Greetings! As December dawns, the year is reaching its natural end. As we have done in the past, here is a chance to look back at all of the advances and some retreats in the preservation of railroading. Since we each manage our own slice of the preservation pie, I am encouraging you to take stock in what has changed since this time last year.

2016 will no doubt go down in history as a year we lost many hollywood, literature and musical celebrities. We keep saying it can't get any worse, and then another bombshell death takes place. I would say that railroading preservation has been mostly opposite of the worst year ever.

From my point of view, it was a fantastic year for steam. Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA finally finished the restoration of Baldwin Locomotive Works no. 26. A steam test in February and her debut led to a remarkable year for the park. National Park Week began in April, and on the 17th, the 0-6-0 debuted on the turntable to great applause. She ran flawlessly the six runs that were made, and she kept on running. The original plan was to only have steam on the weekends and diesel on the weekdays, but with F3 "Lackawanna 664" down for other repairs, it was almost exclusively steam until the summer. No. 664 had a few hiccups this year, but overall ran like a champ when those minor issues were addressed. Her mates, no. 663 and B-unit 664 were being worked on through the year when enough crew were at the park.
Mothers Day and Fathers Day trains sold very well, and a Boy Scout merit badge train in May sold out. Not all excursions did as well, but each Gouldsboro excursion had a Boy Scout badge portion, and therefore, they were full.

Not all was rosy, as some of the neglected pieces of equipment in the yard were cut up for scrap. 5 mostly wooden pieces, coaches from the 1890s, the Claremont & Concord wedge plow and a caboose were sacrificed.

Fundraising efforts for the Boston & Maine 4-6-2 no. 3713 gained a boost as contractors came in to finally patch the side of her boiler and rivet the steam dome in place. She now sits on temporary trucks while preparation is made to drop her rear drivers and rivet the firebox tube sheet in place.

Just before the New Year, volunteer staff took part in disassembly and some repair to SW1 no. 1901, an EMC demonstrator that was used by the Atlantic Coast Line around Richmond, VA and has travelled to several railroads before arrival at Steamtown in 2015.

Local railroad Delaware-Lackawanna took on the task of painting at least four of their Alco Century diesels in their two-tone gray corporate scheme. The railroad is much more uniform these days. They also worked with the Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society (ELDCPS) on a couple of Office Car Specials to welcome their new partner, Norfolk Southern to the area, and to host an employees' train. These were the first trains to feature cooking and serving of meals on the diner, while the train was in motion. They are also featuring this on a few public excursions this month, too.

Another railroad in Northeastern PA is the Reading & Northern, which among other things, painted and stabilized former Canadian Pacific 4-6-0 no. 1098. She is now blue, like their 4-6-2 no. 425, and re-numbered 225. Work continues on restoring their 4-8-4 no. 2102, which is expected to operate possibly in 2017.

That's all I can think of for now. If you want to crow about your favorite railroad or museum taking part in preserving our past, please do. We want to hear some good news.

Well New England Steam got 470 out of the park in Waterville and on the road to a rebuild. I believe they're working on setting up the restoration building now. Dick Glueck would have all the juicy details...

I have quite to add about this year as well

The project of restoring NC&STL 576 has not quite started yet, but the route for restoration is nearly done

The project of AT&SF 2926 is coming to a close as we see a shed built for it and hydro tests coming soon

UP 844 was restored and returned to operation this summer, and also traveled to Tennessee

C&O 2716 posed as an L&N 2-8-4 this summer, as that project is preparing for restoration

The WW&F built itself a turntable in roughly 6 months, and added a track to a future sawmill. Engine 9 also went through its first season of operation since its restoration was completed last summer

CRI&P 938 was also cosmetically restored this summer at IRM with CRI&P commuter coaches being restored as well

D&RGW K-37 #493 has been sent to Durango to be restored, and afterwards to be sent to the Colorado Railroad Museum

NKP 624 of Hammond, IL has had a proposed restoration by the Fort Wayne Crew

That's all the major projects I can think of right now. What a productive year!

