The Walkersville Southern RR and Museum has announced on its Facebook page that it has acquired YET ANOTHER diminutive loco for its collection....... previous owner/location not reported. (But there really aren't that many out there to be had, it seems....)

Cenex Harvest States Cooperative, Buffalo, IA: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=5845838

The actual owner of the locomotive is Jamie Haislip, who owns most of the locomotives and MoW equipment at the WS.

Y'all forgive me if I at least TRY to avoid the image of a non-profit operation being "one man's plaything."

Despite the railroad's website address of http://www.wsrr.org, the railroad was formed as a for-profit enterprise with the goal of serving freight customers off of East Street in Frederick. (Few, if any, are still there today.) There were proposals over the years to switch to non-profit status but these were shot down by stockholders who said no.

Over time reaching Frederick became impossible because of the Route 26 crossing north of the city which the state did not want to reopen, and while the state entertained the idea of separating the rail and the road with one going over the other with a bridge, a past governor eventually decreed that instead the railroad would end on the north side of Route 26, saving about a million dollars on road modification and bridge construction. (Note: The line is owned by the state and leased to the WS.)

An at-grade crossing being reopened at Route 26 was always a non-starter. What was once a country road now sees cars passing by at rather fast speeds and smacking a train filled with parents and little kids would have only been a matter of time. It would have been even worse if such an accident involved one of the open cars. Street running down East Street would have also presented its own set of problems.

In exchange for losing the lower part of the original PRR line into Frederick, the WS was able to extend its reach to the north, ending at the Glade Road crossing. Maryland Midland ownership begins on the opposite side. Presently the first mile of MMID track is out of service up to Woodsboro, although there were times, years ago, when it was used for the storage of freight rail cars owned by third parties. Going north from the crossing, the track extends across a farm field and has suffered at least one washout, leaving ties dangling above ground. Continuing north, the track enters a forested area where brush grows freely on the tracks and fallen trees remain where they fell. Although the WS is physically connected to the MMID, this "dead zone" makes it essentially cut off from the national rail network.

In recent years the WS formed a non-profit affiliate, the Walkersville Southern Railroad Museum (http://www.wsrrm.org), which makes it easier to accept donations of rail artifacts for museum display.

As for the rolling stock, an amazing amount is actually privately owned, and the owners spend a very significant amount of their own money to restore and maintain equipment, a reflection of their strong, personal commitment to saving, restoring and operating railroad equipment that would otherwise likely be scrapped.