Nevada Northern, located in Ely, NV, is also quite remote too. I remember that the city itself even claimed that "Nobody ends up in Ely without wanting to be there." Not really a city you stumble across.
Nevada Northern, located in Ely, NV, is also quite remote too. I remember that the city itself even claimed that "Nobody ends up in Ely without wanting to be there." Not really a city you stumble across.
In reply to NickD :
Man, that's a jam-packed weekend. You could pull it off, but I'd worry about having time to enjoy the experience. And you won't have a chance to see anything else, which would be a shame; there's lots of great stuff to see out there, and it's so different from what we're used to back East.
Beyond that, I'd fly into Denver rather than Albuquerque - it's not much further, and there are a lot more flights in case you need to make adjustments. Plus there's some great roads in between your destinations and the airport that way.
In reply to 02Pilot :
Well, that was the plan 5 years ago, but at the time I was making quite a bit less money and had less vacation time, so I was trying to spend less money on car rentals and hotel reservations, plus I would only use two vacation days (I was going on Memorial Day weekend and would fly out Friday morning and back Monday morning and have Tuesday as a buffer day). Now I probably could relax the schedule some. Or even take the California Zephyr back from Denver to Chicago and then take the Lake Shore Limited from Chicago to Utica. That was kind of my rough plan for going to Nevada Norther; fly into Salt Lake City, then take the CZ to Chicago, stop there and head up to IRM, and then take the LSL to Utica.
The California Zephyr has always been kind of an interesting one, due to it's convoluted history. In 1971, as Railpax (what Amtrak was going to be named originally) was laying out their plans for the services they were going to continue, they were looking at plans for a Chicago-San Francisco train based off of one of three routes.
Railpax was most interested in the original California Zephyr line, since the route would serve more populated areas (including Denver and Salt Lake City) than the Overland Route, would run through rural communities that lacked good highway access, and could attract passengers to its scenic routes. Unfortunately, since the Western Pacific had shed the last of its money-losing passenger service by terminating the California Zephyr in 1970, the whole reason for the train's demise, Western Pacific's rails were not eligible for inclusion into Railpax, since they no longer hosted passenger service. Railpax even tried to get WP to agree to granting them trackage rights, but WP had no interest in jamming up their own rails and refused to play ball. This led Railpax to plan to still use Burlington Northern's ex-CB&Q lines from Chicago to Denver and D&RGW rails from Denver to Ogden, but then hope on SP rails from Ogden to Oakland. Then that plan was sunk by D&RGW deciding that they were not interested in joining Amtrak on April 26th. D&RGW's mainline was almost entirely single-tracked and relied on very precise scheduling to not become a traffic jam. Amtrak trains would be outside of D&RGW control, and the contract specified that Amtrak could later increase service, and D&RGW got worried that their freight would be forced into an uncompetitive schedule against UP's double-tracked route.
The ultimate solution was that D&RGW would operate the Rio Grande Zephyr from Denver to Ogden over their own rails. Meanwhile Amtrak would operate the Chicago-Denver Denver Zephyr on Burlington Northern rails on a daily schedule and a thrice-weekly San Francisco-Denver train using SP and UP rails and the City of San Francisco name. Someone eventually realized this didn't make a helluva lot of sense and was inconvenient for San Fran-Chicago travel since you had to pick a day when the City of San Francisco was running, and in June 1972 Amtrak merged the two trains together on a daily basis as the San Francisco Zephyr. That last until 1983, at which point D&RGW threw in the towel on the Rio Grande Zephyr due to mounting losses and aging equipment. At that point, Amtrak went back to the original plan of using the D&RGW between Salt Lake City and Denver and dusted off the California Zephyr name. It's retained that name and route ever since.
The Rio Grande Zephyr was a really neat train, since when it finally ended service in 1983, it was the last privately owned and operated intercity passenger train. It operated from Denver to Ogden via Grand Junction, Provo and Salt Lake City. The consist was typically:
As you can guess by the Silver naming convention, these were holdovers from the CB&Q California Zephyrs, and at least two of the coaches had originally been 16-berth sleepers cars, which were then converted to coaches by D&RGW, since there was no need for sleeper cars on the relatively short-haul Rio Grande Zephyr. The remaining sleeper cars were sold to Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, while the only pure baggage car was sold off to Algoma Central.
D&RGW 5771 leads the Rio Grande Zephyr into it's station stop at Glenwood Springs, CO on a beautiful September, 1972 day.
Denver & Rio Grande Western F9A #5771 and F9Bs #5762 and #5763 are leading eastbound #18, the Rio Grande Zephyr, as it zips through Lehi, Utah on the Provo Sub.
