom Moore looked at trying to lease the #576 from the city of Nashville to replace 1890s-era 4-6-0 Clinchfield #1 in their corporate excursion program, but the city of Nashville refused to budge. Probably for the best, because Moore ended up instead leasing C&O #2716, then got fired 6 months into the restoration, and then Clinchfield shuttered the excursion program and sent #2716 back to Kentucky Railway Museum in pieces. There were another three attempts, including a previous one by Nashville Steam Preservation, and each time they failed to convince Nashville to lend them the locomotive. From what I understand, Nashville was very protective of the engine and had seen other restorations go awry (*cough* PRR #1361 *cough*) and was very concerned about leasing the locomotive, letting it get torn down, and then the restoration never being completed. From what someone said, the city was very specific about, before they would even consider a lease, there had to be a certain amount of funds already available, and that money had to be specifically set aside for reassembly and cosmetic restoration of the locomotive in the event that an operational restoration fell through.

CSX has unveiled their fifth heritage unit, #1869, the C&O unit. It uses the original C&O passenger livery, which was actually closely based off of the Pere Marquette Railway's early livery (the C&O engulfed the Pere Marquette in 1947, after about 20 years of control over the railroad). I think this one looks pretty nice. 

A while back, some wag in the paint shop at Precision Rail Leasing did create a C&O heritage unit of their own. CSX sold PRLX some SD70ACes, and as part of the process, the CSX logos and reporting marks had to be painted over. Someone added C&O lettering on the sides and the old "C&O For Progress" logo on the short nose.

In recognition of the 40th anniversary of their founding, Metro North Commuter Railroad has also begun rolling out their own series of heritage units. The very first was the old MNCR "beach ball" silver, red and blue, and the second is this blue and yellow Conrail unit. Conrail took over Penn Central's commuter obligations into New York City and handled them until 1983, when Metro North was founded to take them over, and used the Metropolitan Transit Authority's yellow and blue livery on ex-New Haven/Penn Central EMD FL9s. Metro North has said they will be doing a total of five units, and since they already have this and the old MNCR livery, my guess is that the other three will be New York Central, New Haven, and Penn Central.

Also, really funny that there is now three Conrail heritage units rolling around on three major railroads: Norfolk Southern, CSX, and Metro North.

The Conrail commuter livery that this emulates.

Which actually was first started by Penn Central

The Penn Central paint jobs had some severe adhesion and fading issues, and the yellow often faded to white, and huge swatches of Penn Central black would bleed through on the sides, making them look like they were blue with black stripes and a white nose.

Two Conrail FL9s lead a Conrail commuter train through Brewster, NY. The second unit, Conrail #5059, was originally New Haven #2059 and was the very last F-unit ever built by EMD.

Conrail #5059 leading at Croton, NY in June of 1980. Metro North retired the #5059, by that point renumbered to MNCR #2033, in 2003 and donated it to Railroad Museum of New England, where it awaits a restoration. Fortunately, it escaped the heavy modifications of a lot of the other FL9s, like the ill-fated FL9AC "Starship" conversion that claimed the first FL9 built, to the point that it even still is rumored to retain its original steam generator.

Conrail #5040 and a sister at Bethel, Connecticut. The unusual speaker-looking thing over the cab is a Hancock 4700 air whistle, which New Haven optioned all the FL9s with.

Marc Glucksman has already gotten a photo of the Metro North heritage unit out and about.

He also caught the CSX Conrail heritage unit operating over Conrail Shared Assets Operations trackage. Technically Conrail does still exist as the owner of certain traffic that NS and CSX were forced to share when they split Conrail. The idea was that the trackage in question was too vital to be handed over to one or the other, so it remained with Conrail and both NS and CSX operate over it using their own equipment and crews.

A second, unofficial Chessie System heritage unit has made an appearance down in Cartersville, GA. Someone snuck onto CSX property overnight and repainted the nose of an ex-C&O GP40-2 in Chessie System colors with the sleeping kitten logo.

I had been hoping to go ride the Thendara-Tupper Lake segment of the Adirondack Railroad, and had also been meaning to go get some photos of them running this summer. Well, a bad rainstorm put the brakes on that last week. They apparently had washouts north of Thendara, and have suspended service on that end of the line until they can get it repaired. The fact that their post said this "We are working closely with local and State officials to to repair any damage to the track," concerns me. If the state is involved and it is up in the Adirondack preserve, that could take a while.

