Crossing the Williams River and Route 103 for the umpteenth time on their way out of Ludlow.
Crossing the Williams River and Route 103 for the umpteenth time on their way out of Ludlow.
We got a bit of a bonus at Chester, when the crew tied down briefly to go into the depot to use the restroom, giving us some time for static shots.
And then they went roaring out of town again.
I went back to the Bartonsville Bridge to get a photo, not of the bridge but from the bridge. As I was getting near the bridge, all of a sudden the sky clouded up solid, it was like someone turned out the lights.
There were some other chasing and they all went into Bellows Falls to get the #405 arriving in the yard, but I skipped that and went over to North Walpole, NH and set up along the old 1899 B&M stone bridge that crosses the state border to the ex-B&M roundhouse that Green Mountain Railway is based out of. First I caught some regular VTR red power coming across the bridge to switch cars.
And then the #405 came rattling over shortly.
In reply to NickD :
Looks to me like you have a bunch of saleable shots for those that got cheated out of them on the trip.Great photography.
For shots in overcast, especially if you want to show them alongside others of the same subject in bright sunlight, try bumping the contrast to make things pop a bit more and end up with a more cohesive set. Here's a quick example of what I'm talking about (shadows and midtones dropped some, highlights increased, and a slight vignette added):
The old B&M roundhouse and turntable at North Walpole. There had been some hope that the #405 might get turned on the turntable and put into the roundhouse, but there was a Trackmobile on the turntable and they instead ran down into a siding, shut off the #405 and capped the stack.
That 85-foot turntable, while owned by the B&M, saw the Rutland's L-1 4-8-2s fairly regularly as well, since the Rutland's own 70-foot turntable across the river at Bellows Falls was too short to fit the L-1s. The Rutland's turntable at Bellows Falls served a four stall wooden roundhouse which was sandwiched tightly between the B&M/CV mainline and the canal, but the roundhouse was razed after dieselization in 1954. The turntable was saved though and was moved up to Chester in 1965 by Steamtown USA, and a new pit was dug and the turntable installed in it. Chester was as far north as Steamtown's excursions regularly ran, with the line north of that to Rutland being used by Green Moutain Railway for freight service. There's a runaround track at Chester, and the engines ran tender-first back to the museum location at Riverside, but Blount apparently hoped to turn the engine at both ends. It never ended up being hooked to live rails though, and it was reported as buried in 1975 after the pit filled with water and was deemed a hazard to local children. In the 1980s the Green Mountain RR built a parking lot over the site and it may have been dug up and scrapped at this time, or it may be interred in the pit there.
Before finding its home at Riverside, Blount had originally had his collection stored in North Walpole and had hoped to buy the B&M's Cheshire Branch between North Walpole and Keene to operate excursions on. The eventual plan was to relocate the entire collection to Keene, and local and state support was initially strong, but delays on a sale of the Cheshire Branch caused by labor disputes on the B&M and some negative press in the state led to the newly elected state government killing the Keene plans in early 1963. The state of Vermont was looking to find operators for the Rutland, either as a whole or in pieces, and Blount took the Bellows Falls to Rutland segment.
This caused a stir over at the B&M though. First, the B&M had now just lost the eventual sale of the Cheshire Branch to Blount. Second, the B&M had had designs for the Rutland and had been hoping to end up as the owner of it, and now Blount had just swiped 52 miles of it. And, with opening day of the Bellows Falls operation approaching, the B&M began refusing to move Blount's equipment out of North Walpole and across the river to VT out of spite. Just 24 hours before the gates were to open to visitors, Blount was in Boston pleading with the B&M to move his collection the short distance to Bellows Falls, when he received a phone call from the court appointees for the liquidation of the Rutland Railroad. They were aware of the problem and explained that technically, until midnight when the sale of the Rutland's final assets went through, the Rutland Railroad was still in operation and they still had one locomotive, the #405, on the property, so if Blount could provide them with a list of the engines and cars he absolutely needed, the Rutland could authorize a special move. So, under literal cover of darkness, like something out of a movie, the Rutland Railroad dispatched the Rutland #405 over to North Walpole, collected Nelson Blount's equipment and brought it back to Bellows Falls, making the final run of the Rutland Railroad. With equipment in place to operate, he then later negotiated with Boston & Maine and had everything gradually moved onto the property over the following year.
Kevin Burkholder told us that they matched the color and font of the Rutland lettering when they put the #405 back in Rutland lettering, but as soon as they applied it, the most glaring issue was that it was way too shiny. So he and GMRC employee Scott Whitney ran out in the yard, gathered up "genuine B&M roundhouse dirt" and applied it with a brush and rubbed it into the lettering to knock off the worst of the shine.
