I have been to Strasburg every year since I was 3. For 33 years I have had a love affair with this company and it always brings me back sometimes up to times a year. Just wondering what the difference (and hub bub) is all about with #90's smokebox. Does it make a difference in operation or not? She looks too mean to work on tourist line with the long one and just right with the short one.

Is there much of an operational/mechanical difference in sizes?

The smokebox was lengthened to accommodate a Cyclone front end. It looked like they used one “off the shelf” because it was really jammed in there. The engine used to really smoke, and it almost didn’t matter how good a fireman you were, you couldn’t keep a clean stack. When we ran the numbers to see what the gas area was supposed to be, it became obvious what the problem was. The bottom, or table of the Cyclone was too low and it restricted the flow of gasses from the fire to the stack. The engine was notorious for back drafting as a few guys had their facial hair removed on several occasions.
Since you can’t raise a Cyclone, we had to either remove it and make a smaller one or put in a different arrangement. The Cyclone worked as it was intended as far as cinders were concerned, but to make a new one would be more complicated and expensive than putting in a different type. Another consideration was that it was a real pain to get to the front tube sheet to do any work on it with the front end in place.
We decided then to put in her original arrangement since we have her blueprints. Then we cut the box back to the original length because it was superfluous and a pain in the neck to work around. To do that was very easy because it was just riveted on.
We got the usual screams of “what did you do to that engine you %*?@!”, and “you destroyed the original fabric”, even though we put it back to its original configuration. We even had a fellow with a very nice live steam model of #90 that he had just completed ask us something like “do you realize what you just did to me?” One guy we knew from another railroad near where #90 came from good naturedly (I think) call us “butchering bastards” and “a gang of hack artists”.
Criticisms aside, the locomotive not only doesn’t smoke near as much, but steams better than before the modifications. I also don’t know of any crews that didn’t need to shave because of back drafting.

Good work and thanks for the insight.

You know when you really think about all that it takes to operate a steam locomotive in this day and age, it just really makes you wonder how people can be that short-sighted to not focus on the puffing/hissing/moving miracle before their eyes. Otherwise we'd be looking at cold relic either rusting away or trapped within the confines of a museum. But then again, I think I'm pretty much preaching to the choir here. Great work Strasburg!

The letter from "Hal Ashton" (an inside-joke pseudonym) accusing Strasburg folks of being "a gang of hack artists" was totally tongue-in-cheek, and was penned long before we acquired #90's little sister. No. 75's Cyclone (similar to an overgrown camp stove) was previously disconnected by a previous owner (Everett Rohrer or the Great Western itself), was taking up space in the smokebox and was quickly removed and scrapped. We made numerous adjustments to the front end, in order to get her to steam decently (and not start fires) when she was running here from 2000 through 2002. The 75 has received similar smokebox treatment to the 90's and will come out of the shop with more of an original appearance (likewise based on original blueprints).

Craig Lacey
Heber Valley Railroad

Just out of curiosity, when #90 did the Penobscot, PA run back in the late '60's (was it '69?) how did she get from Strasburg to Jim Thorpe? What lines did she run on to get there? I've been looking through my NE rail map book and it seems to be quite a hastle if one were to do it now.

At the time, there were a lot more ways to get there than there are now. Although I don't know the exact route she took, I did see some pictures of her crossing route 283 near Landisville on the Reading either on the way to or on the way back. She was running lite, with no diseasel (yes, I meant to spell it that way) escort.

Does anyone have pics before and after?

For the HICO trips, No. 90 traveled light under steam on the PRR from Leaman Place-Lancaster-Mountville-Columbia, then over the RDG (Reading & Columbia Br.) from Columbia-Sinking Spring, thence Reading-Allentown (East Penn br.), then LV/CNJ Allentown-Jim Thorpe-White Haven-Penobscot.

K.R. Bell

Wow, thanks for the info Kurt, way cool. This is something I always wondered in the back of my mind but forgot to ask whenever I was around someone who would know. Although there are much fewer "rail options" these days, it seems as though the trip from Strasburg to Jim Thorpe by rail was always a circuitous one. During thousands of trips I've made from the Lancaster area to the hometown of Wernersville - crossing over the R&C beetween Rineholds and Vinemont - , I've often dreamed of what one of the SRC engines would look like plying those rails. Always sorta had a pipedream to turn the existing northern portion of the R&C into a tourist rr... I would love to see any pictures of 90's move up to/back from Jim Thorpe. Any idea as to why she went out PRR's Columbia branch, and then doubled back over the R&C? Was the connection between the PRR and RDG in Lancaster cut off by that point?

Erich,

Glad you enjoyed the info! I suspect the routing was dictated by shortest route and cheapest way, as well as low traffic levels on those routes. I have a few images (slides and b&w photos) of 90 dead heading over the PRR/RDG-R&C/LV/CNJ on Feb. 15, 1968 en route to Bethlehem/Wilkes Barre. I have images of 90 approaching Columbia on the Mountville branch, thence across the diamond at Landisville, past the Manheim depot, and over a rural crossing south of Sinking Spring. Judging by the slides it was a brilliant clear day, perfect for taking photos. Strasburg had just retubed the engine (it ran on GW tubes during the 1967 season - it ran its first trip on a new set of tubes on Feb. 14, with engr. John Bowman at her throttle and brakeman Ellis Bachman along for the ride, hauling a loaded Chicago Great Western boxcar No. 8085 from LP to Strasburg) and I suspect the light move was also doubling as a shakedown run of sorts. I believe Huber Leath was engineer and Don Dorwart was fireman, along with various pilots from the respective lines. The engine returned to Strasburg after accumulating 480 miles in service on Feb. 26.

Strasburg camelback No. 4 also made a run down the R&C from Birdsboro to Lancaster on November 7, 1962. Linn has his dad's 8mm movies of that run that shows a loose sheep from a nearby farm running along the tracks ahead of the engine that is quite entertaining. I also have some b&w photos taken that day by John J. Bowman, Jr. (a Strasburg engineer who was also along for the ride) at Denver that shows Bill, Marian and Linn Moedinger (age 11) standing on the Denver station platform while Bill is shooting the movies. George Hart and Allan Botto were the only other railfans that chased the camelback that day. Botto has sound recordings of the run which he hopes to someday release on CD on his Semaphore Records label.

Many of these images will likely appear in my forthcoming SRR history book. Stay tuned!

K.R. Bell

I remeber chatting with the Late Charlie Kachel, He was the engineer in 90 when it traveled over the R&C that day.

Len.

That's not exactly correct, Lenny. Huber was the engineer of record on that move; I have written proof. Charlie may have been the pilot from the RDG, but I have not way of verifying that.