In reply to DjGreggieP :
You have to submit over the internet through a Microsoft Offices link. I've been checking my email, and haven't gotten any sort of response. I figured with how busy the holiday season can be, they'd want to bring on people to give them training, but who knows. Maybe once the holiday season is over I'll try calling them. I'm also hoping that the guy who said they were willing to train engineers wasn't speaking with authority he didn't have.
CSX continues to clear out the old equipment that Pan Am still had left laying around. They previously donated a bunch of ex-Guilford/Pan AM MoW equipment to Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson that included an ex-Maine Central Jordan spreader, several ex-D&H ilmenite hoppers that were used on the same D&H Adirondack Branch that the SC&H operates on, as well as an old L&N coach set up as crew quarters for Guilford/Pan Am wreck crews, and an unusual flatcar with half a boxcar grafted on. Well, the donations continue to come. First, CSX has donated an old ex-Maine Central V-plow built by Ridgway in 1952 to Downeast Scenic Railroad in Ellsworth, Maine. As late as 2018, Pan Am was operating this plow from Northern Maine Junction 126 miles to Calais and back.
The 470 Railroad Club, which is based out of Maine (they take the name from Maine Central 4-6-2 #470 hauling the final steam train in Maine but don't actually own or have anything to do with MEC #470's restoration) but stores equipment at Conway Scenic Railroad in North Conway, NH, has also acquired the entire ex-Guilford/Pan Am wreck train that was based out of Waterville. This includes 1929 Industrial Brownhoist 200 Ton Crane B&M #3365, Boom Flatcar B&M #524, Tool/ Cable Boxcar MEC #546, Cable Boxcar MEC #545, and Crew quarters/baggage Coach B&M #309.
That exact crane in a press photo when it was built in 1929. Constructed as steam-powered, it was dieselized, like most wreck cranes, at a later date. Most other railroads have gone to using contractors for clearing out wrecks, but Guilford/Pan Am kept their own wreck trains, likely because they needed to use it so much. One was based out of East Deerfield, Massachusetts, while the other was based out of Waterville, Maine.
The 470 Railroad Club also has an ex-B&M GP9 that they've steadily been working on for the past couple years. Pan Am had a handful of GP9s kicking around in local service as late as 2017, all assigned to the Springfield Terminal paper railway. Two were repainted into heritage schemes in 2011, one in Maine Central dark green and yellow (ST #52) and one in Boston & Maine maroon and yellow (ST #77), while the third, #72, was still wearing Guilford gray and orange with Springfield Terminal lettering. The #72 was last operated sometime in 2017. when, while headed to Oakland, Maine to switch a scrap dealer, it suffered an electrical fire. The #3 traction motor leads started on fire behind the generator due to poor insulation and being soaked in oil. Oakland fire officials promptly extinguished the fire, however at the time Pan Am made the decision to retire the locomotive rather than perform the repairs it needed to operate again. Not long afterwards, the Heber Valley Railroad out in Utah decided to standardize their motive power, having recently purchased an ex-UP GP9, and bought all three of the GP9s from Pan Am. The two heritage units were shipped to Utah in pretty short order, although it was a difficult move that that required the help of five different railroads, four heavy haul trucks and two cranes. The #72, which I have to assume was purchased as a parts unit, remained at the Waterville shops until 2020, when Heber Valley announced that they had decided not to move the inoperative #72 to Utah and had instead sold it to 470 Railroad Club.
Initial assessment determined that, fire aside, the #72 was not that far from operating condition. In order for 72 to operate again, the #3 traction motor leads needed be replaced, the main generator should have insulated paint reapplied to the AC windings, and they needed to replace the traction motors that Pan Am had removed prior to selling the locomotive to the Heber Valley Railroad.
They're getting close to getting it operational again. The new traction motors have been installed and the air brake and wiring work is completed. Other things that will need to be done before it can operate again is the replacement of the cab floor and carbody work. It will also be renumbered to it's original B&M number, #1741, and receive a new coat of paint: B&M blue, white and black. The GP9s were painted in the new B&M "bluebird" livery that was designed by Herbert Matter, at the behest of Patrick McGinnis, who was in charge of B&M at the time. Matter also designed the famous New Haven orange, black and white livery at McGinnis' request around the same time, hence the somewhat similar looks.
