This is just a reminder to the community that every operation needs to report their steamerÂ’s service days for 2003 to the FRA by January 31st. Nobody wants to miss that deadline!

Sec. 230.18 Service days.

(a) Service day record. For every steam locomotive currently in service, the steam locomotive owner and/or operator shall have available, and be able to show an FRA inspector upon request, a current copy of the service day record that contains the number of service days the steam locomotive has accrued since the last 31, 92, Annual and 1472 service day inspections.

(b) Service day report. By the 31st of every January, every steam locomotive owner and/or operator shall file a service day report, FRA Form No. 5, with the Regional Administrator accounting for the days the steam locomotive was in service from January 1 through December 31st of the preceding year. If the steam locomotive was in service zero (0) days during that period, a report must still be filed to prevent the steam locomotive from being considered retired by FRA. (See appendix B of this part.)

(c) Retirement where no service day reports filed. Where the steam locomotive owner and/or operator does not file the required service day report for a steam locomotive, that steam locomotive may be considered retired by FRA. The steam locomotive owner and/or operator must complete all 1472 service day inspection items to return a retired steam locomotive to service.


Strasburg Rail Road
kelly@strasburgrailroad.com

> This is just a reminder to the community
> that every operation needs to report their
> steamerÂ’s service days for 2003 to the FRA
> by January 31st. Nobody wants to miss that
> deadline!

I wish they'd let us do this with diseasles, too. It's a pain losing 31 days every time you use a loco!

About the only thing I see that's good about the way diesels are handled is that the regulations actually encourage having more locomotives operable. The more locos you have, the longer you can spread out the annual and 92-day inspections on each one.

The South Carolina Railroad Museum
mconrad@msmgmt.com

From Trains Magazine Newswire today:

NORTH FREEDOM, Wis. – Copper Range 2-8-0 29, which has been slumbering for the past three decades in Hancock, Mich., has been offered to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum, if the necessary funds to move it from Hancock, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, to North Freedom can be raised. If the move can be made, the locomotive would join two Copper Range wooden passenger cars already owned by the museum: combine 25, which was acquired in 1963, and coach 60, which was just restored by volunteers last year. The Copper Range Railroad shut down in 1972.

The 29 was built by American Locomotive Co. in February 1907 and was used in freight and passenger service until it was retired in 1953. It was stored in the railroadÂ’s roundhouse at Houghton, Mich., until 1967 when it was sold to Keweenaw Central Railroad, a short-lived tourist operation based out of Calumet, Mich., that used Copper Range track for part of its route. The abandonment of the Copper Range forced the Keweenaw Central to cease operations and move its equipment. The 4-6-0 was moved to nearby Hancock, where it has been stored ever since, along with other privately owned engines and cars.

The locomotive, according to museum personnel, is for the most part complete, but since it has been outdoors, it has deteriorated significantly. Fund-raising has begun and must be completed by April 30 for Mid-Continent to cover the costs associated with the loading, transportation via semi-truck, and off-loading of the locomotive. It is anticipated the locomotive would arrive at North Freedom by June.

For more information on the locomotive and the fund drive, visit the Mid-Continent Railway Museum website.



MCRM website
LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net