Grassroots Railroad Sports?

NickD said:

While Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern had gone through and plowed out the line from Utica to Boonville, they had not cleared out the passing track at Remsen (Why would they? They don't use it), and there was a huge 5 foot bank of snow across the passing track at the siding, and all the switches and switch stands were also completely snowed in. I looked at it and went, "Why didn't they run push-pull so that they don't have to monkey with the runaround track?" And then I'm wondering if they're going to try and instead make a shove move all the way back to Utica. After all, a snow bank that's been made by a snow plow is often like concrete, and the flangeways were all packed with snow, which is a great way to derail. Well, I heard them drop the air and saw the #2400 backing away from the train and figured they were going to try and clear the snow, so I set up my camera and got some video. You can hear brakeman Jay Baycura yell that he wants to see the video. They ended up fighting with the south switch for a while and I mentioned to another brakeman that it would have made more sense to run push-pull, and he said that was the plan but the #1845 started giving the hogger grief, and they couldn't get it to cooperate for the trip north.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZWa_dSpuJaQ?rel=0

 

He's gonna need a new broom.

In reply to llysgennad :

There was a shovel that also gave it's life in the line of duty. They used it to wedge the switch points over and hold them as they eased the locomotive by and it got pretty mangled.

Reading & Northern's passenger department released their ridership statement for 2024. They handled nearly 340,00 riders last year, up from 322,000 in 2023. But if you want a pretty mind-boggling statistic, they handled 144,000 in 2019, so they have seen a ridership increase by almost 200,000 riders in 5 years. Part of that is the added Iron Horse Rambles with #2102 starting in 2022, as well as the added Pittston-Jim Thorpe weekend trains. That 340,000 riders is also about 106,000 more riders than Amtrak's Pennsylvanian handled in 2024. Now, with #2102 running another Ramble this year, for a total of 4, and the potential return of #425 this year, I imagine that they'll see even more growth in 2025. 

In another press release, the passenger division of the Reading & Northern has announced that it has acquired six passenger cars from the Penn Valley Railroad operation, a private owner that had long ago acquired and refurbished the former West Shore Rail Excursions rolling stock, which has been used occasionally for public excursions on the North Shore family of lines in central Pennsylvania. This equipment includes three ex-DL&W EMU cars, converted to conventional passenger cars with roller bearings, a PRR commuter coach, a CNJ "Jersey Builder" car (CNJ purchased a bunch of ex-GN Empire Builder cars in the early '70s) converted to a diner, and another baggage car converted to a HEP generator car. With the huge growth in passenger ridership, and the sheer amount of different services added, this 6-car addition to the fleet is necessary. Plus, they're already painted in Tuscan Red with gold striping, so a lettering change will make them blend right into the rest of their passenger fleet.

The saga of Frisco 2-8-2 #1352 continues.

Originally built as Frisco 2-8-0 #1321, it was part of a WWII-era rebuild program that converted seven older 2-8-0s into fairly modern 2-8-2s, with improvements like superheaters, a combustion chamber, Coffin feedwater heater, and Nicholson thermic syphons. Rebuilt in '44, it was "dismissed from service" by '52, and was donated to Kansas City, Missouri, where it was placed on display in Swopes Park. Lack of a roof over it, flooding, and vandalism took a toll on the #1352 and by the '70s, Kansas City was threatening to scrap the engine. Smoky Hill Railway & Historical Society  put together a "Save Mike" campaign, and the engine was moved from Swope Park to Parkville, Missouri. Missouri Pacific refused to allow its rail to be cut for a temporary turnout, so the movers constructed a "vertical frog and vertical points" that basically worked as a ramp to lift the flanges over the rails and then onto the MoPac. 