The other two ex-Pan Am Geeps were definitely a strange sight, rattling around out in Utah in B&M and MEC paint.
They've since repainted the MEC unit into a D&RGW inspired black and gold, with plans to also paint the B&M unit in the near future.
In reply to NickD :
That black and gold looks good on it.
In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, it's the old Denver & Rio Grande Western freight livery. Heber Valley actually even used the 5900-series number, which was where D&RGW numbered their GP9s, but then used the last two digits of the original B&M number (#1726) to come up with #5926.
I'm sure the Springfield Terminal #72 restoration seems like a vacation for the 470 Railroad Club after the restoration of B&M F7A #4268A. IT was built in March 1949 as EMD #930, buily by the EMD Engineering Department as a high altitude test unit. After high altitude testing on Rio Grande's Soldier Summit line, the E930 was returned to EMD. It was then painted up in a Burlington passenger scheme and spent time at the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair. After fair duty it returned to EMD for refurbishment, paint, and sale to the B&M in October 1949. Photos of it from 1979 show it in solid B&M blue paint, surrounded by weeds, out of service and in pretty sad shape. It was gutted by B&M and missing essentially everything, prime mover, generator, traction motors, everything, just a rusty shell. It was purchased by a private owner and moved to his farm and then was eventually sold to 470 Railroad Club, who already owned F7A #4266A, and moved to Conway. It was cosmetically restored but even as recent as 2011, the consensus from 470 Railroad Club was that "#4268A needs too much to be made operable and will remain a display piece". Then a couple years back, they scored a New Hampshire Northcoast GP9R to serve as a parts source. After a few years of steady work, swapping pretty much all the mechanical bits from the GP9R (and technically making #4268A an F9A), as well as performing considerable body work the F7A was fired up in spring of 2022 for the first time in over 40 years. I actually got to ride behind it that fall, and those pair of F7As are stunningly beautiful.
Sadly, Montana Rail Link, once one of the largest operators of SD45s in the US, has begun scrapping most of their remaining SD45s this week and only has one left in service. With just days left before BNSF takes over MRL, MRL is ridding themselves of as much excess equipment as possible at their shop in Livingston, Montana, including at least three SD45 locomotives: #346 (ex-N&W #1779), #351 (ex-GN #415) and #382 (ex-SCL #2029). Some GP9 locomotives have also recently been scrapped. As of this week, only one SD45 remains in service,#355, which was built as Burlington Northern #6558, a far cry from the 2010-2015 era, where MRL had over 70 of the 3600hp 20-cylinders bruisers of different variations, including F45s, running throughout the system.
One of the F45s was thankfully saved. In 2014, MRL sold them to Progress Rail and they were going to be scrapped at Livingston shops. One group tried to save the #390, was unable to pull it off, and then a private buyer stepped in and purchased it and moved it to Airway Heights, Washington. It's still sitting there, stored outside, but at least it didn't meet the same fate as MRL #392, the other F45 that was cut up at Livingston.
Montana Rail Link F45 #390 actually spent some time out in this area on the New York, Susquehanna & Western as their #3638. When Walter Rich took over the Suzie-Q in 1976 and began turning it around from obscure moribund short line to linchpin against Conrail, the NYS&W was pretty short on power, and all of it was old. He grabbed up some C430s from Conrail, a couple of ex-LIRR C420s, and a bunch of SD45s and two F45s from Burlington Northern. The two F45s, originally #6640 and #6370 but eventually renumbered to #3636 and #3638 and repainted in NYS&W "yellowjacket" livery, were fan-favorites. The #3636 was the better of the two and rumored to be a personal favorite of president Walter Rich, while the #3638 was a bit of a roundhouse queen, operating spottily between a variety of niggling issues. In the early '90s, with the arrival of B40-8s and SD70Ms, most of the SD45s and the #3638 were sold off to Montana Rail Link.
