So I was at Age of Steam today for the military event. First of all, VERY nice operation they have there. Our roundhouse tour went over the allotted hour because the guides spent so much time going into fine details about each locomotive. The train ride behind 12 was short, but they still ran it at yard speeds so we could hear stack talk. Plus all of the military equipment for the event was a big bonus. However, I learned two interesting pieces of info during the tour.

First, apparently there have been more recent talks with G&W. Nothing is set in stone, but apparently they’ve become more responsive to communications from AOS. They’re still a ways away from a mainline excursion, but it does show some promise. Lots of their steamers are in pretty decent shape, so to have an excuse to get them back out there would be great! The second bit of news that caught my attention was after the tour. A group of older gentlemen asked our guide if any other steam locomotives were candidates for restoration. He mentioned there is a private group they’re communicating with now who are strong interest and financial backing for a restoration of GTW 6325. I don’t know how serious those communications are, but does anyone have any clue who that group is? It would be great to see it run again, but I don’t know of any group who could pull it off who aren’t already involved in a restoration.

Very interesting.

According to their website, 6325 went out of service due to a hot axle bearing on one of the drivers. 6325 is a fairly good candidate to restore, being a fairly small lightweight 4-8-4. But I’m surprised they would go with 6325 over something like Canadian Pacific 1293, a locomotive that would likely need a few minor repairs and a 1472. If that is indeed the case.

Still wondering when the rest of 643 is going to get there. It’s been a while since I’ve heard an update.

6325 was a great engine who’s excursion career was cut short. I’d love to see it run again so. If I recall correctly it was the floating bearing on the number 2 driver that kept causing problems that may have led to a scoured axle. Some axle work and possibly a conversion from grease to oil lubrication would be the likely remedy. Otherwise the 1472 should be pretty straightforward. Not so much a restoration but a re-activation.

My very unofficial take from afar is that the reason nothing larger than #12 operating is "Why would we do that when there is virtually no chance of operating it outside our property"? They have money, but it's not unlimited. Supposedly 6325 is close to being operable, and 1293 could most likely be brought back to operating condition fairly quickly as well. Why start the 1472 clock long before they can go anywhere? Any other piece, not so much. Getting all of B&LE 643 to Sugarcreek is a far greater (and much more frustrating) priority. As has been explained to me by people in the operation, Jerry's vision was primarily about the roundhouse itself, with the locomotives mostly as props to stock it, like an actual, operating roundhouse. Be glad everything is safe and dry for now.

Yet they're actively restoring 2-8-2 #19 for operation, and will probably do more after that. Just because AOS can't run excursions right now, doesn't mean other locomotives can't be restored/leased out...

Didn’t they have trackage rights for steam trains as part of the sale.

Not the way you think it would be. They are allowed a very limited, but the exact number has never been revealed, number of equipment moves per year over the G&W.

That’s what I was thinking. It could operate similarly to how the British do it. The British have many organizations that operate similarly, except more of their stock is designed to be operational.

The opportunity to see GTW 6325 steamed up again in the future would be incredible, especially since I grew up with videos of her. I’m also curious if they’d be willing to potentially restore the 1293 as well since she really only needs a few repairs.

Not sure how true this is. But someone told me the AOS has been trying to buy the section of track from Sugarcreek to Baltic for their operations. However, if that falls through, I did hear they might be in contact with Cuyahoga Valley to lease out their steamers to them again,

That doesn’t makes sense to me. Sugarcreek to Baltic is smack in the middle of OC’s line from Warwick to Zanesville. Might AOSRM be negotiating some kind of trackage rights? No clue. At any rate, they tend to play things close to the vest so if any talks are happening, we ain’t gonna know if and until it’s done.

Yeah, getting trackage rights would make more sense to me, or something like that.

I would love to see them work out some arrangements for trackage rights so that some equipment could be operated in a more realistic manner. The roundhouse is wonderful, but there is nothing like locomotives under steam. I was fortunate enough to have volunteered on some of the photographer steam specials with Dave Goodheart. We used to have a great time on those. The 6325 needs to be trammed and some other work to get her back on line. JJJ spent a lot of money on her, but he was not willing to spend more to correct the current problems. It was a fine locomotive and only ran a short time. The Ohio Central experience was great while it lasted!!!