After its removal from Swope Park, the SHR&HS kept #1352 in an industrial park, where it again suffered flooding on at least one occasion. The owner of the property it was stored on wanted the #1352 removed, and the financially distressed SHR&HS, unable to fund another move, sold the locomotive again to Ted Lemen, who moved it to the Illinois & Midland enginehouse in Taylorville, Illinois for storage. There were several attempts to restore it, by various groups, although none got very far. In 2008, the engine was sold to American Steam Railroad Preservation Association, who planned to move it to Columbus, Ohio for restoration to operation, but they acquired Reading #2100 in 2015, after that engine's ill-fated trip to the PNW, and the #1352 was never moved and was permanently moved to the backburner.

A couple years back, Valley Railroad in Connecticut was looking for a fourth steam locomotive to add to their roster, and they originally attempted to acquire Bonhomie & Hattiesburg Southern 2-8-2 #300, on display in Hattiesburg, MI. That was a whole other saga, but despite being led to believe that the engine had been privately owned by Fred Kepner and was legally for sale by his estate, the city made a rather suspicious claim that they owned it, leading to a pretty spurious legal case that Valley Railroad lost. Regrouping, Valley Railroad then announced that they would instead purchase Frisco #1352 from American Steam Railroad Preservation Association, move it to Essex and restore it to operation. I remember that at the time there were a few eyebrows raised over the purchase, because the #1352 was markedly bigger and heavier than anything else they operate (for comparison, 2-8-0 #97 weighs 273,000lbs total, while #1352 is 530,100lbs total), and that line is pretty lightly railed. As it is, they only use GE 80-tonners for diesel power, because that's as big as they feel comfortable with.

Over the past year, there's been a bunch of people wondering when the #1352 will move to Connecticut. Well, now the answer is: never. Because it's already in North Carolina, with the boiler off the frame. According to a TrainOrders user, back before Christmas, he had cocktails with the owner of the Aberdeen Carolina & Western aboard his new bar venue, Engine Room 87 (an ex CSX GE AC6000CW turned into an open-to-the-public mobile bar, its wild!). He apparently casually mentioned that he may have lost his mind, as he had bought a steam locomotive, saying it was rough but rebuildable. That steam locomotive turns out to be Frisco #1352.  He has already done something other owners have failed to do in past couple decades, move it out of the trees in Taylorville, which lends credence to his effort. The tender, cab, and other miscellaneous parts arrived in Candor, NC before Christmas, and the boiler and running gear showed up this week.  

Hopefully this is finally the #1352's chance to shine.

NickD said:

Over the past year, there's been a bunch of people wondering when the #1352 will move to Connecticut. Well, now the answer is: never. Because it's already in North Carolina, with the boiler off the frame. According to a TrainOrders user, back before Christmas, he had cocktails with the owner of the Aberdeen Carolina & Western aboard his new bar venue, Engine Room 87 (an ex CSX GE AC6000CW turned into an open-to-the-public mobile bar, its wild!)

 

And since I can't mention that thing without showing you, here it is, The Engine Room.

Is it really "mobile" ?  or just stationary?

In reply to Purple Frog :

Not self-propelled, but definitely mobile. They can tow it all over their system, like when they ran a special train for the US Open.

AC&W F9A #271 and F9B #276 with "The Engine Room" in tow. The #271 and #276 were part of Norfolk Southern's A-B-B-A executive F-unit set, which were really GP38-2 mechanicals crammed in an F-unit shell. Reading & Northern bought one half, and AC&W bought the other half. From what I've heard/suspected, Andy Muller has regretted not getting the whole set, since an A-B set is kind of a hassle and can only be run in one direction, without something else on the other end or wying them. R&N has a pair of really rough ex-B&LE F7s, and there's always the rumor that R&N is going to piece one of them together to give them an A-B-A set.

Honestly, of the two, I much prefer the black, white and red of the R&N over the weird metallic magenta and non-metallic yellow of the AC&W. Although people have pointed out the similarity of the R&N livery to Marlboro Black packaging, and I can't unsee it.

Reading & Northern's new passenger cars arrived on the property yesterday. I forgot that North Shore Railroad Company and R&N share a (rarely-used) interchange at CP NORA, near Mt. Carmel, which meant that the cars didn't have to be prepared for a ferry move by a Class I. North Shore hooked the cars up to one of their freights behind SW1500 #1942, and sent them from Shamokin up to CP NORA, switching freight along the way.

