(April 1, 2009 – Dearborn, MI) Trainfestival 2009 and the Henry Ford are pleased to announce two additional steam locomotives to attend the upcoming Largest Celebration of Railroading, held in July. Former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway "Allegheny" 2-6-6-6 #1601, one of the last greatest steam locomotives built in America, will be making the short trip for display. This behemoth will be pulled, dead in tow, behind another visiting engine from the Henry Ford, a Mason Bogie. This incredibly rare 1873 engine, is regularly used during the summer months on the museum's demonstration railroad at Greenfield Village.

Engine 1601 has been displayed indoors at the Henry Ford in Michigan since it was retired in the 1950s. Overshadowed in popularity by the popular Union Pacific Big Boy, they were the most powerful and heaviest steam locomotives ever constructed. The "Allegheny" name refers to the C&O locomotives' job of hauling heavy coal trains up and down the Allegheny Mountains. Built by Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, OH in 1941, this massive locomotive will be joined by two other engines built by the same company.

TrainFestival 2009 is America’s Largest Celebration of Railroading and will include 9 steam locomotives under steam, vintage and modern diesel/electric locomotives, various train rides, huge model train layouts, miniature train rides, art exhibit, locomotive cab tours, railroad vendors and much more. This family event is being held as a fund raiser to fund the upcoming overhaul of Pere Marquette steam locomotive no. 1225. This locomotive, owned by the Steam Railroading Institute of Owosso, MI is due for Federal Railroad Administration re-certification in 2010. This locomotive is best known as the steam locomotive portrayed in the animated movie “The Polar Express”.

The Henry Ford, a National Historic Landmark, (also known as the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, and more formally as the Edison Institute), in the Metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, USA, is the nation's "largest indoor-outdoor history museum" complex. Named for its founder, the noted automobile industrialist Henry Ford, and based on his desire to preserve items of historical significance and portray the Industrial Revolution, the property houses a vast array of famous homes, machinery, exhibits, and Americana. The collection contains many rare exhibits including John F. Kennedy's presidential limousine, Abraham Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theatre, Thomas Edison's laboratory, the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, and the Rosa Parks' bus.

For more information, check the website http://www.trainfestival2009.com/enolipra

Guess it didnt work out?

Say there, Big-Bad-2666, don't they teach you about April First in school these days?

Stick around here for a while, and keep your ears and eyes and mind open. There's a lot for you to learn, and this is (one of) a good place to do so. Everyone here was a lot like you way back when (and look at some of them now!!!).

Howard P.
Not 16, NY

Geez Howard, we're supposed to be encouraging the young people.......

dave

Well Dave, I thought I was! I think a lot of us recognize the "youthful exhuberance" that BB2666 exhibits--- we were him once. And things were accomplished because we kept that and channelled it reasonably well all these years.

Keep at it, BB2666. We need more like you. And if you want to really make a difference in this game, learn the skills really most needed: marketing and fundraising. Cubic dollars are what make this stuff go, nothing else.

Howard P.
Kid-At-Heart, NY

Well, suggesting he could end up like us hardly qualifies....I'd hope he would do better and be perhaps slimmer and better looking, and score with chicks who use power tools.

dave

I don't know about your situation, Dave (re: your latest comments), but let's just say that mine improved as I got older!! In all the areas mentioned!! Give him something to look forward to....

"Man does not live by chooch alone." Howard P., circa 1974

Howard P.
Older 'n Wiser, NY

Ahh but part of that almost did work out...

I have a sense the '60's and '70's were especially interesting, but I can't really remember the details.

dave

Yep, this is an April Fool's joke from last year, and it looks official too.

It's too bad the Greenfield Village Railroad wasn't involved in Trainfest 2009. I saw a few videos and pictures from people outside of Michigan who attend both Trainfest and Henry Ford Museum.

During the Trainfest weekend, Edison #1 pulled to usual everyday 5 car passenger train with the open air coaches, while Torch Lake #3 pulled a freight special. Still would of been awesome, if these two local steamers they had attended Trainfest. Other than it, it would nearly impossible to get C&O 1601 out of the Henry Ford Museum. They would had to get help from Norfolk Southern to get all of stuff behind 1601 out of the way before they could move the massive Allegheny out of the museum complex and into the Michigan Central mainline.

You see, the most evil aspect of some of these "press releases" is that the information contained therein is often JUST plausible enough to send people to the phones, trackside, or wherever in reaction. I recall last year, someone planted a "news release" that the Verde Canyon RR in Arizona had acquired two steam locomotives from the Grand Canyon RR, who at the time had just announced that they were giving up the use of steam on a regular basis. I was told that the Verde Canyon actually received at least two phone calls about the matter......... [whistles off innocently].............

Hmm...got me. I didnt even look at the date.