Boone & Scenic Valley RR

steaminfo · **Posted:** Fri Aug 26, 2005 6:35 am

On steamlocomotive.info we have a system which allows visitors to post "Notes" that stay with particular locomotives so that information can be shared. For the first two years we were in operation we left this wide open, meaning that a posted note appeared instantly and could be viewed by all subsequent visitors if they desired.Then we experienced a flood of hateful, bigotted note postings and instituted a moderation system where an appointed editor had to approve a note before it actually appeared on the website.This is still working reasonably well, though occassionally we get notes posted that we simply can't figure out whether there's any truth to them or not. Since I haven't been able to reach anyone at the Boone & Scenic Valley, I thought I'd post this here and see if anyone knows whether it is accurate or not.A visitor to www.steamlocomotive.info posted the following:

Quote:

The Law in Boone says a steam Locmotive can not fire up within the towns limits so the JS8419 has to have one of their diesel loocomotives pull it out of its shed very early in the moring and take to a yard very close to the station but just out of Boone where the Diesel locomotive leaves it to steam up which takes from 5-6 hours to steam up where then it makes a very short run to its cars and it prepares for its two runs for the day. Just to tell you the railroad owns all its tracks where their trains run on so all engines don't ever stop unless it is the end of the line or the station or if another one of their trains is passing by and the UP operates near their railroad but like I said they don't run on any of their tracks only their trains do. Anyway after the day ends the engine has to go back to the same yard and shut down and where another diesel locomotive has to pull it back to its shed

This sounds like utter nonsense, given how proud Boone was of the railroad in the 1990s when I wrote the Railfan & Railroad article about it. So.... Does anyone know whether this is real, or just nonsense?

Dan Hetzel · **Joined:** Sat Aug 27, 2005 12:12 am **Posts:** 2

Steaminfo-As a long time Steam Engineer on the BSV I can tell you that part of that statement is true.The shops that the steam engine stays in is very close to residential houses, so as a good will towards them we hostle the engine about a half mile west of the depot to the yards and fire up the engine in the morning.We also try to keep smoke down while at depot waiting to depart or returning and getting ready for next run. Then at the end of the day, the engine runs it to the shop under its own power for the night.As far as I know, there is no law about smoke, but the neighbors have complained at times. It just depends on the direction of the wind.Now the UP double track parrallels just one block to the south of BSV and runs sometimes 70 trains a day.Eventho a steam whistle and a diesel horn are two seprate sounds, neighbors do complain about noise as well. We try to keep noises down to a minimun in town as well.I am not sure what the person was trying to say aboout running on track.The BSV owns its track. It is connected with the UP and we do transfer cars from the local industry to the UP. Dont know if this helps but the way I explained it is the way BSV handles fire up. Hope this hepls.Yes the city of Boone is very proud if their train.The BSV is a great Railroad. We have steam, several Diesels and electric trolleys. All three froms operated on weekends, so no matter what you are into we have it.Also , on a side note I just ran last weekend with Joe Pierce as my Fireman. Joe was the Engineer the day you came out for the railfan article.Funny how nobody knows about our Railroad but then you hear strange stories about it as wellRegardsDan Hetzel