At CP NORA, the #1942 was cut off and a pair of R&N GP38-2s, with R&N owner Andy Muller at the controls, hooked up and brought them down the mountain to East Mahanoy Junction, where they then shoved back up the other side of EMJ to the wye at Hauck, turned the whole affair, and headed to the car shops Nesquehoning Campus.

I crossed those tracks in Good Spring yesterday about 10:30 AM. I had my camera with me too, but no idea of this. I would have stopped if I spotted those cars for sure.

TurnerX19 said:

I crossed those tracks in Good Spring yesterday about 10:30 AM. I had my camera with me too, but no idea of this. I would have stopped if I spotted those cars for sure.

They wouldn't have passed through Good Spring. Good Spring is down on the Tremont Branch (Good Spring-Schuylkill Haven), while these came from Sunbury to Mt. Carmel on the Shamokin Valley Railroad to the R&N at Mt. Carmel on the more northern Mahanoy & Shamokin Branch (Mt. Carmel-East Mahanoy Junction) and then went northeast to Nesky.There's no active rail, R&N or otherwise, beyond Good Spring anymore. Once upon a time, the Tremont Extension & Mount Eagle Branch met the Lebanon & Tremont Branch, which could feed coal down to Lebanon but that's loooooooooooong gone

NickD said:

Reading & Northern's new passenger cars arrived on the property yesterday. I forgot that North Shore Railroad Company's Shamokin Valley and R&N share a (rarely-used) interchange at CP NORA, near Mt. Carmel, which meant that the cars didn't have to be prepared for a ferry move by a Class I. North Shore hooked the cars up to one of their freights behind SW1500 #1942, and sent them from Shamokin up to CP NORA, switching freight along the way.

 The Shamokin Valley Railroad, and North Shore's operation of it, has long stuck in Andy Muller's craw. The line extends from Sunbury to CP NORA/Mt. Carmel Junction, and is a mix of Pennsy and Reading trackage. It was the PRR's Shamokin Valley Branch from Sunbury to Shamokin, and the Reading's Mahanoy & Shamokin Branch from Shamokin to Mt Carmel Junction. R&N owns the other end of the old Mahanoy & Shamokin Branch, from Mt Carmel down to East Mahanoy Junction and beyond to Tamaqua, Port Clinton and Reading. 

The line operated by SVRR was owned by Conrail, and then taken over by SEDA-COG JRA (Susquehanna Economic Development Association - Council of Governments Joint Rail Authority) in 1983 when Conrail wanted out. Andy Muller has wanted to take control of that line, since it would give direct access to Shamokin and an NS interchange at Sunbury, and has long alleged that SEDA-COG JRA did not properly bid out the operatorship of the SVRR and excluded him from consideration. The lawsuit was dismissed, saying that the ‘lowest responsible bidder’ requirement does not apply to a Request for Proposals for rail operations, and I believe he challenged that ruling, but it never went anywhere.

It would be interesting to see that line acquired by since it would likely become a pretty big part of the system and likely mean a major rehabilitation on the line west of East Mahanoy Junction. I've ridden that line and it's a pretty rock-and-roll ride currently, so if they wanted to funnel traffic to Sunbury, they'd have to do some major work. But passenger service from Tamaqua/Port Clinton to Sunbury could be interesting, although there's a stiff 2.6% grade from Gordon to Locust Summit.

Railroad Historians of the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the NRHS have announced this year's RDC charter trip on the Reading & Northern, Railroad Explorer V. I've ridden the past two, with 2023's being Port Clinton to Minersville and Tremont, and last year's being Port Clinton to CP NORA/Mt. Carmel Junction.

