According to my sources including the Jan 30, 2018 edition of The Conway Daily Sun, CSRX has been purchased by Profile Mountain Holdings Corp " David Swirk " of The G&U RR. The new owner wants to get the railroad up and running under new ownership by April. Hopefully because a new owner has arrived on the scene perhaps #7470 will see action this year & MEC #501 may finally have a helping hand. It's well known fact that the prior owner of Conway Scenic was no friend of any steam locomotive.
The individual who should have been named in the Sun newspaper article is Dwight Smith, the original driving force in getting the railroad established, up & running back in 1974. Seybold as usual loves to pat himself on the back and claim it was all his doing, but I know the real story. Dwight Smith, Bill Levy, Kay & Carroll Reed were the ones who put Conway Scenic on the map. The Reeds Grandson Stefan Karnopp of N. Conway was also involved in ownership of the railroad but after Seybold dragged his grandparents through a living hell in order to get more shares of the railroad back in the 1990's, Seybold walked away with everything. What that man did to the Reed family was downright treachery. I still have all the old newspaper articles on the entire matters.
The war between CSRX & myself is finally " OVER " Thank God. MEC #501 has a chance now!! I wish the new owner David Swirk & his partner THE BEST OF LUCK IN THEIR NEW ENTERPRISE & HOPE THEY WILL PUT HISTORIC STEAM LOCOMOTIVES ON THE PROPERTY BACK TO WORK.

We wish them the best. We rode on it in 2012 and enjoyed it thoroughly. We saw 7470 running, but we were on the other train pulled by the 252 diesel. The pictures I have are too big to be posted, but if you e-mail me I will send them to you.

You are lucky to have been able to visit on a day when #7470 was under steam. Most of the time it is only operated in the Fall or on a Railfan Day in the Snow event during one day in January. The last time #7470 ran was on that type event back in Jan of 2017. It has been parked ever since. Much talk has been made about when it will be running again following a 1472 / 15 year teardown, inspection & retubing. Hopefully the NEW owners will take steam to heart & provide a " Real Old Fashioned Train ride " like they state in their brochures & bring the #7470 up to current standards, codes, etc & provide such a ride behind Steam Power.
There is nothing that compares to the smells, sights & sounds of a steam locomotive in action powered by American Coal mined by American miners.

I have it on good information that CSRX Steam Locomotive #7470 will be worked on this year & be ready for a active return to operational status in 2019.

Man....The news keeps on coming. Good news. In my up front honest opinion, the NEW owner & part of the group that purchased Conway Scenic over the past Winter is going to make a fine owner & operator. The dark cloud that hung over that place the past 20 years or so have vanished, fresh air & sunshine abound. David Swirk has made no bones about it..... #7470 will be readied for her re-appearance back into action in 2019. Other great news also includes a feasibility study on MEC #501 to see what's involved with putting her back into action as well. It's a good engine & has been evaluated several times in the past, always with the same result. With the right contractor & money anything is possible. Since #501 is a 1910 model she doesn't have all kinds of gadgets that need a lot of high maintenance and was well regarded by the men who worked on & operated the Class " W " Locomotives as reliable, dependable & all around fine workhorse of the MEC. While power washing under her belly back in 1998 it was discovered many chalk markings that indicated that a overhaul of the #501 was undertaken in 1949. She was retired from service in 1953, that girl has a lot of miles left in her.