Back in the days when the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy was running steam on fan trips, one of the railroad clubs announced that they would sponsor a trip with steam using the regular Eola (near Aurora) freight train out to Oregon, Illinois and Mt. Morris. I figured they would use O1A class Mikado #4960 for the trip. But apparently the ticket sales meant additional passenger cars had to be handled and with normal freight business, they opted to use O5B class 4-8-4 #5632 as power. The big Northern actually ran over at least one light rail siding delivering cars! However, that day, the light rail branch from Oregon up to Mt. Morris was not tested by the 4-8-4.

Les

For both the 1361 and the 290, I would look to the operations of R&N 425 in terms of "what a pacific can do" (although 425 is a light pacific). Looks can admittedly be deceiving, and that engine does perform some impressive runs. I believe the issues stated before with the smaller tenders/fuel capacity could be similar.

On my own personal note, I would love to see the 290 at least cosmetically restored. I truly find it to be one of the most beautiful engines out there. Here's hoping that SERM does find the time and money to do so.

To put some numbers on this forum, here's a link to a PRR diagram that shows the dimensions, including weight, of a K4s with stoker. I believe 1361 has a 110P75 tender while the diagram engine has a larger 130P75:

http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiag ... &sz=sm&fr=

Of course 1361 as rebuilt will be somewhat different but this can be a ballpark figure.

Phil Mulligan

Just to be clear, cosmetic restoration and display of 290 does not require replacement of any track. Unfortunately, like most volunteer organizations, we cannot always control the uninformed chatter outside of management circles.