This year's is billed as traveling over the entire length of the Lehigh Division Main Line (former Lehigh Valley/CNJ trackage) from Nesquehoning Regional Railroad Station through Lehigh Gorge State Park, up the graded over Penobscot Mountain to Pittston, with rare mileage on the Taylor Branch, and then travelling the Susquehanna Branch to Tunkhannock and Vosburg Tunnel. The trip will be on Saturday, April 26, 2025

I will be skipping this one this year. I'm going to go down to Reading in a couple weekends for the winter Iron Horse Ramble with #2102, and I can't justify going back down again not that long after. The Taylor Branch would be neat to see, as would Vosburg Tunnel, but I've ridden Nesquehoning to Tunkhannock last year with steam power, so there's not a ton of untraveled line for me. Also, autocross season usually starts around then, and I don't want to miss the first event.

If anyone here is interested, tickets are available at https://www.lehighlines.org/events.html

After decades of disuse, another section of the Maine Central Mountain Division is reported to be possibly returning to life. Vermont Rail System is looking at purchasing 21 miles of the MEC Mountain Division from it's western terminus at St. Johnsbury, VT to Gilman, VT from CSX and then leasing and reactivating 8 miles from Gilman, VT to Whitefield, NH. 

Conway Scenic also the MEC Mountain Division line from North Conway north to a point called Hazens, but owns the track all the way into Whitefield, NH. They have operated occasional excursions all the way to Whitefield (about five miles beyond Hazens) and Hazens is where new Conway equipment has been delivered to by the New Hampshire Central. At Whitefield, the famous ball signal protected a diamond crossing of the Mountain Division with a B&M line from Wells River, on the Conn River Line, to Berlin, NH. The New Hampshire railroad map shows this line still in service from Whitefield to Littleton, but abandoned from there to Wells River. The north end to Berlin is also gone. The diamond at Whitefield is also no longer used. A few years ago the state did some road construction between Whitefield and Hazens, and removed the former B&M, building connections to the former MEC. From Hazens, the New Hampshire Central still provides service on a former MEC line to Groveton, NH.

The Mountain Division from Whitefield to St. Johnsbury was leased by the Lamoille Valley Railroad in the 1980s to serve a paper mill at Gilman, NH. Ironically, as traffic dwindled on the "original" LVRR, the paper mill became their main customer. It closed about a decade ago, and the line from Whitefield to St. Johnsbury, while owned by the state of NH, is out of service. But if VTR revives the Mountain Division, they can then connect their New England Central to the rest of their system via the Washington County Railroad at St. Johnsbury. As it is, they've already reactivated the Hazens transload facility, and even borrowed Conway Scenic's GP35 a couple weeks ago to service it.

Of course, this is really chaps the ass of the rail-trail folks, who have been eyeballing the MEC Mountain Division like a dog looking at a juicy bone. And it seems to be a done deal, because VTR signs have already appeared on the paved-over grade crossings, and VTR MoW crews are already clearing brush.

Another big piece of New England news is that MaineDOT has announced that they have selected a new operator for the old MEC Rockland Branch. This line was purchased by MEDOT when Guilford cast it off, and they've tried to make it a going concern for years. In about thirty years, they've chewed through 6 different operators, with Finger Lakes Railways the most recent, operating it as Midcoast Rail Services. Finger Lakes threw in the towel last year, after only two years of operation, when the major customer that generated 90% of traffic, ceased production at their Thomaston facility.

The new operator is Maine Switching Service, the for-profit affiliate of the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railway which offers railcar switching services, locomotives, personnel to operate locomotives, track inspection and training. Maine Switching Services is based in Unity, Maine, and is involved with the operation of the former Belfast & Moosehead Lake, also owned by the state. Maine Switching Service also provides switching at two paper mills in Rumford and Skowhegan, along with rail car repair in Unity on the former B&ML.  Maine Switching Services plans on beginning freight service in the spring and excursion service in the fall, although it does not plan to provide host railroad services to Amtrak’s proposed Downeaster extension to Rockland. 

I'm curious what the plan is for freight traffic, since, as mentioned, the customer that generated 90% of freight traffic is now gone. I remember hearing that FGLK tried to develop new customers but had issues with CSX's rates for service past the interchange point.

