Hi All,

Does anyone know the current, accurate status of New Hope & Ivyland # 40? After operating on Easter trips,the railroad's website indicates diesel power on all excursions through June but does not have any schedule information after that. Steam cab rides are also not advertised on their website at all any more, only diesel. I emailed the railroad to find out why # 40 wasn't being used, and was told that the engine was out of service for "much needed repairs". It was my understanding that #40 completed a lengthy overhaul last fall and was now in good mechanical shape. I asked about this and received no further reply, leading me to wonder if the simple fact is that the railroad is no longer interested in operating steam except for special occasions, or, if further repair is in fact needed? If they are only interested in sporadic steam operation, it is hard to understand why they would go through the time and expense to rebuild 40 in the first place.

Thanks,
John

Why not wait for an answer to the question before all the possibilities which is how rumors get started? If we are BOD maybe we can demand answers "right now", but I suggest being patient and see if someone might offer something up. Also many RR do not want to give out dates and projections as it is like predicting the future, especially if the locomotive is under repairs at the moment? Many of us have made that rookie mistake. Look at all the drama that was produced by projecting from a certain big steam hauling RR. When it didn't happen for what ever reasons, the RR gets all sorts of Internet condemnation for being so irresponsible for projecting a finish and run date. Be patient. Regards, John.

My last correspondence with the NH & I has been several weeks ago. Since the engine had, from Mr. Rowland's accounts, run well in the fall, and after the engine ran on the Easter trips seemingly without incident, it surprised me to hear that "much needed work" was necessary, especially after receiving extensive work last year. I don't feel that my questions or curiosity are unreasonable. My inquiries have not happened over a matter of days, it has been some time.

John

#40 is under going some extensive repairs to her valve gear and monkey motion. Time ran out last fall during her heavy running gear repairs and rather than miss the Santa trains we delayed the valve gear work until now.

The master game plan is to use the steam engine for those special holiday periods where she can make a meaningful contribution ( i.e. North Pole Express a.k.a. Santa Steam Spectacular, Easter Bunny Express, 4th.of July, etc.) and thus get the maximum service ( revenue) out of her 1472 day card.

Glad to report that she ran fine on both the Santa and Easter trains. The NH&I will give plenty of advance notice on their excellent website regarding 40's next service dates.

Ross Rowland

Thanks Mr. Rowland!

John

It seems odd that in the reply to his email, the original poster wasn't told when they could next plan a trip to see the steam locomotive in action, or at least when to check back for an update. That's customer service 101.

My apologies John if I came across sarcastic. I agree your questions are legit and I often have the same curiosity about mechanical repairs. One I did not know there was a fair amount of time between the organization getting back to you. The "patience" part was seeing if someone here on RYPN couldn't answer your questions. Many organizations don't have someone answering emails as quickly as we would like. Yes it is customer service 101 I agree. Or again when it comes to detailed answers on maintenance or heavy repairs the person who might possibly handle emails may not want to or be equipped to give a detailed answer until the project is done. Anyway sorry if I came across rude I didn't mean to but I see I might of. Regards, John.

No worries John. I could have clarified that this had all taken place over a matter of weeks. I had enjoyed cab rides there in the past and also the fact that for quite some time, 40 was used almost year round. I was surprised to hear that more heavy repair was needed since the engine had recently just come back from a multiple year overhaul and appreciate Ross's clarification.
When I emailed the railroad, I was told that the engine would be used that weekend for Easter trips, and when I said we couldn't make those, didn't receive any further reply, not even to check the website as Ross advised.

John

I have known this additional work had been planned before 40's return last autumn. The plan was to complete any work necessary to get her up and running for Christmas, and once Christmas was over, she would go down for "phase II," which would involve work that wasn't urgent enough to prevent safe operation.

The plan was altered to include post-Christmas operation during the winter, which in my opinion was a very shrewd business move on the part of the railroad, seeing as winter is almost always a "slow" time for steam operations.

As for the scope of this additional work, it is no where near as big as the work done during the 2014-2017 overhaul.