Ironically, despite being the better unit and being favored by Walter Rich (likely why it wasn't sold off), the #3636 no longer exists. It was knocked out of service in 2001 after some sort of prime mover issue, then sat around until 2006, when a used V20 645 was sourced from down south. It was put back in service and then after two years, it suffered a "catastrophic turbocharger failure" that wiped out the prime mover. With traffic down after the Conrail split, and Walter Rich having passed away unexpectedly, the #3636 was put out to pasture in Utica, having the trucks and traction motors robbed for SD45 #3618, before being scrapped in 2018.
I subscribe to this channel but somehow missed this video of R&N #425 hauling Christmas trains last year, which was it's last operation before it went down for overhaul. I stumbled across it last night in my Youtube feed and realized how much I really miss the #425. The #2102 is an awesome engine, it's big and it's got tons of power and R&N puts on a show with it, but there's something that I just prefer about the #425. It's also nice that the #425 did run for stuff other than the fall Reading-Jim Thorpe trips; Christmas trains out of Reading, the annual Mountain Top Rotary Club excursions, Schuylkill Haven Borough Days, weekends at Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway. Reading #2102 just comes out for the Iron Horse Rambles in the summer and the fall excursions, all over the mainline from Reading to Jim Thorpe and back. Part of that is the expense of operating the #2102, and part of that is the greater weight and longer rigid wheelbase. The #425 is a go-anywhere machine. Fortunately, the overhaul is underway, although I heard a rumor that it may need some pretty heavy running gear work, and hopefully we'll see the Four And A Quarter back next year.
I am curious if the #425 will exit the shop with a different appearance. Historically, the #425 has looked different every time it's been overhauled.
In 1992, it was repainted with dark blue paint on the boiler, cab, trailing truck frame, and wheel centers, with white running boards and drivers, and gold pinstriping everywhere. It still had the round number plate and the high-mounted headlamp. Pretty hard to find photos of it like this, because it really only ran in that configuration from about 1992 to 1996, at which point the R&N ceased steam operations.
In 2008, the R&N came off it's steam hiatus and put the #425 back in service. They swapped on a centered ex-DL&W headlight with a new number plate. and repainted it to a light blue. I gotta be honest, I hate this look. The centered headlight and relocated bell are great, but the light blue paint everywhere was not my favorite.
And then in 2013, they constructed an entirely newpilot, converted the lead and trailing trucks to roller bearings, rebuilt the smokebox and repainted into into the medium-dark blue, with black wheels and running gear, and swapped out the full road name on the tender with the circular logo reading Reading & Northern. This is is my favorite appearance.
R&N #425 in the light blue and gold, that I did not care for
This is a quirky piece of railroad history I'd never heard of.
Wow!!
Worth noting that that recording of N&W #603 on Christmas Eve at Rural Retreat, VA, was actually made on December 27th. Link had made a recording at Rural Retreat on December 25th but on reviewing it he didn't like the results, background sounds were too noisy, among other things. He came back December 26th and made some of his very famous photos at the station but no recordings. Then on December 27th he put it all together, including convincing the bell ringer at the church to make a repeat performance, and and made the iconic recording heard.
A terrific Richard Steinheimer wintertime shot of D&RGW narrow-gauge Mikado #499, the last steam locomotive built for the D&RGW narrow-gauge actually, just east of Chama, New Mexico in the winter of '61
To the dismay of many, East Broad Top Railroad has announced that there will not be a Winter Spectacular this season. Last year, they held the classic annual event to celebrate EBT 2-8-2 #16's return to service for the first time since 1956. But, they have said that the #16 needs to undergo it's annual inspection and have some general maintenance performed so that it can be ready for the busy Easter season in March. Between running until late in December for Christmas trains and needing to be ready for Easter in March, they felt it was too narrow a time span to inspect and maintain the #16 and be able to run for the Spectacular, which typically occurs President's Day weekend. They considered using diesel M-7 and motorcar M-1, but felt that wasn't in keeping with the spirit of the event and just decided not to hold it. Realistically, from a business standpoint, they make way more money with the multi-day holiday runs than the 1-day Winter Spectacular, so it makes sense for them.
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