Was a great time last Sunday. And those of us hearty folk that stuck around were treated with this late surprise: http://www.pbase.com/sirterp/image/78902613 Sorry, Sandy. You left too soon!

Many thanks to all responsible for a fun and inexpensive trip. Let's do it again sometime!

Thanks for sharing your photos. I was one of the engineers for the charter and I'm so glad you guys had a good time, and thanks for chartering us.

If anyone is interested 643 will be running in passenger service for our first annual Spring Steamup both Saturday and Sunday May 19, and 20. I won't be out working on Saturday due to other commitments, but if anyone comes out on Sunday be sure to say hi, I'll be one of the guys running the locomotive. Besides 643 there will be traction engines running, our boiler house will be running, it will be sort of a mini version of the big steam show we have every fall the week before labor day. Our huge flea market, which now operates every Sunday from 6am-2pm, will also be open on Sunday. 643 has been running many Sundays to give rides to the large crowds that have been comming out. While we will not be running 643 every Sunday we will be running her more often then we have been in the past. On the Sundays we run we have generally been pulling passengers from 8ish till 2ish. I plan to post on the website in the future if train rides will be given on the following Sunday.

Tom von Trott

The B&W photos are timeless. It was scenes like these I would occasionally see when we were switching that made me understand the potential for photo freights even with the limited equipment on hand at the Grove. Dave has done a great job of making scenes that could have been shot in the fifties.

Back in the late seventies Clarence Stansbury operated a Case traction engine during the shows and I would help him. Both of us were doing this between working on the train. We would also take the Case out for a spin occasionally. One day we were out near the end of the train run to blow the whistle for the pasengers and got a little low on water. When the train stopped at the end of the run they passed the water hose off the injector to us and we used the injector to fill the water tank. The next day we did the same thing and I took along the camara. Photos were sent to Trains and Railfan and neither published the photos or sent them back. I think that points out a difference in thinking in the railfan community between now and then. Interesting scenes like this are now common in railfan publications but then Williams Grove was just not considered an operation worth wasting paper and ink on. Perhaps we have made more progress getting the living history message out than we think.

John Bohon

Nice images. Very evocative.

Why does 643 have two turbo-gens? I doubt it needs the juice for cab signal or radio equipment, does it?

It is for the radio. We started radio use in the seventies. Also the lights in the passenger cars work off the generator which could tax the single unit originally on the 643.

John Bohon

So, it's a radio-equipped, HEP-equipped 0-6-0. And steam-powered HEP, at that. Very cool!

Beautiful photos Dave. Truly timeless images. I especially like the B&W going away shot with the Ma & Pa boxcar. I would have loved to been there (and would have), but I was having fun with a couple Shays and a Heisler on Carl Franz's charter trip at Cass.

Although John's photo of 643 supplying water to the steam tractor didn't make TRAINS or RAILFAN, I do remember seeing a photo of it in the WGHSEA's own publication, The Bulletin.

Today 1 of the 2 turbogenerators boasts an add-on alternator (I think it's an alternator) that's driven by a v-belt from a pulley on the turbogen's shaft. The alternator is housed under the black box that appears in the photos atop the 2nd turbogen. I think this new set up powers the current radio system. Tom explained all of this to me last Fall, but I forget the specifics about the set up.

Adding to John's comments about the Williams Grove operation missing out on the "national limelight", this was once very true. I remember many years ago telling fellow fans that I met about this "other ex-Pennsy steam engine still running" and I would get looks like I was making things up! Other than a brief article with a couple photos in RAILPACE, PRR 643 was pretty much unknown to the railfan press until fairly recently. I think the internet and sites like RyPN has helped a lot in getting the word out about 643 and the WGHSEA operation.

Regards,
Jim Robinson

I know, Jim. So many trains, so little time. Not to mention that doubleheader thing in the northwest! Seriously, thanks for the kind words all.

I've got one slightly off-topic question - what is the status of the amusement park? It looked to me like it would need ALOT of TLC to operate again.

When the radio was first installed it was run off a car battery on the cab floor in front of the engineer. The battery was charged over night. I am not sure when the lights on the cars came into use. It probably was on the first excursion cars and then were added to the Everett cars when they arrived.

I never thought of 643 as having HEP but I sure like it. I wonder how many other steamers are HEP equipped?

The park is closed and for sale. It was closed last year but I am not sure about 2005. The owner is in his mid eighties and his children are not interested in running the park. I doubt the park will ever open again. It will be a shame to lose the wooden roller coaster. It is an antique as is the park itself. The Cumberland Valley electirfied the Dillsburg branch around the turn of the last century to run trolleys and trains to the park. There is a lot of history on those grounds.

John Bohon

Am I correct in noting what appears to be a naked boiler, sans insulation and jacket?

Yes she's naked.

She needs a new jacket.