TurnerX19 said:In reply to NickD :
Looks to me like you have a bunch of saleable shots for those that got cheated out of them on the trip.Great photography.
Quite a few of the real diehards were out Monday as well, taking photos.
I would like to add that Vermont Rail System was honestly a great host, and very accomodating. The staff were friendly, the AGM was a particularly great guy and helped out with trying to make the Sunday trip to Burlington happen. Kevin Gilliam, who was there on behalf of Trains Magazine, was also a very friendly and helpful guy. His situation was also kind of rough, because he had worked for the magazine in their DVD department, then got laid off when Kalmbach Publishing was bought by Firecrown Media. Trains Magazine called him up and asked him to go up there, and he was basically there as a contractor for the magazine from what I understand, and he did as much as he could to try and make things go well. Despite the various foibles, it was still neat to ride basically the entirety of the remaining contiguous Rutland system, and behind a Rutland RS-1, no less. I've never seen an RS-1 in person, even a static piece, and the #405 has so much history and is so significant to Vermont rail history.
This podcast actually had a guest who wrote a book on the early New England years of Steamtown USA, and it's actually a really interesting listen.
East Broad Top had their annual Fall Reunion over the weekend, which is usually a pretty big event. Chief among the notable activities were the #16 back in service, runs with motorcars M-1 and M-3, speeder car rides out of Robertsdale, #16 hauling photo freights (in heavy fog), and both #16 and M-1 making southbound moves out of Orbisonia to Jordan Summit for the first time in over 60 years.
Something potentially very big is being teased by Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. They posted blueprints to a New York Central L-3a Mohawk and Kelly Lynch, their executive director, posted a photo of a yard of NYC steam with the quote "Forever mood". This was followed by a number of other museums and historical societies making similar posts, and then the National New York Central Railroad Museum posting an event on Facebook for the 9th. Going to the linked website, there is a countdown, a loop of an old New York Central press film, and the cryptic:
"Abdicate: intransitive verb: renounce, resign.
Refuse: verb: to express oneself as unwilling to accept"
What does it all mean? Well, the National NYC museum has an NYC Mohawk, #3001, which just so happens to be an L-3a. Surely not a coincidence. The definitions of Abdicate and Refuse are surely a reference to the classic tale by David Page Morgan, called "The Mohawk That Refused To Abdicate", also involving an L-3a Mohawk, #3005 to be exact, putting on a helluva show in the twilight of NYC steam. Fort Wayne Historical Society also purchased a large amount of stainless steel cars used on the NYC Empire State Express.
On paper, it would seem like the obvious conclusion is that a restoration on NYC #3001 is impending. It makes some sense; the NYC is a popular railroad, the NYC Mohawk is a legendary engine, the NYC Mohawk is a pretty go-anywhere engine since it was built to fit NYC's tight clearances, the #3001 has been considered for a few restorations over the years but never gotten off the ground, the FWRHS has a fleet of ex-NYC passenger cars and operates over ex-NYC (Lake Shore & Michigan Southern) tracks out of an ex-NYC depot, and the New York Central had a pretty big presence in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.
On the flip side, whenever asked about operational restoration of the other two steam locomotives that FWRHS also owns (Wabash 0-6-0 #534 and Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 #624), the answer is always "We're very busy keeping #765 running and restoring our Empire State Express cars will keep us busy for years to come, so it's unlikely they'll be restored to operation any time soon". The #624 still hasn't been reassembled from it's move from Hammond, Indiana where it languished with no care for 63 years (Ron Ziel famously described it as "200 tons of junk" as early as 1963 due to it's poor condition) and sits with it's cab and boiler separated from the frame. Taking on an NYC Mohawk restoration seems like it would be a lot of work, especially considering it's reportedly poor condition. It was purchased by Texas & Pacific to replace scrapped T&P 2-10-4 #638 at Dallas, TX and the T&P shop forces supposedly got squirrely with the hot wrenches and torched out the coal bunker, firebox grates, and stoker auger while giving it a T&P inspired makeover. The Dallas climate, combined with the asbestos boiler lagging, was also not kind to the engine and Ross Rowland said that when he looked at it many years ago, the trapped moisture rotted out all the flannery caps, while the front tube sheet and all the superheater elements had rusted away Also, the #3001 is kind of the star attraction at the museum at Elkhart, and I couldn't see them wanting to give it up and lose visitors (maybe FWRHS could trade the #534 and #624 for it, but it's an NYC museum and those aren't NYC engines).
