I found a mention of Fred Steck and his shop in Reese, Michigan in the "Lineside Legacy" column, March 2002, issue of Railfan & Railroad. Fred operated the Reese Central Railroad on his farm. I tried various search engines to find out more about him or the Reese Central Railroad and came up with nothing. Jeff Terry called him a "noted steam locomotive restorationist." Does anyone have any information about Fred and his Railroad?

Steck at one time owned and restored Canadian National class E10a 2-6-0 No. 91, in additional to other pieces of equipment. Prior to selling it to the Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad in Pennsylvania, Steck was able to break-in the engine on a little-known test run on the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway in the mid-1980s. A former CMO of the Huckleberry RR who was along for the ride said they got No. 91 up to speeds of 45-50 mph on that trip!

> I found a mention of Fred Steck and his shop
> in Reese, Michigan in the "Lineside
> Legacy" column, March 2002, issue of
> Railfan & Railroad. Fred operated the
> Reese Central Railroad on his farm. I tried
> various search engines to find out more
> about him or the Reese Central Railroad and
> came up with nothing. Jeff Terry called him
> a "noted steam locomotive
> restorationist." Does anyone have any
> information about Fred and his Railroad?


http://rrmuseumpa.org

There is also a little known video of that trip. How many have it I don't know, but a friend who just recently passed (John Knecht, a fellow Port Huron resident) had a copy which he in turn made for me a few years back.

A bigger question; what happened to his other equipment, such as the GTW caboose? Fred was one of our last real hopes for seeing standard gauge steam operating in the Thumb, especially after Jack Emerick and the boys left Huron & Eastern (now RailAmerica) in the early 1990's. I guess we could always hope for a 1225 or 6325 run over CN, but I'm not holding my breath knowing CN's current stance on steam.

TJG

> Steck at one time owned and restored
> Canadian National class E10a 2-6-0 No. 91,
> in additional to other pieces of equipment.
> Prior to selling it to the Middletown and
> Hummelstown Railroad in Pennsylvania, Steck
> was able to break-in the engine on a
> little-known test run on the Tuscola and
> Saginaw Bay Railway in the mid-1980s. A
> former CMO of the Huckleberry RR who was
> along for the ride said they got No. 91 up
> to speeds of 45-50 mph on that trip!


Buckeye Central Scenic Railroad
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org