Grassroots Railroad Sports?

Run around the train, the #1751 heads north for the final time that day. From here, I left, because it was 3:30 and I still had a 6 hour and 15 minute drive home.

Also, some random shots I grabbed early in the morning. The station in better light. It was really funny, by afternoon the CSR staff was already hanging Christmas lights on the awning.

A plethora of old wooden cabooses out behind the parking lot

This old ex-US Army 44-tonner (and it's an early model, because there's no walkways around the ends of hoods) is still lettered for New Hampshire Central. No clue how it ended up here or if it's operable (I'm going to guess not, due to the reliability of the Caterpillar D17000 engines).

CN 0-6-0 #7470's cab sits out behind the roundhouse. No clue what the deal is with this engine lately. It came off a 1472 in 2019, made a couple of runs in 2019-2021, then had a fire in the cab back in January of 2022, and it's been radio silence ever since. 

They have another steam locomotive as well, but I couldn't get a photo of it because of where it was positioned. That's Maine Central 2-8-0 #501, and it was owned by the 470 Railroad Club, who then transferred ownership to Conway Scenic a couple years ago. Conway moved it into the roundhouse for evaluation for an operational restoration (An attempt had been made, and botched, years earlier) and, again, there's been radio silence ever since. The fact that it was moved back out of the roundhouse doesn't seem to bode well for it though. Too bad, because a genuine MEC steam engine treading home rails, pounding up the MEC Mountain Division to Crawford Notch and back, would be something to see.

Some more photos of the #1741 leading.

Some more great news out of Huntingdon County PA: 

The Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program has awarded the EBT Foundation $1.6 million to restore two steel bridges that lie on the route to Saltillo. The major structure to be rehabilitated is Pogue trestle, a 275-foot-long 1904 steel Warren truss bridge over Aughwick Creek. It's the largest bridge on the system and is just three miles south of Orbisonia. Work includes strengthening two piers to protect them from flood debris and ice; renewing the bearings that support the superstructure; and installing bridge timbers to replace the original untreated ties that have long since rotted away. EBT General Manager Brad Esposito and Director of Engineering James Roslund have said that inspectors have determined that, despite its age, the bridge is sound. Esposito said the funds, “in combination with a previously awarded RACP grant, will also include some clearing and grading of the right-of-way between Pogue and Three Springs, as well as the work on the Pogue Bridge.” The other bridge is the Three Springs Bridge, a through-plate girder bridge, built in 1907. It's 80' long and spans Three Springs Creek, located about 3 and half miles south of the Pogue Bridge.

Work to reopen the southern main line is being carried out by EBT’s two full-time track crew members and a pool of Friends of the East Broad Top volunteers. The project, termed the “March to Saltillo,” after the name of the town that is the near-term goal of restoration, reached a milestone last month at the Fall Reunion when trains ran over 1.3 miles of track that hadn’t seen a revenue movement since the spring of 1956, to a point named Jordan Summit.  In the few weeks since then, track renewal has advanced another 3,000 feet to the McCoy Road grade crossing, within sight of the PA-994 grade crossing and just a mile from the Pogue bridge.

The Three Springs bridge. Obviously the lack of decking is the first thing that stands out, but also check out the size of the tree growing in the gauge. Remember, this line hasn't seen regular train service since 1956. Also, in the last photo, it looks like the center column isn't attached to the bridge, but actually, that's left over from the original wooden bridge and was never attached to this structure. For whatever reason, the EBT left the old support standing in the river.

The most haunting location on the EBT to me is the Coles Tankhouse. The last remaining tankhouse on the entire system, it sits surrounded by a forest, with trees growing up in the gauge, awaiting a train that hasn't arrived in 68 years. It contained the pump and a perfectly preserved cedar tongue-in-groove tank, unused since 1956. Sadly, in the winter of 1997 the tankhouse pump was stolen by persons who damaged part of the wall to remove it. Water damage also had caused the front beam to partially fail, causing the front of the tank to drop nearly six inches so far. Some repairs were eventually taken by an unauthorized third party (what's the term for "vandalism but you fix stuff instead"?) including shoring up the front beam, but termites have taken hold in the beam and more catastrophic failure of the beam may occur if more repairs are not done. Also, and even more unfortunate, someon broke out several slats of the well-preserved tank, most importantly the slats that were marked with the tank information, apparently as souvenirs in January of 2000, and I don't believe they were ever located.