The FWRHS's social media is also good at having sort of clickbaity posts about new announcements that sends foamers running off in the wrong direction as well. A couple months ago, they they were posting photos of NKP #170 and everyone was thinking that they were going to get the NKP pocket Hudson from St. Louis National Museum of Transportation and restore the #170, but it turned out that it was just that they were getting another Pullman car. They used photos of #170, becausee it was the kind of car that would have been used on NKP passenger trains pulled by their Hudson
Or maybe I'm looking at this all wrong, and this Americanloco.org is an entirely separate group that's going to restore it, and they're just going to partner up with FWRHS for facilities and operating opportunities over the Indiana Northeastern. I guess we'll find out October 9th.
Pretty big news coming out of Fort Wayne this week. I sure hope it isn't just another bait n switch but the only way to tell for sure is to wait and see.
3001 is a personal favorite of mine and I'll be very excited to see it restored and running again if it's picked for restoration by Fort Wayne.
In reply to Frosty_Nimiko :
After that teaser trailer, it certainly looks like the plan is to restore the #3001. Certainly with the historical footage of it in action, the "listen for the whistle" remark at the end, and the museum in Elkhart saying "For the first time since 1957, the future for one of the Central's last remaining icons looks bright" on Facebook.
It is kind of amazing that it's taken this long for someone to revive a Mohawk. An absolutely legendary steam locomotive design from one of the most iconic railroads, that's also a pretty modern engine design with roller bearings on all the axles (no dealing with those pesky solid bearings running hot), and the 73" disc drivers and NYC clearance requirements means she's a go-anywhere, do-anything design (a pity that the L-3as lacked trailing truck boosters, unlike the L-3bs and L-3cs). I know there have been a couple times where the #3001 has been looked at for possible restoration, but none of them ever amounted to much.
The #3001, as she looked at the time, arriving at Conrail's yard in Elkhart in August of '84, after having been traded for a Pennsy GG1 by the Museum of the American Railroader in Frisco, TX. It was at least repainted in NYC paint by this point, having spent years dressed as "Texas & Pacific #909" but you can see how it's missing the elephant ear smoke deflectors, which were added back on fairly recently.
The steam restoration that fizzled that I'm still kind of shocked and dismayed by was Long Island Rail Road 4-6-0 #39. Back in 2013, Railroad Museum of Long Island announced that they had inked a deal with Strasburg to restore the chunky PRR-designed LIRR G5 and lease it to Strasburg. The deal was that RMLI had to raise a portion of the money within 15 years of the deal, with Strasburg providing the rest, and then the operational G5 would be operated and maintained by Strasburg under a 49 year lease. You would think that, after the decades-long debacle of the PRR #1361 restoration and the remainder of suitable PRR engines being entombed at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, the PRR faithful would have jumped at the opportunity to have a PRR-designed engine operational again in the heart of PRR territory. Instead, the whole thing seemed to be kind of met with a collective shrug, and the donations never really materialized. The whole agreement with Strasburg was that the amount of money needed would go up by about 5% every year to match inflation, and as the fundraising went on and the donations slowed down, it actually got farther from it's fundraising goals. Strasburg never really hyped the project, and the RMLI basically stopped giving updates years ago, and technically they still have a little over three more years to raise the money but I can't see it happening. There was also resistance from the locals in Long Island, who got all peeved that "their" engine was going to be shipped off to Pennsylvania for potentially 50 years, and they were raising all sorts of hell over the deal.
The 470 Railroad Club has posted photos of their freshly-restored B&M "bluebird" GP9 outside on the turntable at Conway. The number 1 traction motor blower was reinstalled and rewired on the #1741 and the locomotive was brought outside to test it. At this point, the bathroom floor and toilet need to be installed, flooring installed in the cab and cab heaters need to be connected then 1741 will be ready to bluecard. They've got just under a month to have her ready to use on their annual trip. On one hand, obviously this is a very nice-looking machine, but a part of me also wouldn't be upset if they had to use the B&M F7As instead this year.
A single GP9 isn't quite enough to lug the train up to Crawford's Notch (even with the twin F7s, they had an ex-MEC GP38 shoving on the tail end of the train), and if I had to guess, they might reletter Maine Central GP7 #573 to "Boston & Maine #1560" like they do at some of the railfan events. Since B&M and MEC used the same paint scheme on their GP7s, it's simply a matter of changing the road name with magnets and installing new numberboards.
470 Railroad Club also recently acquired another EMD, an ex-Grand Trunk Western GP18. The Mass Bay Transportation Authority officially donated GP18 # 904 to the 470 Railroad Club, which was built in 1960, and started life as Grand Trunk Western # 4952. The locomotive was rebuilt for SEMTA as the #904 prior to being acquired by MBTA but has been out of service for some time and has been vandalized. Initially the club was interested in this locomotive to use as a parts donor to maintain their F7s and GP9, however they are now partnering with the New Hampshire Northcoast Railroad to attempt to make this unit operational again. Its currently stored over on New Hampshire Northcoast, and it's unsure if it will stay over there and be used in freight service there, or if it will eventually make the move to Conway.