Eastbound at Castle Gate, Utah in the summer of '75
At Oberon Curve in Arvada, Colorado with what could almost be a company PR photo.
Exiting Moffat Tunnel, that 6.2 mile bore at an elevation of 9239 feet
Climbing up throw Plainview, CO.
The #5771 at Denver, and right behind it is one of those PB-1s converted to a steam generator car. Only some of the Rio Grande's units were outfitted with onboard steam generators - specifically EMD FTB units in sets #548-#551, F3Bs in sets #552-554; F7A units #5571 and #5574; F7B units in sets #555-558; F9B units #5762, #5763, #5772 and #5773, and all of the Alco PA/PB sets. By 1953, the FTBs had their steam generators removed and were regeared for freight service. This presented a problem as the F-units started to age and were being retired, since only a dwindling number of units were steam-capable, the steam generators in them were becoming unreliable, and yet every passenger train still needed at least one.
The solution was to build dedicated steam generator cars. These would allow passenger trains to operate with units not capable of producing steam, and supplement the aging steam generators in the other units. The first two steam generators, #250 and #251, were built from steam tenders in May of 1953, presumably to take the place of the 6 FTBs that were set to lose their steam generators that same year. Steam generator #250 came from the tender of L-105 class 4-6-6-4 #3703, which was destroyed on October 19th, 1952 by a boiler explosion south of Sedalia, CO. The #251 was constructed from retired L-105 #3709's tender. Both 250 and 251 continued to work Rio Grande passenger trains (including the Ski Train) until 1987, when they were removed from service. They remained stored until scrapped in 1991 at Duwald Steel in Denver, CO.
In the later half of 1965, the Rio Grande created two more steam generator cars out of retired Alco PB-1s locomotives. Reasonable speculation is that these cars were created due to the impending retirement of the remaining F3Bs. This left the railroad with a need for more steam generation capacity. The #252 was built first, in July 1965, out of D&RGW PB-1 #6012. Three months later, the other PB-1, #6002, was also converted, and became D&RGW #253. D&RGW #252 spent most of its later years stored in Salt Lake City, in order to protect the Rio Grande Zephyr in the event that #253 or the B-units' steam generators failed on that end of the system. It was removed from passenger service in 1983 and used for stationary steam generation at Salt Lake City until being scrapped with #250 and #251 in 1991.
Unlike 252, in the 1970s and early 1980s, D&RGW 253 ran regularly with the Rio Grande Zephyr during the colder months, either to supplement the steam generators in the F units or as the sole source of steam when the train was being handled by freight motors. The #253 was then later moved on to the D&RGW's Ski Train once the Zephyr operation had ended in 1983. During September of 1980, #253 underwent a notable visual change - the 3-axle General Steel Casting trucks were swapped out for a pair of EMD 2-axle Blombergs. The decreased weight of no longer having a prime mover, generator, or traction motors eliminated the need for the unit to have the A-1-A axle configuration, and the replacement Blombergs would share standardized parts with all of the railroad's other EMD power.
Another photo of the #5771 with the two F9Bs, and one of the PB-1 steam generator cars between the boosters.
The Rio Grande Zephyr bit the dust in 1983, with D&RGW citing rising financial losses. I would also suspect that part of that was the D&RGW's desire to change their image. The D&RGW at the beginning of the '80s was still operating steam locomotives on the isolated Durango-Silverton branch of the old narrow gauge network, and was the only Class I operating a passenger train, towed by antique EMD F-unit. The D&RGW looked decidedly out-of-date and at the time was trying to pretty aggressively rehab their image into one of a modern, efficient freight hauler. They successfully jettisoned the Silverton Branch in 1981, after almost 2 decades of trying to rid themselves of the line and being thwarted by the ICC/FRA, and that likely put the Zephyr next on the chopping block.
Amtrak re-routed the San Francisco Zephyr over the D&RGW's main line between Denver and Salt Lake City, which had been the original preferred route in 1971. The change was initially scheduled for April 25, but a mudslide at Thistle, Utah closed the D&RGW's main line and delayed the change until July 16. While the Utah portion of the line was closed, the Rio Grande Zephyr continued to operate on a truncated route between Denver and Grand Junction until the train was discontinued on April 24, 1983.
