Happy Holidays all...

I was wondering if we could get some opinions/thoughts/reports on what 2004 meant for rail preservation. Have we taken a step forward or backward. Particuraly those of you connected with an organization...how have we done? And where are we going?

Some stuff that comes to mind off the top of my head...

-Insurance
-Mainline Railroad's trip policies
-pending restorations

etc etc etc...

Basically, those of you (i.e. most) who are in the know more than I am, where do we stand as we close the books on '04?

(Hopefully this will spark some quality discussion)

Best wishes for a prosperous, blessed, and steam-filled 2005...

Off the top of my head...I'd say there's a pretty good amount of negative, while there's also a fair amount of positive.

-Georgetown Loop fades into history
-Six Flags Over Georgia puts the nail on the coffin of their 3' steam trains
-McCloud River Railroad for sale; steam's future uncertain
-Edaville is to remove tracks over Mt. Urann; cutting a large portion of their 2' empire back for more housing developments.

On the positive:
-Steam crew volunteers at the Pacific Locomotive Association continue to work hard on the progress of Robert Dollar Co. 2-6-2T #3. Quincy #2 is also running for the season as usual. The group's F7 is growing nearer to the completion of a thorough restoration that began in 1985.
-Barker-Lapine "Maud L." 's restoration back in place by Disney
-2' Davenport returned to steam in Upstate New York at the Erie Canal Village
-Pacific Coast Narrow-Gauge Railroad begins operations on a private/invitational basis.

A lot of credit is owed to the folks, paid or not, that work to keep steam and other historic railway equipment preserved for the enjoyment of future generations.

I look forward to some more of that 'good' news in 2005.

Happy Holidays,
-Ed Kelley

On the plus side as well, the Wilmington & Western has been able to return their 4-4-0 #98 back to service and the UP 4-8-4 #844 should be back in service in the near future. The NKP 2-8-4 #765 and the OC 2-8-0 #33 should both be ready to go into service this coming year.

On the neutral side, I would love to see the PRR 4-6-2 #1361 returned to service. I have my doubts if this will ever happen in my lifetime. I really hope that a new home can be found for Jack Showalter's equipment that seems to be in a state a flux. Hope that 2005 will be a good year for those two CPR 4-6-2's and their related equipment.

I'm sure a bunch of us can also come up with some trackage scrappings...some major, and some not so major. Here in the NE, the Old D&H Albany Main and the St.j & LC (AKA Lamoille Valley) come to mind as "major" ones IMHO.

Happy Holidays
Chip Ordway

What some consider negative others consider opportunity, or perhaps some are simply unhappy with evolution - but isn't this thread about opinions?

The biggest negative from my POV is the incredible opportunity that is now being missed (if not outright ignored) to repatriate many US built steam locomotives from Cuba. This is our version of the Barry Scrapyard, but it won't last long before the Chinese high price for scrap disposes of them all.

Second huge negative is our continuing inability to reach out effectively to the general public better than other entertainment venues and secure financial and political support.

Positives: 844. Many more historic streetcar lines for real city transit planned. New Orleans up and running at last. Record visitation at NHVRR on account of one little 0-4-0T. Polar Express might help bring in more children and parents. Everything Tod Engine does without much hoopla. Investment in display and operating equipment from the private and public sectors - White Pass and Yukon building new cars and overhauling 69, Gainesville, GA spending 40K more than minimum to prevent their park hulk from having everything in the way torched off and scrapped for asbestos abatement.

Negative: incompetent or simply disfunctional management doing nothing or the wrong things at many of the places most threatened by evolution within our industry and the public we serve. Positive: these places and managers are becoming fewer in number. Negative: that is partially by attrition. Positive: it gets some less attractive examples out of the way before they either have an accident or disappoint visitors.

Positive: Midwest Locomotive and Machine Works, John Rimmasch, a couple good boiler works enter the industry or prove themselves. Negative: Jack Anderson passes, costing us a mechanical genius who could do anything with nothing.

dave

Hmm, well, lets see, positives and negatives....Well, on a + side for us, our group was finally given some good news from the new Mayor of Niagara Falls, showing support for what we are trying to achieve, on the bad side, still nothing more happened. A huge negative for us, and many other groups is the incredible cost of insurance....I think that is by far the biggest negative for the entire year of 2004, (and 2003, and 2002, etc) It is killing many groups, cutting much needed cash flow from things like restoration, acquisitions, etc. only to funnel into the greedy pockets of insurance companies. On the RR abandonment/removal side, Southern Ontario lost a most historic railway with the scrapping of the famous Canada Southern Railway (Michigan Central/New York Central/Penn Central/Conrail) The line was purchased by CN/CP int he 80's, and never really used for it's intended purpos, a shortcut across Ontario. Now only a few portions remain. ON a plus side in Canada, it was a fairly good year for steam with a great trip coast to coast of CPR's engine, plus the return to service of another CNR steam loco out west. Things are looking up, but if insurance doesn't change, things probably won't stay that way.