Went to the museum this Tuesday and found a very nice improvement had been accomplished the previous day (see photo)! Although not as "earthshaking" as some restorations, we at Hoosier Valley will greatly appreciate that the last 2/3rds of Track 3 has been laid down in the West Annex of the Shop building. No more dirt and dust tracked all around. The entire 50' x 97' annex now has this smooth concrete floor. Hallelujah!


Les

At the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo (San Diego), CA, we progressed on several fronts. We acquired a sleeper car from another group in LA and trucked it down, we laid concrete on 1 1/2 tracks in the shop, we reroofed a house we own, we are doubling our library, we are wrapping up 100+ acre acquisition, we added a Signal Science exhibit, we repainted the Campo depot and we added many new signs and exhibits inside the Display Building. Slow, steady progress on many fronts.

In other nominations, a stunning amount of progress has apparently been made on SP Krauss-Maffei diesel-hydraulic 9010 at the Niles Canyon Ry. in California:

http://sp9010.ncry.org/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Southern ... 95?sk=wall

In Utah, Denver & Rio Grande Western No. 223 is progressing rapidly. The boiler was separated from the frame in June and the previously-stuck drive rods removed with the help of John Braun of Mammoth Locomotive Works.

Thanks for nod, Dylan. Yes, a great number of activities are under way at Washington Jct. yard. We have been blessed with some serious donations of equipment and funds, and today, took possession of a new bezel ring for 470's tender backup light, missing for six decades. We also took ownership of a heavy lift crane, a donation from another Maine company. Tomorrow, a track gang will begin clearing the site of the pending inspection pit. We are one step ahead of a Maine winter, but will try to get as much done as possible over the cold months.

One thing I can say positively is, 470 is no longer on the path to certain destruction. Her glory days are merely beginning.

See us at Springfield, in January!

Youngstown Steel Heritage has had a good year as well. The restoration of our incredibly heavy two foot gauge Porter 0-4-0T is moving forward. The frame was shipped off to a heavy fabricating shop for repairs, numerous smaller components are being refurbished and the single stall enginehouse completed.

In 43" gauge we acquired Baldwin Westinghouse ore shunter No.3 of the Whisky Island ore docks in Cleveland. This shunter was previously at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania which deaccessioned the locomotive and made it available to us. Thanks to contributions from a private donor and the Friends of the RRMPA we were able to truck it to Youngstown where it will reside and be restored to operating condition.

On the standard gauge side, we acquired ex Boston & Maine Alco S5 No. 864 from the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum. Upon doing some research we discovered that this is the oldest Alco in existence with a 251 engine. It will undergo cosmetic restoration work initially followed by restoration to operation.

We also assisted in the shipment of the G&W 20 to the Lake Shore Railway Museum. This locomotive, a GE 80 tonner, was the first diesel owned by the Genessee & Wyoming. We also played a role in the shipment of a Unity Railways caboose from the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum to the Carrie Furnaces National Historic Landmark in Swissvale, PA.

While we are on the other side of the pond, 2016 has been a good year for us here in Denmark as well!

The spring gave way to our 110th year anniversary tour of an important private railway in Copenhagen, followed closely by the state railway museum running a double header steam tour. This was the first time 3 different steam locomotives had rolled through Copenhagen Central Station in over 50 years thanks to our group also running tours on the same day!

This fall our group received approval from the local community to acquire circa 30 acres of public land for the construction of a museum building and yard track, ending 3 years of delay caused by a rival vintage fair group's protest. Now everything we own will be under cover and we can expand the collection by purchasing equipment from the state railway museum's large cull recently announced!

At the steam shop's location, we received approval from the community board for plans to construct an entirely new shop building, allowing our historic locomotive shed to only house operating locomotives. This has started what we estimate to be a 2 year plus project.

Two weeks ago a successful steam test occurred of the current project locomotive, definitively ending all necessary boiler work! The project is close enough to completion that we can now estimate completion by the beginning of summer.

The wagon department has now estimated that their current major project will be finished mid summer next year. This coach has had an entirely new under frame constructed to replace the severely rusted original (everything beneath the frame was torched off and the car was gutted, becoming a summer house).