Also New England-based but not quite as good news. Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum is having their rail line (once the standard gauge Grand Trunk Railway, regauged to 2'-gauge) "temporarily dismantled" by a developer for three months as the neighborhood is redeveloped into "Portland Foreside", a $660M luxury neighborhood development project, featuring a hotel, restaurant, condos, apartments, as well as an indoor market and public plazas. Now, the railroad knew that this redevelopment was occurring, and that their rail line would be taken up temporarily, but was told that it would occur in late January for just two weeks, during a time when the railroad would normally be closed.

Now, out of the blue, the development timeline, and without any prior communication, the timeline has stretched into 3 months and will cut into their normal operating season and the developer is threatening to get rid of anything, including rolling stock (!) that is still on the tracks when work starts. Seems to me that the developer will be making millions on this project, and should see fit to throw some coins MNGRM's way to cover the losses this will inflict.  The fact that the line will be "temporarily" dismantled is somewhat concerning as well. Portland has never been the most friendly to the MNGRM and you have to wonder if the line will actually be reassembled after development is done. And now you're going to have a narrow gauge railroad that operates steam locomotives running through "a $660M luxury neighborhood". How long will the new tenets tolerate that before they start trying to run MNRGM out?

MNRGM has previously been burned by the loss of the facilities they used, forcing them to relocate a bunch of their collection up to Alna Center to the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington. And they also have no room for extension of their mainline, since to go farther north would require repairing the long out-of-service Back Cove Swing Bridge, which has been in the open position for 40 years after arsons damaged it. Around 2010, MNGRM actually began talking about leaving Portland, and they spent quite a few years pursuing the idea of moving to Gray, ME. They would be given the abandoned ROW of an old interurban line and property to develop. It never came together though, because Gray was just offering the property and no money for the move or development. MNGRM would have to build storage buildings, shops, stations, and build a rail line on a long-abandoned interurban RoW. Plus it was found that the property was now classified as wetlands, making development difficult, if not impossible, and that a cemetery had been built on the RoW, which also limited development.

I hope for the best for MNGRM, but the whole situation right now gives me a bad feeling.

Meanwhile, the other 2-footer, Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington is progressing nicely with construction of their new locomotive, 2-4-4T #11, based off of WW&F #7. The #7 was the biggest WW&F power, purchased during the rare period of profitability by the WW&F in 1907 only to be damaged by a roundhouse fire and scrapped in 1937. The big news is that onee of their members and long-time supporters has a challenge for the WW&F: raise $60,000 in 2025 to build locomotive #11 and he will MATCH each donation, dollar for dollar, up to $60,000. The link for donations is here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/build-11-2025-on-the-fast-track

I will be finally returning to the WW&F this year. Ethan Brodie is running a photo freight charter in late September that I got a ticket for. It'll be 0-4-4T #9, a flatcar, a boxcar and a caboose, with participants riding in the caboose and boxcar. It's on Sunday, September 21st.

When I was up in Portland between Christmas and New Year's, we walked the path that runs alongside the Maine Narrow Gauge tracks, and I saw the signs that the tracks were going to be moved, including paint markings on the trail for the new placement and a temporary gravel path closer to the water for pedestrian traffic once the tracks were shifted. For whatever reason, I decided to take a couple quick photos showing the then-existing tracks in that area.

They really are badly constrained where they are. Much as I like having them in Portland (we visit fairly regularly, and our hotel is only a couple blocks away), I can't help but think they'd be better off somewhere else with more room to operate; it's not like Portland is getting less developed.

In reply to 02Pilot :

Yeah. And like I said, when this supposedly becomes a luxury neighborhood, how long before the neighbors complain about the smoke and cinders and horns and whistles and the museum starts getting hit with all sorts of operating constraints?

In reply to NickD :

That corner of Portland is funny. When we started going up there, it was a post-industrial wasteland, but it started to slowly be built up, mostly with office buildings. In the last few years it's gone nuts, and the lot that's pushing the railroad out of the way is about the last one available before you hit a big rocky bluff with a park on it. But it's directly across from an existing marina, which figures heavily in the advertising. So it can't really get more built up, but I can imagine complaining from someone, even just about the existing diesels, let alone steam.

