Folks,

A few years ago, 60 came out of a decades-long overhaul. With most of the major bugs worked out on this almost 80-year-old rolling artifact, the steam team proposed that we run her on every one of our Christmas trains. As you some of you know, keeping a steam engine running every weekend during the winter months is a challenge.

I am happy to say that for the third straight year, 60 ran every weekend -- from the weekend before Thanksgiving until this last weekend -- plus a couple of weekdays too, for a total of 14 operating days. This is a big source of pride for our steam team and it really is pretty impressive for an all-volunteer crew.

So, how do you keep the sanity during an operation like that? The answer is that you come up with some novel ways to have fun. So all you Boy Scouts out there, guess what? You can get a bucket of steam. Check out this Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/BlackRiverRailroad/photos/a.132962552822.109480.92508157822/10154066574482823/?type=3&theater

In 2017, this old Alco will be 80 years old and we will have nice birthday celebration for her, so stay tuned. Also, yes, we are all volunteers at the Black River Railroad Historical Trust, so check us out and become a member!

http://www.blackriverrailroad.com/

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Scott Kwiatkowski

Scott, Congratulations to you and your crew on doing a great job keeping the steam flame burning brightly in New Jersey.

#60 occupies a special place in my heart as she was my first standard gauge girlfriend way back in 1965.

I stopped by Ringoes the other night to pay my respects and found her to be in excellent shape and in good hands. Perhaps in another 2/3 years we can have a whistle off between # 60 and # 40 when you get the line reopened to Lambertville.

Merry Christmas, Ross Rowland