Gentle Forum Members,

Not much negative from the Railroad Museum of Long Island.

Insurance hit us hard during the 2003 operating season and it caused us to increase our admission fees. We covered our expenses and with some aggressive shopping, we changed insurance agents this year, maintained our coverage, and reducing our bill by about $400.00. The local agent who handles many of the Municipal Government policies did the best job for us. My suggestion is to shop near home whenever possible, the local folks know you!

Attendance at our two Museum sites during our season saw a modest increase during 2004 and our Annual Railroad Festival did better than usual in attendance. I think beautiful weather helped allot. A reorganized Annual Dinner Dance/Fundraiser brought in some new funds and we're looking to 2005 for an even better return on this event.

This Fall, the second time around, we attracted interested bidders for restoration work on our LIRR G5s locomotive. We are optimistic that work will begin on #39 in 2005.

The exterior of the first, all aluminum, bi-level passenger car ever made, LIRR #200, was professionally stripped of years of paint and is in the process of being primed and painted by Museum and NRHS volunteers. Much of the professional work was made possible by a grant from the NRHS. Grants and target funding sources are out there, you can’t give up, you have to keep applying and going after the money.

Our Museum membership stepped up to the plate in 2004 and provided generously for the purchase of two complete window sets to re-glaze our two 2900 series LIRR coaches. The historical significance of these coaches, being used in the 1955 “End of Steamâ€

In my neck of the woods, it has been a good year. UP Challenger #3985 came through not once, but twice; generating lots of good publicity along it's path; and giving a new generation in the deep South a glimpse of mainline steam in action.

The first run of SP 2-8-2 #745 in New Orleans is great news. I hope my sons and I will get to see her in steam next year. Another positive was the news of one of the two cylinder castings for sister engine #786 being ready; dare we hope to see her in steam as well next year?

The Tarantula Train's SP 4-6-0 #2248 being out of service was a down note; but there is hope that it and/or the third sister of the Mk-5 quartet, #771 from Victoria will be in steam soon. Ditto for the arrival of Racheal to Grapevine.

The Texas State Railroad appears to be doing well; we got to ride it this year; and found it to be as enjoyable as ever. Steam was running in one direction only; I don't know if this will be permenant or not.

I haven't visited the Jefferson & Cypress Bayou, and it's Crown engine in Jefferson, TX; I hope both it and the Crown in Jackson, LA are still running.

Project 982 is still working on a slow restoration of the 2-10-2 in Houston, to the best of my knowledge. The engine in Dibol, Texas got a new home under cover; most of the other display engines in Texas and Louisiana seem to holding their own.

Elsewhere, a down note would be the collaspe of the roof at the B&O Railroad Museum; while the up note would be it's repair and the pending reopening of the museum next year.

I agree with David about railway and steam preservation needed more exposure to the public; it has been fifty years since steam departed from the rails and elsewhere; and those with memories of it still in use are departing from us with each passing year. Movies like the "Polar Express" are definitely a plus in this area.

Lots of losses all over the industrial preservation scene; as high scrap, oil, and insurance prices send many of the remaining steamships, steam engines of all kinds, and industrial facilities to the furnance faster than we can catch our breathe. The prospects for 2005 are not any better. Still, there are some bright spots, such as the prospects for the Chestnut Hill Pumping Station in Boston, and the state of Louisiana taking over the McNeill Pumping Station in Shreveport.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project

Just to note, the Museum has already reopened, about a month ago. There will be a formal "reopening celebration" next year, but you can visit the Museum again right now.

The South Carolina Railroad Museum accomplished quite a bit in 2004. In fact, I'd say this year was a major milestone. We seem to reach such milestones every ten years -- we got the railroad in '84 and started operations in '94 (on a personal note, I became active in '94, so I've now been involved with SCRM for ten years). 2004 will be remembered as the year we got the track open to Rion.