In reply to 02Pilot :

It's definitely a tough situation. They've wanted to get out of Portland, and previously they considered Monson, Bridgeton, and Gray. Moving 2-foot gauge stuff isnt hard, it fits on a tractor trailer, and they've moved stuff up to Alna or down to Edaville before. Monson and Bridgton were strictly historical choices (they own two Monson Rwy engines and two Bridgton & Saco River engines) and neither are popular enough to support operations. Gray was just not willing to contribute to the move and development of the site wasn't feasible.

The big issue is they need a 2-foot gauge line, and those, well, don't exist. They all went out of business before WWII and we're yanked up for scrap drives. So you can't just find a disused branch line to rehabilitate or partner up with a friendly short line, like with standard gauge. You either have to build a new line (like they would have had to do at Gray), regauge a standard gauge line (like they've done at Portland) or merge with another Maine 2-footer group (WW&F, the new Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes, or Boothbay Railway Village). The first two options add considerable cost, on top of having to develop other facilities.

People always say they should merge with WW&F and be done with it. After all, WW&F does good business, has 7 miles of track, is an hour away, and has partnered with MNGRM frequently to store or lease equipment. Additionally, that move would put all 5 surviving Maine 2-foot engines in the same place. A couple years back, WW&F realized they would need larger motive power with the completion of their Mountain Extension, and B&SR #7 could have filled that role. But now WW&F is building #11 and reboilering #10 to fill that need. Plus they lack storage space for the whole MNRGM collection, meaning stuff once stored indoors will have to sit outside. Maybe if a merger had been pursued earlier, the money invested in #10 and #11 could have been used for more storage facilities. And SR&RL and Boothbay are even more strapped for space.

And there are those that push for the stiff to go back to Edaville. Ellis D. Atwood saved the stuff, it spent decades at Edaville, and they have the room, is the argument. But Edaville is an amusement park, not a preservation operation. What if it goes back and management decides to make physical changes to engines or cars? Or a new park owner says, "Surely we do t need all these engines," and sells some off, scattering them to the winds. There are those who point out that Edaville let a large number of rare original freight cars deteriorate and then scrapped them all.

It's a tough situation, and I'm not sure what the answer is.

Out of Strasburg, the kind of publicity that you don't want:

The Strasburg Rail Road has been ordered to reinstate an employee and pay them back wages and damages after the employee was fired for refusing to give locomotive and conductor licenses to untrained and unqualified candidates. OSHA investigated a whistleblower complaint by the terminated employee, who claimed they were fired after refusing to issue the licenses due to safety and legal reasons. OSHA's investigation confirmed the management official lacked the required licensing credentials and determined the company retaliated by firing the worker, a violation of the Federal Railroad Safety Act. OSHA has ordered the company and a former company official to pay the employee $161,114 in back wages and interest, $10,000 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages. 

The actual event occurred 3-ish years ago, and was just now settled. I think that would put that as occurring during Tony Gebbia's time in charge of Strasburg, which would track. Linn Moedinger retired in 2018, after 18 years as president and 51 years with the railroad, and Moedinger’s groomed successor, longtime SRC employee Craig Lefever, died of cancer at age 52 when he was only six months into his term. Lefever was followed in late 2019 by Tony Gebbia, previously an event planner at Florida’s Walt Disney World who brought some of the culinary and theatrical flourishes of that industry to SRC. He also had no railroad experience, tried to Disney-fy the railroad with mascots roaming the platforms and recorded narration during the ride, leaned a bit too hard into the "entertainment" side of things with murder mystery trains and caboose escape rooms, and his term was also marked by what one former employee described as “heavy-handed personnel policies,” and the elimination of pay raises, and his tenure was marked by mass resignations and large-scale layoffs. Personnel in several departments soon left for Reading & Northern, East Broad Top, Amtrak, and non-railroad employment. Financial and personnel issues also surfaced, and, amidst rumors of sexual harrassmentt scandal, Gebbia departed abruptly in spring of 2022.