The #5771 and F9B #5762 hung around, first in freight service and then on Ski Train service until being retired in 1996 and donated to the Colorado Rail Museum. The one steam generator car, #252, spent most of it's time post-1981 in stationary steam generation service at Salt Lake City until 1991, when it was scrapped. Sadly, that car still had the original (very rare) GSC trucks and a pretty intact carbody. The #253 was used until the Ski Train was sold to Ansco Investment Company in October 1987, and then the new owner converted it to a HEP generator car, before retiring it in 2001 when they acquired HEP-equpped F40s. In September 2006, the car was sold to the Algoma Central as the AC #78 and is now used for HEP power their Agawa Canyon trains.
Several Silver cars were transferred to Amtrak, as other railroads had done at Amtrak's inception. However, by this time Amtrak was moving to retire its older, inherited rail cars and as a result, the ex-Rio Grande Zephyr cars were never used in regular revenue service for Amtrak. The cars sent to Amtrak were dome coaches Silver Colt, Silver Mustang and Silver Pony, flat-top coaches Silver Aspen and Silver Pine, and dining car Silver Banquet. Unfortunately, due to a center sill crack in Silver Banquet's frame, the car was soon scrapped. The Silver Colt ended up at Grand Canyon Railway, while the Silver Mustang and Silver Pony went up to Alaska before returning to the US. The Silver Mustang is stored in San Antonio, TX, while the Silver Pony is preserved at Illinois Railway Museum.
In 1987, dome-buffet-dorm Silver Shop and dome-observation Silver Sky were traded to VIA Rail as part of a deal to re-equip the Ski Train with ex-Via Tempo cars. They were never operated by VIA. Silver Sky was sold in 2004 and Silver Shop was sold in 2006. Silver Sky is being renovated in Michigan, while Silver Shop seems to have vanished into thin air.
Dome-coach Silver Bronco was retained by the D&RGW, subsequently becoming the property of the railroad's parent company Ansco. In 2006, the Silver Bronco was sold by Ansco, becoming the last car built for the California Zephyr to pass into private ownership after spending all of its 57 years with the Rio Grande. It is now at Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
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Well this guy is crazy, but I like his ambition. I hope he has the skills & money to match it though.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Need to sit down and watch it all, but at first glance I thought, "Eh, it's not awful". I mean, there's no cab, but that's all sheetmetal anyways. Even if the saddle tank is junk, that's also all sheetmetal. Most stuff on a steam locomotive is either sheetmetal or heavy plate steel, or castings that can be repaired by a blacksmith or remade. They're complex, but pretty low-tech. But, I don't know why the upper part of the smokebox face is gone, and the looks like the slide valves coming out of the steam chest are absolutely mangled, plus it looks like all the controls are missing from the cab.
Really the big three things that you want in good condition on a steam locomotive for restoration are:
Those three aren't guaranteed dealbreakers, there's certainly engines running around that have had issues with all of those addressed, but fixing any issues related to those is going to get pricey. I remember talking to the Little River Railroad's owner about their #1, an 0-4-0T of unknown manufacturer and history, and he said he looked at a bunch of 0-4-0 tank engines and he said that the engine he settled on was pretty rough, but Jones & Laughlin had put a new boiler on it in like 1957, and then retired it in '62, and so he figured it had a good condition boiler that wouldn't need a ton of work. Yes, he has no clue on who built the engine or who the original owner was. They do know that its frame and wheels were built in 1908, but that's about it. It's a real mutt, and was kitbashed from aa combination of numerous locomotives of its type during it's career.
Cylinders are probably about the worst to deal with, especially if the cylinder saddle is cast into the frame. There are quite a few locomotives out there that have either scored or rusted cylinders, or a crack in the cylinder or cylinder saddle, that would be otherwise fine restoration candidates that are avoided like the plague due to cylinder issues. I've read/heard a lot of "Oh, that engine ran off the turntable into the pit and cracked the cylinder casting, and it'd be a nightmare to repair."
Last weekend, Railroading Heritage of Midwest America unveiled their freshly restored ATSF B40-8W, #537. This ex-Super Fleet GE was donated to RRHMA by BNSF and the plan is to use it as a PTC-equipped trailing locomotive with their various steam locomotives. ATSF revived the old Warbonnet livery in the 1980s for new units to power its new intermodal business, which included EMDs GP60Ms, GP60Bs and SD75Ms units, and GEs B40-8Ws, C40-8Ws, and C44-9Ws models. RRHMA also had their ex-UP DD40AX, #6936, up and running and doing short yard hops, and they gave a glimpse at the ongoing restoration of UP 2-10-2 #5511 and UP 4-6-6-4 #3985.
While those Super Fleet B40-8Ws sure looked the business screaming away on the front of an intermodal train, I've read that crews certainly did not like them. The big safety cab overwhelmed the spring rigging on the front truck and resulted in pretty horrendous ride quality, especially as they got older, and the 1000hp per axle made them slippery when running in the mountains.