The most haunted-looking spots though would be the two tunnels south of Saltillo, the Wrays Hill Tunnel and the Sideling Hill Tunnel. One portal of the Wrays Hill Tunnel is completely collapsed and this tunnel is said to have been a pain in the EBT's side for most of it's existence, with lots of issues with chunks of the ceiling falling in. The Sideling Hill Tunnel looks worse, with lots of water on the floor of the tunnel and rockfalls on the southern end, but is said to be fairly sound structurally. Sideling Hill was noted to have issues in the winter with the wind freezing water on the tunnel floor and causing derailments, so EBT installed doors on the end of the tunnel to keep that from happening. At the end of operations the inner manual door was left closed and the motorized door was left open.  The closed manual door rusted to pieces over the years, and about 2000, the outer motorized door and its wood frame toppled outward from the portal onto the track. The manual door later fell directly down onto the track. Both door operator shanties, actuators, poles and signal poles are gone. The north shanty is reported to have been burned, but the foundation is still visible. The south shanty is also gone, though the four posts on which it rested can still be found. 

Shortly after the EBT Foundation took ownership of the EBT, one of the discussions was rebuilding the long-abandoned Coles Valley Branch. Unlike the rest of the EBT, the Coles Valley Branch, which split off at Coles and went up to the mine town of Joller (it's often also referred to as the Joller Branch), was yanked up in the '50s but the EBT still owns the right of way. The idea was that that that would give them a terminus until the eventual restoration all the way to Robertsdale. They would have to restore the Sideling Hill Tunnel, which is less work, and then the branch split off before the Wrays Hill Tunnel. No clue if that's still a plan, but it was proposed back in 2020 by Foundation Chairman Henry Posner III.

The #14 taking on water at the Coles Tankhouse in 1940 with a railfan excursion.

In reply to NickD :

Wow, it's hard to imagine that's the same location. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

84 years, 68 of them without any sort of clearing or operation, will do that.

I'm curious if East Broad Top will hold a 2025 Winter Spectactular. They skipped the 2024 Winter Spectacular because they needed to do yearly maintenance on the #16 after it had run all of 2023, but the #16 sat out most of the '24 season with the cracked drive wheel issue, so theoretically it shouldn't need as much, if any work, allowing them to hold it. The Winter Spectacular is a longtime EBT tradition, allowing visitors the opportunity to watch the railroad come to life in an otherwise quiet season, and offers rare excursions with some of the railroad’s more unique equipment, photo freights, exclusive tours, and more. It's held in the middle of February and I'd strongly consider going this year. 

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Another neat then and now comparison, this time of Robertsdale. The station on the left does still exist, it's just behind a tree line, and the Friends of the EBT have their little museum and offer speeder cars out of there. Robertsdale is the eventual ultimate goal of the East Broad Top Foundation.

The crossing at Kimmel

I know that steam locomotives are a case of "It'll be done when it's done", but I am curious what the status is on the next EBT engine under restoration, which is the #15. Originally the plan was to restore the #14 first, since that had been the last engine running when the railroad shut down in 2011, and they started work on the #14 but then found that, because it spent so many years as primary power in the tourist era, it was pretty worn out and needs a lot of work on the boiler and running gear. So then the #15 was bumped ahead in the line. I'm sure the whole cracked drive wheel issue that took the #16 out of service all summer probably set the #15's restoration behind somewhat. 

I'm sure once the #15 is going, we'll get some special events with doubleheaders, although that's technically not historically accurate. As far as anyone knows, the EBT never doubleheaded their engines during the common carrier era.

The #14 is reportedly next in the restoration line after the #15. The #14 is of the same class as the #15, both of them being the earlier-built and smaller "light" Mikados. The #14 ran from 1961 until 1982 in the tourist era, and then again from 1988 to 2011, so she has a lot of miles on her and the running gear and boiler are both said to need lots of work.