Almost a mile and a half of "new" track was opened to the old Rion Quarry yard, and the 3.3 miles we've been running over for several years got tie replacement, lining, and surfacing. The biggest part of this was rebuilding the track through the Greenbrier Cut. Some 2600 feet of track had to be ripped out, the years of silt buildup excavated, and brand-new track constructed from scratch. The drainage in the cut still needs some more attention and the track could use some more ballast, but at least it's open. The additional work needed is planned for this winter and next summer.

On the equipment side, Hampton & Branchville #44 (1927 BLW 4-6-0) got a much-needed paint job and was lettered for the first time since arrivng at Rockton in 1991. The display train she heads up on the corner of SC 34 and Industrial Park Road also got a cosmetic restoration, starting with Guignard Brick flatcar #234 (1906 Pressed Steel, riding on Fox trucks). Pullman "Bizet" also got a coat of paint and Pullman lettering. SOU RPO #27 and baggage car #6450 also got painted and lettered. SAL office car #3, "Norfolk," got a coat of paint on one side and work was begun on doing a decent-looking repair to the car's roof to replace the ugly stopgap done several years ago. Work has also continued on SAL caboose #5246, which made a rare appearance on the demonstration train for Caboose Days one weekend in October. An air leak (now fixed) sidelined the car for the second Caboose Days weekend.

Finally, we were able to complete the mechanical repair of USAF #1249 (BLH RS4TC-1A), which suffered a main generator failure while still at Shaw Air Force Base prior to coming to SCRM. It took a few weeks to get the bugs out of her after the generator went back in, but once we got the kinks ironed out she performed flawlessly -- in fact, the 1249 powered most of the Santa Trains this year.

I predict that 2005 will be a banner year for the Museum. We've got our railroad in good shape so we'll be able to run a full schedule, which we couldn't do in 2004 because of the track work. There are a couple special events planned in the community in addition to our normal Easter Bunny and Santa specials, so ridership should be pretty good.

On the restoration front, we plan to finish the "Norfolk" and then turn our attention to making NKP caboose #765, which we often use in the excursion train, look as good as B&O #903878. We've made some progress on finding springs for our Southern Railway dining car to put it back into service. It's looking good that we'll have some other good news on the rolling stock front, too, but I won't say anything else about that just yet. Finally, we're struggling to save a 15-ton American locomotive crane at Anderson Quarry that was used by Winnsboro Granite and the Rockton & Rion. The crane is in danger of being scrapped unless we can move it, which could cost up to $25,000. Donations towards this effort would be appreciated (HINT). The crane needs a lot of cosmetic attention and some attention to the boom, but is in pretty good shape mechanically (the diesel purrs like a kitten). This crane will be a great addition to the collection both from a historical standpoint as well as being extremely useful.

On the trackwork front, we have another TEA-21 grant to essentially put in yard trackage in Rion Quarry. This will relieve a chronic siding space issue we've had to deal with for a good 5-7 years and will ultimately provide a runaround in Rion so we no longer have to run push-pull. Things are looking better for actually finding a contractor to get the building that will serve as the Rion Quary depot dried in (the former Rion Crushed Stone office building burned in the early 1980s, leaving only the four granite walls). We plan to do some stopgap tie work west of Rion to reopen the West End for motor car patrols and brush cutting. We're also hoping to at least get started on rebuilding the Greenbrier siding.

Tim,
For a lot of us up here in the northern part of the Northeast a big thumbs up would be the steps taken to start some kind of a restoration on ex-Maine Central 4-6-2 #470 on display at Waterville, Maine.

Perhaps soon we'll go from "Gabbing fools" to "Grab your tools!"

Brian

In Maine, several positives: There are three active live steam narrow gauge operations. THe WW&F has rebuilt an identical copy of the Alna station on the exact site of the original, added more track to the original roadbed, steamed a completely rebuilt 2 footer for the first time in years, added passing sidings. Whew! Could any other operation have as much in a single year?
We shook up the Waterville City Council and community, regarding the fate of MEC 470. At present, the restoration is stalled while the city engineer deals with other major issues. I will continue to press this issue until we move forward once more.

One positive -

The O. Winston Link Museum opened January 10, 2004 - preserving a large part of N&W heritage along with more than 250 original O. Winston Link prints. Link's dramatic photos of the last days of steam locomotives preserves an important part of American and railroad history.

The museum has had a sucessful first year. Our visitation has been great, and we have started developing programs. We have received great national publicity, and great support from local residents.

Thanks, and looking forward to 2005!