Quote from CZ: "Strasburg, Cumbres, Illinois Railway Museum, and even Durango have been pretty open and honest about repairs, restorations, etc".

Well not sure about IRM but the rest of the mentioned attractions have multiple locomotives in rotation so you can schedule maintenance or if a loco goes down you grab a different one. Some roads like WMS only have one locomotive so it is awkward maybe but it is the world we live in. Not everybody has a rotation of locomotives to use if one goes down for what ever reasons.

So if your planning your vacation around a particular train ride you know the risks involved. I would think a phone call to a live human being might be warranted. I too would want to know if steam was running if that was my sole reason to ride a train. As far as knowing the nitty gritty on what repairs, scheduled or not scheduled you may not be on "the need to know list". It isn't hiding or dishonesty it is the way they choose to do business. Transparency is like a word describing "no guilt" used by many to infer some hidden agenda.

I was old enough to know better to try and make something positive in reporting the progress being made on the Polson #2, when bit by bit it was going back together. Got into trouble when asking and then stating the boiler will go back on the frame in maybe 3 weeks. Then find out I was told wrong and it was going to be next spring if all went well. So often the good intentions are misconstrued and then your accused of not being honest or transparent? In the case of the #2 that was fuel for all sorts of negative ideas. This has been discussed before and the same people raise the same complaints that they are not informed even though they are not even remotely connected. If you need to know because you bought tickets for a certain date, by all means contact WMS or who ever. But to sling accusations of dishonesty or honesty either one is a cheap shot and nobody needs it. You can put frosting on a turd but it is still a turd and nobody is going to want what your offering. Food for thought.

Regards, John.

No one's operation runs without a hitch. SRC has had their share of misadventures in operations during the last year.

Somewhat off topic, but one year (pre-internet) we put out a full run of brochures that completely left out the month of June. As far as it was concerned, the RR was closed from Memorial day until the 4th of July.

There is an old saying, "A steam engine is like a lady's watch, always in need of repair." Unfortunately for WMSR, they don't have an engine house full of other operable engines to cover for #1309, so an issue that would go unnoticed by the grab iron groupies at Strasburg becomes a major chat room sensation for the WMSR.

Since when is "groupie" a gender specific term? I've heard it most applied to feminine followers of rock musicians than in any other context.....

I just looked at the WMSR website. They have now got an ad for the "Hands On Throttle" option, for those who would like to drive "The Beast of the East". Only $1309 for an hour of pulling freight cars. DO IT !!!! I've kept quiet about the 15 hot minutes they let me drive because I didn't want anybody to bug the RR, but now I can tell the world. DO IT !!! It's a BLAST.

Hello my friend! It’s interesting you criticize my posts when the only posts you have made in this thread are criticizing my posts, one of which was 100% on topic and a useful and important point.

(I’ll admit my jab at Ross was a bit off topic and for that I do apologize).

Did it cost you $327.25?

No, but I made a nice donation to their 734 rebuild fund. It certainly would have been worth $327.25, and I'm plotting and planning to return, and will cheerfully pay the going rate. The first time I drove a steam locomotive was 57 years ago, and 1309 is completely unlike any other engine I've experienced since then. Try it, you'll like it.

Strictly as a rhetorical question, what do you think UP would charge to let you drive 4014 for an hour ??

https://www.times-news.com/news/wmsr-st ... GbzqmWnV8M

A newspaper article detailing the maintenance and the timing of it.

“We are turning the pistons to their old dimension so they ride in the bore of the cylinder casting square,” Wes Heinz, WMSR CEO, said. “That is what the repair is going to achieve. All the work has been done in house, which is a good thing.”

Before, we were under so much pressure to get it out so people could see it ride,” Heinz said. “The piston rods was one of the sections we did not (refurbish) during the initial rebuild. We ran it 180 days last year.

“As we were running it we could tell that it was not up to where we wanted to be. So we decided to take it out and do the work. We are actually getting ready to have our annual inspection with the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration). The plan is to get it back out in the second week of August.”

We are trying to narrow the window down and do it during the hottest part of the summer and it’s working out OK,” he said. “That keeps us free and clear through the fall, winter and early spring when we really want to have it out showing it off for people.

“So for long-term maintenance it made good sense. Our busiest time to run the steam engine is not in the summer. It actually starts approaching the first of September.”

Is there any truth to the story that the locomotive was operated without an operating lubricator, therefore causing a nightmare's worth of damage? Though slightly embarrassing, it would explain the significant downtime of the 1309.

NO.

I suppose I could mention that, after all the time and money spent on 1309's overhaul and fixing up their track to hold her, the WMSR was under considerable pressure to put her in service ASAP. She had to start earning her keep without a proper break-in/de-bugging period, and she's an AWFUL LOT OF ENGINE. Just be patient. Most folks don't really want to chase the train while it's hot enough to fry spit, anyway, and 1309 will be back better than before.

Listen to the folks that brought us a REAL, LIVING Beast of the East, not those who have nothing better to do than start rumors.

While I wish WMSR all the best and understand their challenges, I do think we're dancing around the facts. Yes, WMSR was apparently under some sort of arbitrary deadline to get the 1309 under steam for the first time before the calendar rolled over to that new year (grants? self-imposed deadline?, etc), but then there was quite a time lag between that date and the first operations again. I realize she's a big engine, but I watched restorations of the Black Hills Central No. 108, East Broad Top No. 16, etc and wonder what the difference is here? Whatever contributed to cause the 1309's current downtime, the maintenance wasn't done in the offseason...

While it may be your first amendment right to spread this story, I don't buy it without solid PROOF.

A WMSR Facebook post reports the engine will be back in use the 2nd week in August.

Several people that supposedly had "inside knowledge" attested to me that there was indeed a financially-based deadline of "have it in steam by the end of the year or return the money." It was discussed/debated ad nauseum here at the time, and I was criticized for speculating on that possibility.

There are precedents for this. American Freedom Train 1 (ex-Reading 2101) was rushed to completion in the famed "28-day miracle" promoted by Rowland and others; it was quietly taken to Reading Shops for a fuller, more proper overhaul while 4449 was handling the train out West.

I know that when I have to fix either of my cars that problems never surface right away, but only after a break-in period. I'm going over the thoroughly complete repair records of a car I just grabbed, and looking at warranty claims, one or two minor things were right away, while others surfaced after several thousand miles, and a few were "is this right or not?" checks just before the warranty expired.

I'll be nice to WMSR. Maybe something really did "break." Maybe they couldn't get the parts or expertise before this. Whatever. It's better than "beating it into the ground" the way some claim 734 was before returning to the shops.

Let's all wish the WMSR good luck in getting their star back in action soon and that they're able to keep her running dependably.

A couple of corrections to TGB's above posting. The miraculous restoration of Rdg. 2101 ( AFT 1 ) took 30 days and 30 nights not 28 and the vast majority of the work done on her during her winter 1975-76 spent in the shop in Birmingham was cosmetic not mechanical.

Ross Rowland