The EBT Foundation has said that they eventually hope to have all six engines operational, although I'd imagine not all at the same time. Probably more of a "We'll have the #16 and #15 down for 1472, so we need the #14 and #17 ready to take over, and the #12 and #18 will be reserve." They also have said that they'd like to offer trips to various destinations, which I could very much see evolving into something like; multiple trips per day north to Colgate Grove, a longer run to Saltillo and back, and then a trip all the way to Robertsdale with a split where people can instead get off at ride up to Joller and back, which would require several engines to handle all that. They have not said which engine comes after the #14, probably because that's a ways down the road.

If I had to guess, it would probably be the #17. The #17 is of the larger "heavy" Mikado class, same as #16 and #18, and was the only one of the big engines to run in the tourist era. The #17 was placed back in service by 1968, but was usually held as reserve since her size was harder on the track, which was pretty poorly maintained in the tourist era. She was also larger and more powerful than was really needed to haul the four passenger cars to Colgate Grove and back, and the superheater elements (the main difference between the light and heavy Mikes) were a frequent maintenance headache. These reasons were why the #16 and #18 were never run in the tourist era either. She appeared at most of the Fall and Winter Spectaculars, but was taken out of service in 2001 and hasn't run since.

I would put the #18 and the #12 tied for last.

The #18 is also of the heavy variety and was actually looked at when the EBTF bought the line from the Kovalchicks, since, like thee #18, she hadn't run since 1956 and that would be a railfan draw and hopefully meant there was less wear and tear on the engine. They found out though that the #18 had been primary power during the waning years of the railroad's common carrier era, and that as the railroad's profits flagged, maintenance had been cut back. The #18 was ridden hard and put away wet and also has some sketchy field repairs, including some pretty shoddy undocumented firebox repairs. In fact, the #18 was supposed to have hauled the final revenue train in 1956, but came up lame with mechanical problems on the last day and the #16 had to be revived instead. The advantage that the #18 does have is that, since she's of the same class as the #16 and #17 all the parts are interchangeable, so you can order spare parts in bulk and they work across three separate engines, and the extra power is useful when they eventually get to the more stiff grades down towards Robertsdale or if they rebuild the Joller Branch.

The #12, named "Millie" in honor of Nick Kovalchick's daughter, is even lighter and smaller than the #14 and #15 (there was no #13, for superstitious reasons) and was the first Mikado ordered by the EBT. It's success encouraged them to order the other 5 engines. It was the first engine used after Nick Kovalchick reopened the railroad in 1960, and it ran until 2001 and was the primary engine through the 1960s and 1970s, on account of it's lighter weight. By the 1990s though, she was getting very worn, particularly her drive wheel tires, and only operated during the annual Fall Spectacular, since she needed a complete overhaul for which funds were not available. She last oeprated during the 2000 Fall Spectacular, after which she was taken out of service. Those where at that last event said that she actually only ran Saturday, and partway through the day, the flue sheet cracked and put her fire out. That was also the last time that all four operational EBT Mikados ran, and they celebrated with a quadruple header that also damaged the #12 and #15 with the pretty severe slack action. The issue with the #12 is that, on top of being a mechanical basket case and being lighter and less powerful than the other engines, is that she's a completely unique engines. Parts for the #14/#15 and the #16/#17/#18 can be shared across engines (and some parts, like the 48" drivers are the same across all 6) but the #12 has a lot of parts used only on her. That being said, I could see restoring her to use sparingly for special occasions, like Cumbres & Toltec does with the T-12 #168 and C-18 #315.

Some other big steam news, SMS Rail Services released a really nice teaser video for their newly-restored steam locomotive, ex-USATC 0-6-0 #9, last week.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/849470133989422

I can't get it to embed, but here's the link.

And then this week it made the move over to SMS Rail's passenger-hauling subsidiary, Woodstown Central, courtesy of Conrail. Yes, Conrail still technically exists. During the NS/CSX split, certain areas of Conrail were deemed too important to hand off to one or the other, so they remained under ownership of the jointly owned and operated Conrail Shared Assets Operation.

SMS Rail purchased the #9 from the New Hope & Ivyland about 15 years ago, where it had been sitting in the weeds, gathering rust. The odd thing was that at the time, SMS didn't have any passenger operations nor did they intend to have any. Basically the president bought the #9 and began restoring it mostly because he wanted a steam locomotive, and at the time the plan was just to fire it up and use it for freight service for their own amusement. Then, completely coincidentally, Salem County approached SMS about operating the old Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines Salem Branch, and SMS decided to begin operating passenger excursions on that line. The trains have been run with an old Baldwin S-12 and an ex-PRSL GP38, using some old CNJ commuter coaches and a Reading caboose, but the plan has always been to use the #9 on the line. The #9 was fired up, in unpainted and incomplete condition, last December and made some test runs last winter on SMS' main tracks. 

