CNJ 113 and RBMN 425 will both be under steam for Schuylkill Haven Borough day on Sept 28th Here is the proof.
http://republicanherald.com/news/2-rare ... -1.1557388

Those two locomotives were together back in the 1980's at Wilmington and Western. It's amazing that they are both in steam.

Looks nearly impossible to chase - both routes, perhaps?

Assume CNJ #113 will be traveling in reverse to reach Schuylkill Haven.

If anyone is listening (except for the lawyers), running the 0-6-0 with
a caboose and 12 to 15 photographers /railfans and a few stops could('ve)
generated a nice sum.

Looks like a GREAT line to start a steam tourist line - Minersville to Schuylkill
Haven. Mostly in the woods, a bridge or two and near a population center.
Is there much freight traffic?

/Mitch

I would imagine that the group that has the 113 is very excited for this day haha. They have worked hard to get to this point. I have to say it will be neat to see the following videos of it moving more then it did on her maiden voyage hahaha

We are very excited, this will be her first public appearance under steam. she will be traveling light as the caboose has been sold. There are a few spots that she can be recorded, there is Marlin crossing, an overpass near sheetz, a crossing near Kaytee feeds in cressona, and the cressona yards where there is a nice street that is paralell with a good bit of the yard with the mainline closed to the street.

Pleased to report that I attended the festivities at SH yesterday and that it was a huge success for the town and the 2 steamers.

The 113 was on display under steam adjacent to the depot ( now City Hall) and the 425 powered 3, one hour roundtrip excursions from SH to Port Clinton.

While the 113 has some remaining work needed before she'll look "finished" ( jacketing,finish paint job etc.) overall she certainly looked good under steam and a credit to Bob Kimel and his band of volunteers who have labored for 10 years to bring her back to life.

We rode the sold-out 1pm trip and the 425 sounded great and easily handled the 9 car train at track speed ( 25-35 mph), and clearly evidenced the mechanical work done recently. She sounded square and in great shape. I had nearly forgotten how much I enjoy riding in an open-windowed coach behind a good sounding steamer over jointed rail and through unspoiled forests on a picture perfect day!! And, as an added bonus NO DIESEL in sight!! Doesn't get much better than that!!

For the town it was a very good day as the 6 square blocks of festival activities generated a very large crowd I would estimate at between 15 and 20 thousand and all the vendors appeared very busy.

Thanks to all the crews of both the 113 and 425 for their efforts.

Ross Rowland

It was a great first day out on the public road for CNJ 113. We got it fired up and ready the day before, and on Saturday tweaked a few things before it left. One of the highlights of the festival was the arrival of the first R&N train. 113 came through town and hooked on to 425 and they doubleheaded into town. Shane Frederickson, the R&N engineer on 113 radioed to the 425 crew to let the 113 do all the work. It walked the train into town like it was nothing, doing the job it was designed for.

A bunch of us 113 volunteers rode the tender back to Minersville and by all my reckoning, the idea of clean burning anthracite is a myth. It is totally smokeless, but the fine cinders were everywhere.

I believe Shane really likes the 113 and loves running it. His whistling up the valley was beautiful and haunting. 113 does have an appetite for coal and Jessie Dorn was almost continually shoveling. We are still on a learning curve with anthracite.

Bernie

Does it burn Famous Reading Anthracite, or some other brand of hard coal?

The throttle on the 425 was definitely not closed coming into town.

I stand corrected but I believe the coal was DONATED by the Sherman Coal Company of Heggins, PA. They have been very generous.

Now to other matters.

I will agree that the 425 was barking as it pulled into the station, but the brakes were applied and they like to come into the station that way. I will clarify that what I was referring to was the start of the double headed pull. I was next to it too. I dislike this nit picking. I have reached the point where I am going to be very brief in any announcements and leave out any fluff.

AS FAR AS I KNOW, THE 113 FACEBOOK DOES NOT BELONG TO PROJECT 113 and is not run by one of our members (as I find our more I may be corrected on that point). I personally am not a member of Facebook and don't intend to comment on it. That is why I am doing it here. I just learned about it last week. Many of my quotes from this site are there and one would suspect that I was the author of the page. I am not.

I have received several letters tonight with negative comments and warnings in our email and I will try to answer most tonight, but if the author of that Facebook page is reading this, I request that you email me and we will try to sanely discuss the matter. YOU ARE NOT HELPING THE PROJECT!

After this post I will no longer sign them.

Bernie

Bernie, thank you for clearing up the question of the 113 page on Facebook. I, for one, thought you were the author, or at least one of the authors, of the page, as most posts had your name attached. Let be known that a new 113 fan group has been created on Facebook. None of the admins for that page profess to be a part of the group or speak for the group.

It's been said many times, but once again, congrats on a successful first trip for 113 and here's hoping for more trips in the future (like maybe to Scranton...)

Oh, no.

I'm starting a pool on who this is.

You who have been here a while know what I'm referencing, probably. Sadly.

I would hope that Project 113 would consider selling tickets to watch and photo the 113 shifting strings of hopper cars. Nice easy fun(d) raiser That would reduce insurance concerns.

Some years back, I was asked by an interested 3rd party if I would sell the group my 8" Lunkenheimer chime whistle. Although it was historically inaccurate for the 113, it should have sounded sweet as I had previously heard it on a locomotive.

I did let it go and am curious if anyone ever tried it out while the 113 was being steamed? Unlike most Lunks, this one was older and lacked the finial on the top of the dome.

Appreciate any help here, thanks.

It's definitely who you're thinking about. The man took away any abilities for anyone to post on the page. He did the same thing with his "Blue Mountain & Reading 425 Fan Club" page last time.

Bernie, I truly applaud all of your group's hard work and effort yesterday! Although I couldn't make it out there, I was still stunned at the pictures and videos I've been seeing!