NickD said:

A second, unofficial Chessie System heritage unit has made an appearance down in Cartersville, GA. Someone snuck onto CSX property overnight and repainted the nose of an ex-C&O GP40-2 in Chessie System colors with the sleeping kitten logo.

 

I don't approve of the vandalism, but I honestly like this better than the official heritage unit. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

It's vandalism, but at least it's tasteful vandalism. There's apparently been a rush of people trying to get photos of it before CSX repaints it, although, I could see that taking a while.

A number of years back, the night before the Santa Train, which was a tradition started by the Clinchfield in the '40s, someone managed to sneak into the CSX yard and paint the Clinchfield logo on the nose of the unit that CSX had assigned to the Santa Train that year.

A year and a half ago, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad announced that they were evaluating two of the four D&RGW K-37 class narrow-gauge Mikados that they own for an operational restoration. They own the #492, the #494, the #495 and the #497, but only the #492 and the #497 were being considered. Apparently the #494 and #495, which were retired in 1962 and are on display in Antonito, were believed to need too much work to be considered.

The #492 had run until 1968, then was handed over to the Cumbres & Toltec in 1970 and hadn't run since, being stored outdoors at Chama, NM and having parts borrowed for some of the K-36s. At one point in the '90s it was pretty nicely cosmetically restored, but over the years a lot of other parts were removed and stored indoors for safekeeping, and it also had the boiler jacket removed for asbestos abatement, all of which lent it a pretty forlorn appearance. In fact, it no longer even has a pilot truck under the front of it. The #497's pilot truck was found to be worn out, and they stole the one off of the #492 to keep the #497 running.

The #497 was retired in '68, then had sat at Durango, CO before being handed over to Durango & Silverton on their formation. It was restored to operation in 1984, but Durango & Silverton found that it had issues negotiating some of the curves on the line, which they attributed to the K-37 design (they later found that the #497 had some wear/damage that made this characteristic unique to #497) and in 1991 they traded it off to Cumbres & Toltec for K-36 #482. C&TS made out pretty good on this deal, since they traded an engine that hadn't run in 21 years for an operational locomotive. C&TS ran it until 2002, when it's boiler certificate ran out. It has sat in the roundhouse at Chama, NM ever since.

In the years since, Cumbres & Toltec has mostly relied on four K-36s, as well as a single K-27 and a T-12. They said that they wanted a fifth large engine to cover the regular schedule, engineer/fireman schools, and special events, and while they have a fifth K-36, #483, apparently it is completely used up, between the wear and tear from it's original career and then decades of sitting, as well as having donated lots of parts to the other K-36s over the years. So that left them with the K-37s (they have wanted a K-28 for years, and tried to trade a K-36 for one of Durango & Silverton's K-37s, but that was shot down by opposition on both sides) and they chose #492 and #497. I had figured from the outset, that #497 would be the chosen one, after all it had had one operational restoration at one point and had been stored inside since.

Well, surprise, I was wrong. The #492 is to be the lucky recipient of an operational restoration. According to the C&TS, the #492 was selected to return to service based on some preliminary ultrasonic inspections measurements on the boiler shell, and D&RGW documentation provided by the Durango & Silverton that shows the locomotive received a new boiler in 1948. If the D&RGW records are correct, this boiler is the newest one the C&TS owns, while the #497 retains the original 1900-built boiler from the donor C-41 standard gauge Consolidation that it was built out of.

According to C&TS, last year they began ordering parts to return the #492 to service, and on August 9th, they received the new eccentric rods for the valve gear. Over the next year they will also receive a new set of main rods, side rods and valve gear components. They are also in the process of sourcing all the required appliances such as air compressor, injectors, electric generator, mechanical and hydrostatic lubricators, and firedoor. The whistle of D&RGW K-37 #490, which was scrapped sometime between 1963 and 1964, was donated for use on the #492. They have been in discussions with three vendors to install flexible stay bolts to replace many of the rigid stays in this boiler, which was a process done by the D&S when they returned the #493 to service a few years ago. The current plan is to use the #497’s tender behind the #492, since the #492's tender is badly rusted out, and if it becomes a commercial necessity to return the #497 to service in the future, they'll rebuild the #492’s tender with a new cistern. The locomotive needs the 1472 service day inspection, a full running gear overhaul to include the aforementioned new rods and valve gear, a new smokebox, and all the appliances. They will determine if they need to replace the tires and driver boxes during the process. The #492’s lead truck was removed many years ago and placed under the #497 back when the #497 was operational. The #497’s lead truck is located near where the #492 spent the last decade sitting, and will receive a complete rebuild, and a new axle and wheel set.