Those USATC S115 0-6-0s are pretty funky looking, with huge front and rear overhangs, and that single cross-compound air pump centered up on the front pilot deck. The locomotive was actually designed so that a lead truck could be added to make it a 2-6-0, but I believe that that conversion was only done on some of the ex-USATC 0-6-0s that ended up on the Midland Terminal. Morristown & Erie/Morris County Central actually wrote to Colonel Howard G. Hill, the designer of the engine, to get the blueprints for that conversion on their #4039, but never went through with the conversion.

The #9, after it's enlistment in the US Army Transportation Corp was up, was sold to the Virginia Blue Ridge in 1958, along with a three other USATC 0-6-0s. They ran on the VBR until 1963, then the #9 was purchased by New Hope & Ivyland and thee #7 was purchased by a private owner who also moved it to the NH&I. The #9 ran on the NH&I from June 1967 until sometime in 1981, while the #7 was parted out and scrapped in June of '76 during a dispute between the NH&I and the owner. Thee #9 then sat out back rusting away at NH&I, alongside several other steam engines, and the #9 wasn't actually SMS' first choice. They really wanted Canadian National 4-6-0 #1551, the engine that NH&I started operations with, but NH&I wouldn't part with it, or even the #9 at first. Eventually the NH&I caved and was willing to sell the #9, and so it was moved to New Jersey for restoration.

In reply to Duke :

I bet that was exciting for the head end crew.

I'm reminded of the ramshackle Twin Seams Mining railroad, which operated into 1963 with a single ramshackle Shay running over some of the nastiest, most decrepit tracks you've ever seen. The one tunnel was so prone to cave-ins that the railroad had a crew that ran ahead in a speeder car to check for obstructions, and the wooden trestles got so bad that the crews refused to ride the train over them. They'd put the reverser all the way forward, just barely crack the throttle, and then walk over the bridge behind the train, then jog forward and hop aboard the head end. Eventually one of the wooden trestles gave out as the train crossed it, and the rails were yanked up and the locomotive scrapped where it had landed.

Reading & Northern posted on Facebook yesterday that RDC-1 #9164 has rolled out of the paint shop and is ready for service. They even put out a Railfan Alert (I'm not kidding) on Facebook that the four unit set of RDCs, new RDC-1 #9164 and RDC-1s #9167 and #9168 and RDC-3 #9166, would be making a test-run from Pottsville to Reading Outer Station. I'm curious what the eventual plan for the #9164 and the other unrenumbered RDC that they are working on. R&N has long had the #9166/#9167/#9168 and they run the wheels off them with trips from Tamaqua to Jim Thorpe, Reading to Pottsville, Pottsville to Jim Thorpe, and charter trips all over the system (I've ridden them Reading-Girardville, Port Clinton-Tremont, and Port Clinton-Mt. Carmel). If ridership is good enough, I could see them just running around a 4-unit set for added ridership, but I also was told by an R&N employee that one plan was to run a Nesquehoning Campus-Jim Thorpe ping-pong service with the two new RDCS (They actually acquired three, but the third one is destined to be a parts donor).

I admittedly love Budd RDCs and find them a lot of fun to ride around in. I'm trying to think of when the last time there were four-unit sets running around too. Most museums and heritage railroads that operate them usually use one or two car sets, and VIA Rail still has their Sudbury-White River service handled by RDCs (.....for now. Rumor is they're looking at retiring them as well), but that's a three-unit set as well. 

R&N #9164 can trace it's heritage back to the Baltimore & Ohio's Daylight Speedliner, which was their solution for the money-losing Baltimore-Washington D.C. Washingtonian. They had four regular RDC-1s, and then they custom-ordered two RDC-2s with a little cafe and dining area in place of the baggage compartment. After B&O discontinued passenger service north of Baltimore on April 26, 1958, the Daylight Speedliner operated between Baltimore and Pittsburgh, covering the 333 mile route on a 7 hour schedule, until its discontinuation on January 21, 1963. Both RDC-2s still exist, and at least one of the RDC-1s (the #9164).