The steam locomotive drawing collection is slowly condensing into a central location at our steam shop, and funding was secured to purchase drawing cabinets for 1/3 of the collection. The collection has been stored in 4 locations, with conditions ranging from rotting in a damp basement to being neatly placed in dry climate controlled storage. Funds have been set aside in the 2016 budget to purchase the remaining cabinets for the rest of the collection (comprising of around 5,000 drawing sheets). Hopefully funding will be secured following this to begin scanning the collection.

I am more than positive the diesel department has made great strides this year as well, but I can not remember at this moment what has happened in their department.

Overall 2016 has been a fantastic year for Nordsjællands Veterantog!

While I share a connection to a certain B&M Pacific with Tim, I'd like to take this opportunity to give shout outs to friends and like-minded wanderers who did great things this year. By no means is this a complete, exhaustive list.

Some things worth celebrating (in addition to those already mentioned):

- The first full year of the Everett Railroad as a steam tourist road.

- Scott Kwiatowski's PRR hopper save.

- Youth! Orion's boxcar and Madison's McKeen come to mind first.

- Fort Wayne progress.

- UP finding a good home for SW10 #96... and getting the Northern running then starting work on a bit of bigger project.

- #4449 running 60(!) holiday trips

- #765 running over 60 mph!

- The Reading & Northern's steam/passenger expansion plans

- FEC #148 going home.

- RRMofPA finishing cosmetic work on PRR #460

- The full return of The Flying Scotsman

- SP narrow gauge in steam

There must be two-dozen more I could think of, but it's getting late.

Rob

The National Museum of Industrial History opened in Bethlehem, PA, in August. Earlier in the summer CPS Railway Service donated the labor and material to build approximately 200 feet of 36 inch gauge track for the future operation of one or two of the Museum's ex Bethlehem Steel 20 ton Whitcomb locomotives:
https://www.facebook.com/NMIHorg/photos ... =3&theater

Ex-Alaska Railroad USATC S160 Consolidation #557 is steadily progressing towards the day it will again operate. We continue our four-day-per-week work schedule and now have an estimated 45,000 hours (22 man years) invested. The tender is nearly done and has the final paint and it again displays the road name and number. All the wood in the cab, including the lining, window frames, and floor have been replaced and it has its final coats of paint, inside and out. A lot of smaller but time consuming tasks are being worked on. Sockets for the new flexible stays are being installed as our certified welders are able to donate their time. Locomotive and tender brakes are being overhauled and numerous smaller items like valves and sanders are being cycled across the repair bench for overhaul and returned to the shelf for later installation.

I'll 2nd Evertt's first year of steam. Seeing Alan's beaming face as he worked on a run last year was priceless!

Seemingly almost under the radar, CNJ #113 has run a few times on her own as part of the R&N program. To my mind, this is news worthy since they had to work out the proper mix of A&B coal to make steam, great progress from those early trips where they had to find wood along the tracks. A recent video on Facebook shows them mixing coal types as they load the tender. She is now sporting a beautiful jacket; they've even run with different configurations of the jewelry on the smoke box representing different periods in her career; they have fixed up the station and they have done some work on the business car.

Bob

Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario finally put a 1000' track extension into service, from our mainline to connect our carshop to active trackage. This project began in 2008, with a major realignment of the eastern section of the mainline and construction of two switches.

Completion of ballasting remains to be completed, but at least it is fit to use in the meantime and ballasting will proceed in the spring...

The museum's Thanksgiving weekend trains were the first passenger operations to use the new track. All trips this year have been running near capacity:

http://public.fotki.com/sbhunterca/railway-museum-of-e/

A small achievement was the first purchase of brand new track ties, with 200 to be delivered in the spring. This, hopefully, will be an annual event from now on...

The North Pole Express runs sold out in a day... another car was added and a number of extra runs have been added, but those sold out quickly as well. Online ticket sales greatly helped in spreading business out through the day, but for 2017 greatly expanded capacity will be needed!

There were no earth shattering restoration accomplishments, but a lot of painting and minor repairs were done, and thanks to the shop lead's completion, another car has been put in the shop.

All incremental progress, but important in laying the foundation for future growth!

Steve Hunter