In reply to NickD :
The L3as were built to be able to retrofit boosters onto them should they needed them, I believe the axle and the trailing truck itself are fitted with the required components minus the booster itself.
If Fort Wayne for whatever reason needed the booster, they have the option to add it should they need it.
Frosty_Nimiko said:In reply to NickD :
The L3as were built to be able to retrofit boosters onto them should they needed them, I believe the axle and the trailing truck itself are fitted with the required components minus the booster itself.
If Fort Wayne for whatever reason needed the booster, they have the option to add it should they need it.
Well, provided they can also find a booster laying around that'll fit. Granted, even if it was a later L-3, it might not even still have a booster engine installed anymore. NYC started deleting them in the '40s to cut back on maintenance costs. I believe the only engine in operation in the US that actually has an operating trailing truck booster currently is Reading #2102, and R&N does use it in extreme circumstances. Ross Rowland said that C&O #614 still had it's booster and it was operational and used on occasion as well. SP #4449 has one, but I don't know if it's operational anymore. Frisco #1522 also had one, not sure if that one operated or was ever needed during her career as an excursion star. Frisco loved Franklin trailing truck boosters, and practically every steam locomotive with a trailing truck, 2 or 4-axle was equipped with a Franklin booster (Frisco had an options checklist for all their late steam that was essentially; Franklin booster, Nichols thermic syphons, Coffin feedwater heater)
And it's official:
" The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society announced Wednesday that it had acquired New York Central L-3a “Mohawk” 3001 and planned to restore the 4-8-2 locomotive to operation for use on its popular Indiana Rail Experience excursions.
The 3001 is the largest surviving NYC steam locomotive and the only member of the L3a class to escape the scrapper’s torch. The locomotive was previously owned by the City of Elkhart, Ind., and has been on display at the National New York Central Museum for decades.
FWRHS owns three other steam locomotives, most notably Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 765, which it has operated since the 1970s. For the last few years, it has managed the Indiana Rail Experience, an excursion operation on the Indiana Northeastern Railroad, which has trackage in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Much of that track is former NYC, meaning locomotive 3001 will be right at home. NYC 3001 will also join the fleet of seven Budd streamlined cars built in 1941 for the NYC “Empire State Express” and purchased from Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum in 2023.
While FWRHS made the announcement on Wednesday, the effort to acquire the locomotive dates back more than a year. The City of Elkhart approved the sale of 3001 in September 2023. Although the transaction was noted in publicly available documents, it was never widely shared. The deal includes locomotive 3001 and tender, plus an auxiliary tender. In return for the locomotive, the National New York Central Museum will receive a cash donation of $20,000; the City of Elkhart will receive help with creating a strategic plan for the future of the museum and its equipment; and the promise that when restored, FWRHS will do its best to bring 3001 back to Elkhart for a visit (although the deal notes that is entirely dependent on the engine being allowed to operate on Class I rails, specifically Norfolk Southern, which runs past the museum).
“We have been the stewards of the Mohawk for many years,” said Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson in a press release. “Although we have had no shortage of pride and admiration for this historic machine, we lacked the expertise to be able to preserve it in the way it deserves. We are thrilled to be able to announce this partnership and a new life for the Mohawk.”
According to FWRHS, a mechanical evaluation of the locomotive has been performed by FMW Solutions with financial support from former Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman. The group estimates that it will take $4.3 million to restore the locomotive to operation and FWRHS has issued a $100,000 challenge grant with the goal of raising $500,000 by May 3, 2025. Donations can be made online at AmericanLoco.org. FWRHS is also encouraging people to join its pledge list.
“Rather than manage an unknowable ebb and flow of contributions, we encourage backers to join our pledge list,” said FWRHS Executive Director Kelly Lynch. “We are planning pledge drives at the outset to meet our first critical fundraising milestones and to measure the feasibility of fundraising for such a massive project. The effort will not be able to move forward without broad and consistent donor support, which we believe we can forecast from the pledges. As much as this effort may be driven by emotion and history, it has to be driven by data and logic, too.”
“We treat this collaboration and the acquisition of the 3001 with great excitement and seriousness,” Lynch said of the effort to restore the Mohawk. “The locomotive’s future has been uncertain for decades, but with consistent and demonstrated donor support, we believe it can become a major attraction as part of an authentic and immersive experience that will welcome thousands of people from around the world.”
And now all the NYC faithful who have bemoaned for years that the Mohawks have sat cold better put their money where their berkeleying mouth is and open up their wallets and not let this one languish like the Pennsy fans did with LIRR #39.
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