Your Hand on the Throttle

J. David · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2003 4:52 pm

The Your Hand on the Throttle program at The Valley Railroad this spring will feature 2-8-0 No. 97 running from Essex north to Deep River (usually 2-8-2 No. 40 is used, running south). The dates this year are March 29 - April 6 and there are still openings for additional participants. More information can be found at www.essexsteamtrain.com (sorry for the commercial, we are fairly desperate for money this time of year; now back to our regular programming).
J.David

jdconrad@snet.net

Mark McVittie · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2003 8:55 pm

Looks like a good program. Just for interests sake, what other organizations run this type of program. I know about one in San Francisco (I think).

marcec@telus.net

Howard P. · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2003 10:01 pm

> Looks like a good program. Just for
> interests sake, what other organizations run
> this type of program. I know about one in
> San Francisco (I think).

Railroad Museum of New England has operated an Engineer For an Hour (EFH) program since 1999. We use a variety of road diesel power (RS-3, FL-9, U23B, etc.) and cover about 4.5 miles (about 18 miles total operation) of the New Haven's Torrington Branch at East Litchfield, CT. Contact me or check the website for detailia. Since my shamelessly commercial colleague J. David has mentioned VRR's program, I might as well mention RMNE's EFH!!

www.rmne.org

Railroad Museum of New England
hpincus@mindspring.com

Rob Sterne · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 12:51 am

> Looks like a good program. Just for
> interests sake, what other organizations run
> this type of program.

Pere Marquette 1225 in Owasso Michigan used to do it. I haven't heard anything about it the last couple of years.

Steve Freer · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 1:26 am

TVRM offers diesel charters with EMD GP7 or ALCo RSD1. Come on down!

Tennessee Valley Railroad
sfreer@tvrail.com

Jim Herron · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 1:51 am

Florida Gulf Coast RR Museum offers locomotive rentals (with a crew accompanying you) on your choice of an RS3, GP7, or GE44 tonner. Some restrictions apply. See the museum's web site for more info: www.fgcrrm.org

The museum is south of Tampa, near Bradenton on US 301.

hrvideo@mindspring.com

sc 'doc' lewis · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 2:05 am

We begin our "Your Hand on the Throttle" program this spring.

sc 'doc' lewis

Heber Valley Railroad
utweyesguy@aol.com

Jack A. Siffert · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 7:07 am

The Lake Shore Railway in Wellington Ohio is supposed to start ours this summer. You will have your choice of an E-8 or 100 ton G.E.
The Golden Gate in San Fran does this as well, used to do it with Steam but I thought I heard thier boiler time is up. they give you quite a choice of diesels. IF I remember Mike right even an F.M
Portaloa has a program. (Feather river I belive)
765 in Fort Wayne has a program with a small diesel.
Oh and one other thing, Thanks Howard for your help in getting ours off the ground.

irss@eriecoast.com

Barbara F. Lanphier · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 9:01 am

Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL offers a "Take the Throttle" program [diesel & electric cars]. It takes place after regular runs are done for the day.

beast@mc.net

Dave Wolven · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 11:19 am

Orange Empire Railway in Perris Calif. lets its members run everthing from their fp45 to street cars.
this happens on members days twice a year.
They also have a "run a diesel" program at
Railfest held in april and the charge is about $15.00 Check it out oerm@.org

davewolven@msn.com

Lawrence Biemiller · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 6:41 pm

The Maine Narrow Gauge, in Portland, has a guest-engineer program too. For the price, which is $275 this year, you get an hour's worth of two-foot-gauge running time on one of the two ex-Monson 0-4-4s. They're very simple, 18-ton locomotives -- great for beginners. If you've mastered the 0-4-4s, the following year they'll let you try the larger Bridgton and Harrison 2-4-4, with all the modern amenities (like air brakes, which the Monson never got around to).

http://www.mngrr.org/guest.html
biemiller@iceandcoal.org

Keith Albrandt · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2003 7:43 pm

> ...what other organizations run
> this type of program...?

The Nevada Northern in Ely, NV has been offering a student engineer program for several years. (I participated in 1995.) Your choice of steam (ALCO 2-8-0) or diesel (ALCO RS-3 or EMD SD-9). Both yard and main line trips are available. The steam main line trip goes East Ely to Keystone and return, whereas the diesel main line goes East Ely to Adverse and return. For all the details, see the link below at the Museum's Web site.

Cheers,
Keith Albrandt

Nevada Northern Railway Engine Rental Program
kalbrandt@rypn.org

Matt Conrad · **Posted:** Tue Mar 11, 2003 10:33 am

This thread has gotten me thinking. Somebody suggested this at a SCRM Trustees meeting a couple months back. There was considerable concern about liability. To some of the groups that do offer throttle time -- how does it affect your insurance costs?

mconrad@compuzone.net

Margaret (SP fan) · **Posted:** Sat Mar 15, 2003 12:42 am

Yes, the Golden Gate Railroad Museum in San Francisco does have an "Rent A Locomotive" program. The SP 2472, a 1921 4-6-2 Baldwin was available to rent until her flue time ran out on Jan. 19 this year. We are raising the money ($$$$!!) to have the FRA-required work done so she can run again.

We also rent several diesels, as Jack A. Siffert said. We have a Fairbanks Morse H-12-44, built in 1953, which is available to rent, as well as other diesels.

Golden Gate Railroad Museum

sc 'doc' lewis · **Posted:** Sat Mar 15, 2003 6:57 pm

> We begin our "Your Hand on the
> Throttle" program this spring.

...and one week later (after the above was posted) the official news article appears (use link below-or see link in "flimsies").

Note that we are doing this with a freight consist and giving the participants some experiences as brakemen, etc.

sc 'doc' lewis

Deseret News Article
utweyesguy@aol.com