NS made this post on Facebook, which was kind of interesting to see. I have my theory on why they want to make one more, and that's that the total CSX heritage unit fleet will match NS's in number, and so adding another will make their fleet larger again. Interesting choices, and I would bet that the D&H one wins, simply because it has a much larger fanbase, although a TA&G unit would certainly be sharp. It is interesting that they're thinking about a D&H unit, since technically the corporate entity of the D&H still exists but is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, and therefore CPKC would own the trademark for the paint scheme and logos and name. Maybe CPKC is willing to license the trademarks to NS though?
Speaking of D&H, I was looking forward to seeing Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson's two ex-D&H RS-3s running the Operation Toy Train trip from Saratoga up to Hadley next month. Well, those hopes were dashed, with SC&H announcing yesterday that the RS-3s have been winterized and the S-1 and S-2 that they have will be handling all trains until spring. *Sigh*. I mean, I'll probably still go, since it's a rare mileage operation up to Hadley, but it really would have been neat to see the RS-3s handling the run.
I was out in Utica yesterday so I swung by Utica station, just to see if there any interesting developments. The Adirondack ran their last regular train last weekend, which I feel bad that I never rode the Utica-Tupper Lake segment this year. I wanted to last year, and then they had washouts above Thendara and couldn't run to Tupper for the fall season, and then this year it just seemed like I had something going on every weekend throughout the fall.
RS-18u #1845 was down at the Utica Yard. This thing hasn't run in two years I believe. It was laid up with engine troubles last year, and then this year I saw it parked up at the enginehouse at Thendara and when I mentioned it to Bill Moll, he said they got the standing issues fixed, brought it up north, it made one run and a different issues cropped up and knocked it out of service.
The Erie-painted Geep is privately-owned by one of their engineers, and it's actually ex-Great Northern. It last ran on the defunct New York & Greenwood Lake and then sat at Passaic for years until the old NY&GL stuff was auctioned off to make way for the transportation museum being built at Passaic. The hope is to eventually get it overhauled and running again, although I believe it has some vandalism damage to it.
The #705 is still sitting on the outbound track, awaiting pickup. This was the first Adirondack locomotive, but was sold back in 2010. The new owner was going to move it to one of his properties then, but ran into issues with getting it moved (I'm guessing the solid bearing trucks or lack of alignment control couplers) and leased it to the Adirondack. It last ran in 2020, and the lease ran out again and reportedly the owner is finally moving it to one of his locations, so it's been brought down to Utica for the first time in a long time, and is waiting departure.
The #1835, #8223, and #9411 all sitting towards the east end of the yard. I'm unsure of the status of the #1835. The only time I saw it this summer, it was switching cars in the Utica yard, but then they took the C424 #2400 and borrowed MA&N C425 #2456 north, so I'm not sure if it has some issue that keeps it from hauling trains the whole way, or if they just thought they needed the extra 700hp of the #2456. The #8223 is still a case of "We hope to settle the legal issues and get it running this year", as it has been since about 2017. And I know Hal Raven came down to look at the #9411 early this year, but that's the last I heard of that. From what I've heard, the #705 departing has sparked the interest in getting the #9411, which has some electrical gremlins, up and running.
And New York Central 0-6-0 #6721 sitting in front of the station, looking the best it has in a long time. Too bad it had to be hit by a covered hopper and rammed into the station to receive a cosmetic overhaul.
There was also this sign in the window of one of their coaches. Maybe I'll try reaching out to them about becoming an engineer again, and this time I'll avoid filling out the volunteer form (Which got ignored the first couple times I submitted, and then turned into "Do you want to be a car host?" on later submission) and contact them directly.
On Saturday, Reading & Northern ran their last of the fall foliage excursions using Reading #2102, it's sixth excursion of the year and it's fourth Reading-Jim Thorpe trip. The trip took place on October 26th, 2024, which meant it was 1 day and 65 years after the very first Reading Iron Horse Ramble in 1959, which used Reading #2124 (preserved at Steamtown) and ran from Philadelphia up the Shamokin Branch through Reading, Tamaqua, East Mahanoy Junction, Mahanoy City, Ashland, Gordon, Locust Gap, Locust Summit and Mt Carmel. I've ridden that line and there's a loooong 2.6% grade from Gordon all the way to Locust Summit, and I would say that had to have been a helluva show, with the #2124 pounding her way up that grade except I've seen photos with a pair of Baldwin AS-616s hooked up ahead of the #2124 to make the grade.
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