About five years ago, I posted a series of photos of these two locomotives, found under a tarp, bales of old hay, and discarded debris in the English midlands. They were tank locos that had been used at an industrial site, displaced by Diesels, and pushed into a corner, and forgotten. Adopted by Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, a group of middle-aged and up railfans, they brought the little blue locomotive (no face on the smokebox) back to service this week. She is about to be fired for the first time in years. The green loco breathed life again, last year. Photos courtesy of Richard Buckby.





Remember, these people have restored an entirely overgrown and forgotten railway line by themselves, with some public funding, some donated equipment, but mostly by showing up and throwing themselves into the tasks at hand. Pretty impressive, going from a thicket to a railroad. People show up, the whining is minimal, the sweat is equal, the work gets done. What a model for the rest of us!

Wow! That is one inspiring preservation story here, folks. Let us see which museum on this side of "The Pond" can match it.

Pine Creek Railroad is trying, with the 2 Planet locomotives, presently sunk off New Jersey for the past 160 years.

Actually, we've had several examples, though they are often far between, or at least seem so. Some examples that come to mind, just off the top of my head:

CNJ 113, restored outside, no shop, now operational or nearly so.

NKP 765, also restored outside.

PM 1225, another "outside" job.

Whole village of Muddy Creek, by the Maryland & Pennsylvania Preservation Society.

Car 57 and other projects.

Cass Scenic No. 9 (Climax), restoration actually being done by the Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical Society.

First restoration to service of UP 3985, in a UP shop but with a bunch of volunteers.

Strasburg Rail Road, in 1958, when it was just about the first heritage road.

J. Niels Co. Shay, Con. No. 1643 in Montana.

ATSF 2926--slow but steady outdoors.

ATSF 3415--also about the same as the 2926.

The whole of the Wiscassett, Waterford & Farmington.

There have been others that, unfortunately, haven't worked out well (i.e., a certain Pennsy 4-6-2), but others have, and largely with the same grit displayed by those Brits.

If there is a difference, I would say the Brits have some things in their advantage, including that national heritage lottery (source of capital grants we don't have), a national rail system that isn't really anti-steam for main line operations, and an overall better cultural appreciation of their history that isn't overshadowed and outshouted by the call for more and more profit, and the cutting out of anything that doesn't contribute to the bottom line (see my posts--or rants, if you want to call them that--about the Kettle Moraine Railway and the Denver Union Station).

Looking at past posts on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10465

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23357

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23687

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29311

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32995

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34056

And the Welsh Highland- 20 some miles long rebuilt from just the ROW.

Quick question. Doesn't the last thread link show the blue tank locomotive has already operated? Is it just the first time it has operated this season?

It had just been rolled out from a complete rebuild since it was retired. It hasn't been fired in something like 50 years. The green tanker ran last season.

"Planet" engines were 2-2-0. The sunken New Jersey pair are 2-2-2s, which would be the "Patentee" type, if you're following British designations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_(locomotive)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patentee_locomotive