Valley Railroad crews will shortly begin rebuilding its newly-
acquired at auction former Knox & Kane SY Mikado into a representation
of a New Haven J-1 Mikado, to be designated class J-1-a.
The New Haven Mikados were numbered 3000-3024, so this new
one will be numbered 3025.

Much of the work will be done by Friends of the
Valley Railroad's volunteers on Wednesday evenings
and Saturdays. Workers of all skills are needed.

A link to the Railroad's Enginehouse Blog is here:
http://theenginehouse.blogspot.com/

A link to UCONN's collection of photos of New Haven
Railroad locomotives is here. In the appropriate box,
enter the locomotive number (such as 3019), for a photo
of that locomotive.
http://images.lib.uconn.edu/

Lee Carlson

It looks like the SY is a bit smaller but I'm sure she will be a good stand in. How do they match up side by side?

Didn't this whole exercise start at Valley? Why did they let their's go years ago?

Jim,

Go and read the Valley Railroads Engine House Blog. You will find comments about the auction, the new locomotive, the reasons for acquiring it and the earlier locomotive.

But briefly, J. David Conrad wrote:

This is very exciting and delightful news. When the "new" locomotive is unveiled, I'll find a way to get up to Essex to see it.

I think it also says something about how a state as small as Connecticut (my home state; I love it) now has quite a presence of rail preservation/operations. As I tally it, they have:
1. The Valley RR (one of my alma maters);
2. The Connecticut Eastern RR Museum;
3. The Danbury RR Museum;
4. Two trolley museums;
5. The Railroad Museum of New England (my other alma mater);
6. The Antique Machinery group in Kent, CT.

And then there's Metro North and its nod to history by painting many of its locomotives in New Haven RR colors.

I heard that the Chinese SY engines were built to American specs. Were they built with friction or roller bearings and would 142 or this engine be allowed TODAY on any mainline excursion or would they be limited? Depending on their bearings of course, money, insurance or whatever else the host RR doesn't like about that engine...

They have friction bearings, which do not necessarily, per se, prohibit their
operating in mainline excursion service. Friction bearings prohibit their
being used in interchange service. In other words, a boxcar loaded with
machinery, having friction bearings cannot be routed onto another railroad
to be delivered to a customer.
But any railroad can allow another railroad's locomotive on its tracks,
if it so desires. An example: RMNE's Pacific locomotive 1246, which
had been stored at the Valley railroad for several years, was moved
earlier this year via Amtrak and Metro North rails to its new home
on the Naugatuck Railroad. It went right behind my house enroute.

Lee

The Association of American Railroads occasionally complains about railroads that ignore their Interchange Restrictions or ask for exemptions from Federal Government restrictions. If the railroads are willing to move or host it, there i$ probably a way.

Agreed. As I understand it, individual railroads CAN permit the operation of friction bearing rolling stock on their railroad, but that are not required to accept it in interchange. Many people read the rules the wrong way and think that railroads are NOT allowed to accept/operated friction bearing rolling stock.

Friction bearings have rolled on rails owned by NS, CSX, and Amtrak in recent times. As far as I know it is a case by case basis. Also it helps if you know who to talk to and not start with the wrong person.