Perhaps the weirdest detail of this restoration is that they plan to keep it as a coal-burning locomotive. They've been converting some of their locomotives to oil-burning, and Durango & Silverton already did an oil-burning conversion to #493 when they restored that to operation, so the blueprints are there for an oil-fired K-37. 

The #483 has long been a touchy subject with D&RGW narrow gauge fans. Of the ten K-36 Mikados built, nine of them survive, with #485 being the only one to be scrapped (it fell off a turntable on it's side and cracked the frame and cylinder saddles). Of the surviving nine, only one of them is no longer operational, and that is the #483, having last turned a wheel in 1977.

Going back to the earlier days, the #483 was one of the few K-36s equipped with steam lines for passenger service.  She often pulled the San Juan Express when a K-28 was not available, and was used on many of the three-day Alamosa-Durango-Silverton excursions in the late fifties and early- to mid-sixties. The #483 was also noted to be favorite among crews. Even steam locomotives of the same class tended to be slightly different and there would be engines that were preferred, either for better ride or easier firing or slightly more power, and engines that were disliked. As wear set in, and the engines were wrecked at various points, those "personalities" would further develop. The #483 was the favorite, with #484 a close second.

The #483 also has a lot of historical significance behind it. It was the helper on the last westbound revenue freight on the D&RGW from Alamosa to Chama on August 28th, 1968. It pulled the last revenue freight from Chama to Durango on August 29th, 1968, and it also handled the last D&RGW freight to Farmington on August 31st, 1968. She also pulled the National Park Service Special from Durango to Alamosa in November of 1968, which was the last D&RGW passenger move over Cumbres Pass. The #483 also assisted #473 in moving a dead #481 and a short train that included cars of flues and other locomotive parts from Alamosa to Chama on December 5th, 1968.  #483 and a caboose returned from Chama to Alamosa the next day, the very last D&RGW train over Cumbres Pass. On September 1, 1970, the #483 was turned over to the Cumbres & Toltec by the D&RGW, and by evening Ernie Robart had re-lettered the tender from the Rio Grande speed letters to Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

The #483 handled the first trains on the Cumbres & Toltec, since it was the sole operational locomotive that they had, and it remained that way for quite some time. But by 1977, the #483 was reported to be badly worn out, and the C&TS had gotten the #484 and #487 up and running, so the decision was made to park the #483. Over the years, it was cannibalized of parts to keep the #484 and #487 running, as well as to restore the #488 and #489, and when the deal was made to trade the #482 for Durango & Silverton's #497, reportedly a number of parts from the #483 were traded off, including the entire tender body (the frame had a bad bend to it from an accident in 1958). It's since sat outside at Chama, NM, although for a while there was talk of trading it off to Durango & Silverton.

At one point a tentative deal was worked out to trade the remains of the #483 to Durango & Silverton for out-of-service K-28 #478, which would have given C&TS the full set of "modern" D&RGW narrow gauge steam locomotives and given D&S another "big" locomotive. At that point, D&S was convinced that K-37s were too hard on their track, only to later realize that that was a condition specific to the #497, but only after they had traded off a bunch of the K-37s they had. The plan had it's advantages, but it was struck down by opposition on both sides. C&TS folks were against getting rid of their very first engine, as well as a very historic locomotive, and one that had operated over their rails on the San Juan Express. D&S was against getting rid of the K-28, since the K-28s were frequently used on the Silverton line, and, from what someone said, the owners have the only set of K-28 blueprints and have kept them under lock and key and were worried about having to disseminate them to C&TS. The trade was eventually voted down, and #483 sits outside in a stripped state, while the #478 was taken out of service in 2016 and sits in the Durango roundhouse.

So you want to ride the rails but can't afford a big Loco?   Two Fairmont speedsters for sale, sounds like $3400 each, less for both.

Lots of info here.

In reply to 914Driver :

There was an ex-Rutland Fairmont speeder on Facebook marketplace near me for $4000 that was a lot rougher, so that's a helluva deal. I briefly looked at that speeder but then thought about the fact that I would need a truck and a specially set-up trailer. And then Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson ended up buying it anyways.

I've Posted pictures before of a pedal type speedster made of car exhaust tubing like material.  Chuck it in the back of a pick up or landscape trailer,  you can lift up one end and spin a 180 if necessary.  We put a 6hp Honda on them.

Fun but some entertainment company bought that stretch of track for Santa Claus rides....