From Trains.com Newswire:
Kansas railroad receives grant to refurbish steam engine

ABILENE, Kans. - The Abilene & Smokey Valley Railroad, a non-profit excursion railroad, has received more than $280,000 in grant money to begin refurbishing former Santa Fe 4-6-2 3415, a display item in a local park since 1955 before it was donated to the A&SV in 1996. The 1919 Baldwin was moved from the park to A&SV property in 1997. The refurbishing is estimated to take about two years, according to railroad manager Mary Jane Oard.

The A&SV offers train rides from May through October and private charters and school tours from April through December. as well as a seasonal dinner train. Its motive power is an Alco 660 hp S1 diesel switcher, previously owned by the Hutchinson & Northern Railroad in Hutchinson, Kans.

The A&SV operates five miles of former Union Pacific track, originally operated by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and later by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas, before cessation of operations in 1989. The A&SV, organized in 1993, operates from Abilene east to Enterprise. An additional 10 miles of track, from Enterprise farther east to Woodbine, is also owned by the A&SV, but was physically severed from the rest of the line when Burlington Northern Santa Fe, operating a north-south branch through Enterprise, took out the diamond when the UP quit the line. The line from Enterprise to Woodbine sees occasional operation by an A&SV-owned railbus. Abilene is 90 miles west of Topeka, Kans.



LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

> - The Abilene & Smokey
> Valley Railroad, a non-profit excursion
> railroad, has received more than $280,000 in
> grant money to begin refurbishing former
> Santa Fe 4-6-2 3415, a display item in a
> local park since 1955 before it was donated
> to the A&SV in 1996.

Interesting...any information on what was the source of the grant money??

Trinity Valley Railroad Historical Association
hi_plain@yahoo.com