You also have to marvel at, and love, the fact that the R&N puts out such alerts. Some shortlines and regionals treat their schedule like it's a military secret (*cough*, LA&L, *cough*) while the R&N does stuff like, announce a test-run for their 4-unit RDC set. Or invite people to come check out the test runs of their freshly-restored steam locomotive. Or let people know the adjusted autumn schedule for their North Reading Fast Freight. Or alert people that they are going to move a very large freight extra of frac sand from North Reading to Tunkhannock. I wish I lived closer to them, but then again, I'd probably be calling into work all the time to catch all sorts of going-ons.

NickD said:

There's also some rumors going around of something going on with C&O #614. It's been sitting on static display at the C&O Historical Society in Clifton Forge, VA in the green paint for the stillborn Greenbrier Presidential Express since 2011, but last ran back in 1999. Apparently it's been receiving black paint on the running gear, and according to a random person on Facebook "Ross called and said his people were coming and they did. Pulled her auxiliary tender out of the weeds, lubed and worked on her running gear, uncoupled her from the museum cars, and painted her lower gear."

Now, having the headlights and numberboards and number plate and bell removed is pretty common for an engine being transported, to prevent them from vanishing during any layovers, but also, you typically tend to remove that stuff during painting just to avoid overspray. It's also really weird to be painting the running gear and pilot and cylinder jacketing before you do any mechanical work. Why waste time and money and resources when you might find, say, rust in the cylinder jacketing that needs replacement or a crack in a drive wheel center that requires replacement? 

The other issue is that, as I fairly recently learned, Ross Rowland reportedly doesn't even own the #614 anymore. After the NJTransit excursions came to an end, the #614 sat there for a long time and NJT started getting after him for storage fees. He tried to auction if off, nobody was interested in buying it for the price he wanted, and supposedly some wealthy private individual officially bought it to pay for the debts, while he's remained the publicly-visible owner. I've also heard that Historic Red Clay Valley, who owns and operates New Hope & Ivyland, is somehow tied into the #614's ownership (I know Rowland is a guest engineer there frequently).

Rowland, when asked on RYPN, just gave his usual "Big news on the way, things are looking up for #614", but he's been giving that, without any specifics, since pretty much 1999 when the #614 went out of service. If it actually is going to be restored to operation, I have to wonder if the plan is to bring it to Buckingham Branch and completely bypass the Virginia Museum of Transportation and N&W #611, after the whole meltdown that occurred at VMT.

Well, the announcement was made today at 6:14am. The iconic locomotive will be restored at Strasburg Rail Road Mechanical Services and returned to operational status.


RJD America LLC has purchased the #614 steam locomotive from the American Freedom Train Foundation, Inc. With "a firm commitment to preserving railroad heritage", RJD America be funding the restoration of both the locomotive and its auxiliary tender at Strasburg. "Chesapeake & Ohio #614 is a treasured part of national history, and we are privileged to become its caretakers," stated Jason Johnson, General Manager and Communications Director for RJD America LLC. 

The comprehensive restoration at Strasburg Rail Road Mechanical Services in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, will ensure the locomotive and its auxiliary tender not only meet contemporary operational and safety standards but also retain their historical authenticity. "Reviving #614 goes beyond restoring machinery; it's about reigniting the magic of steam railroading for today's and tomorrow's enthusiasts," Johnson added.
 

Jason Johnson is also the Trust General Manager of the PRR T1 Trust, the folks constructing the all-new PRR T1, so it's in pretty good hands. Also pretty surprising is the announcement that they plan to have the #614 running by 2026, so it sounds like all the funding is lined up, since there weren't any requests for fundraising. I'm curious if we'll see her make any runs at Strasburg once completed, seems like a good idea to run it a little while it's there and make sure all is well before shipping her out. I'm also still betting that the plan is to run it at Buckingham Branch/Virginia Scenic, but RJD America didn't make any mention of plans at the moment.

Some people were surprised at Ross selling out, but he has always said that if someone approached him with the money and a solid plan, he'd sell her. And he's up there in age, and not getting any younger, so if he sells her now to someone who has plans and funding all lined up, he can maybe get to see her run again (and likely even get to run her.)