Thought I'd take this moment to thank everyone for keeping me as a humble reader of RYPN informed on the vast world of railroading and preservation. As most others do at this time of the year, we take stock in accomplishments and sometimes losses. So I'm suggesting we do it here on RYPN, to take stock of preservation progress since the year began.

Here's what comes to my mind of 2010:
The Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern RR debuted their restored GE 65 tonner no. 734 in a Lehigh Valley-like paint scheme during the NRHS convention. The convention, held in Scranton, attracted 817 registrants and possibly twice as many people to the area to watch, chase or ride on related railroad trips that week in June.

Both the ARHS and Tri-State Chapter repainted the last two operating F3 units to the Lackawanna Railroad freight scheme. No 663 spent some of the summer in the "grey ghost" scheme before maroon and gold striping were applied so she could match her mate 664. both are now on display at Steamtown NHS.

Reading Co. FP7s no 902 and 903 saw more mainline road action this year, in assisting some of the Steamtown excursions, including hauling most of the June 26 Delaware Water Gap excursion. Steam could not make the entire trip due to a "bridge strike" messing the track alignment just two days earlier.

Steamtown's Baldwin 26 0-6-0 switcher progressed enough in 2010 to see the front end tube sheet being riveted in place by year's end.

Other Steamtown work included taking 12 locomotives and 17 passenger cars into the loco. shop for removal of asbestos. This project has been in the NPS funding pipeline for nearly 10 years. Stimulus funds broke the ice to allow this work, making them safer. This also included new boiler jackets and other jacketing to be added. This improves their appearance to make them worthy of display next year.

Other Steamtown work included repairs to the DL&W sand dryer and elevator. Historic structures are more than just steel wheel on steel track.

Central of New Jersey 0-6-0 no. 113 in Minersville, PA had at least two successful steam ups in the last quarter of the year. Can operation be far behind?

Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society adopted yet another DL&W Diner, and will make it available for use in Scranton in the near future.

The National Railway Historical Society marked 75 years as a leading organization in the railroad preservation field. This anniversary was marked at the convention in Scranton and the Fall conference in Lancaster. NRHS lost their last two founding members in 2010. Bill Moeddinger and Jim Shuman.

On a sad note, at least six members of the Steamtown family passed away this year. Most notable to the RYPN audience would be Edward Miller, a founding member of the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Chapter and local railroad photographer since the mid 30s. Were it not for his interest in history and his skill at a camera, how many of us would be railway photographers now?

That's all I have for now. I'm sure that I missed several. Please add your projects and those you know about in this thread.
And have a Happy New Year.

Milw 261 was saved from being stuffed and mounted, and hopefully will return to the high iron in 2011

Tim,
It was a very enjoyable meeting and working with a lot of the Steamtown "family" and working in great facilities. We look forward to an even better 2011 when the Lackawanna F3's will be able to recreate some historic photo scenes with some of the authentic Lackawanna "props" that populate the area.
Rich
ARHS

Here on the West Coast, on the electric railway scene:
Orange Empire substantially completed a major rehabilitation of Pacific Electric "Hollywood" car 717, doing many body repairs and repainting it in the pre-1938 color scheme. The car had previously been mechanically overhauled, now it runs well and looks good.
Not a restoration (this had been done back in the 1990's with the help of Pacific Railroad Society members) but a new location for LA Ry. funeral car Descanso. After years in "dead storage" what is believed to be the only surviving funeral streetcar is now on public display, complete with (an empty) casket.

Up north, in September, Western Railway Museum had the official "rollout" of restored Sacramento Northern interurban combine 1005 after many years of painstaking work to take it back to its 1934 appearance. On the same day, visitors had a chance to ride San Francisco Muni PCC 1016, which is back to its "as delivered" condition as of 1951, thanks to volunteer work completed earlier this year. 1016 was the first unit in the last group of PCCs to be built in North America.
The "last of the last", Muni 1040 is being restored for the Muni Centennial in 2012 at Brookville in Pennsylvania. Already back from its complete restoration at Brookville is Muni 1, their very first streetcar. It is currently under wraps at the New Geneva Car House, but should have an official unveiling shortly. The car house itself is a major news item in electric railway preservation, since it will protect many of the historic streetcars in The City from the elements.

2010 saw the completion, except for some minor weather proofing, of the body of BCER 1225. It is only the trucks that need to be finished. Most of the parts were made new or recast as the old parts were in scrap condition. Since we will be operating on a working freight line, we needed to be extra diligent, so there would be no break down that might cause a delay of freight services.
The 4 motors and one spare reconditioning was finished during the year.
Just before Christmas the car's rehabilitated compressor was returned and placed back in its original position.
BCER 1304's exterior was painted.

Robert Ashton, fvhrs

http://www.fvhrs.com

The restoration & return to steam of Southern Ry. #401 at the Monticello Railway Muesum.

DBH

The Car 57 project had a great year, starting with re-siding the North side of the car during the winter and spring and fitting the new windows. Then the question was put to the city of Cheyenne 'why dont we move the car downtown for Frontier days' ? They agreed and feverish amounts of work took place on the south side to achieve the deadline. Whilst down there in August we totally stripped the roof and re sealed it and fitted more windows, replaced all the top screens with glass screens and have carried on with the interior. We received hundreds of visitors from all over the world and many more donations.
And there we still sit with the city and depots blessing.

A great year for a great car.

Mike Pannell
Car 57 project

Everyone,

One of the losses this year were the Baldwin RS-12's that were in Clearfield, KY. I personally had put a lot of blood sweat and tears into 1200 and when we parked the engine, it was still in somewhat working order.

I wish that we would have been able to save her at least.

Happy New Year,

JD Johnson, Morehead and North Fork Railroad Historian

Out west,

Polson #70 steamed for the first time since 1983 and is almost done with it's total rebuild.

Boilerwork on Santa Cruz Portland Cement #2 is almost complete (new boiler barrel, firebox, dome, etc.) Running gear work is well underway and should be completed in 2011.

Westfork #91 recieved tire replacement and other work to bring her back into service after 3 years.

Sierra 3 ran for the first time since 1996 with a new boiler and totally rebuilt running gear (as well as new tender).

The PLA boys have done a lot of work on Clover Valley #4 and it will be ready for operation in the not to distant future.

Let us not forget the Fillmore and Western boys and their #14.

All in all, a great year for steam out west.

Thanks, Arjay, and all the others for your posts. The preservation field is alive and well, even if some projects are put on hold or fall by the wayside. As the saying goes, where there is life there is hope.
Keep the project updates coming. There are many railroad sites and way too much heritage to preserve at any one time, but each project will lead to benefits down the road.

While not as exciting as an RS3, The Conrail Historical Society acquired CR G36L Gon 67257 for preservation:
http://thecrhs.org/news/The-CRHS-Is-Acq ... a-CR-67257

[Here's what comes to my mind of 2010:
The Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern RR debuted their restored GE 65 tonner no. 734 in a Lehigh Valley-like paint scheme during the NRHS convention.]

Here's a shot taken the day of the NRHS trip showing 734 and GE 45 ton 7258 standing side by side in the Kempton Yard.

Here in Bethlehem, we recovered a 33.5 inch gauge Whitcomb from a quarry:

and stashed it in the steel mill:

We also found some ancient rail rolled by Bethlehem Steel predecessor, the Bethlehem Iron Company.

In the coal region, No. 9 Mine finished moving in the rolling stock for their upcoming two foot gauge railroad. Shown here is the homebuilt steam locomotive, built in West Milford, NJ, in 1973 using frames and wheels from Hyper Humus in Newton, NJ, with a converted Lidgerwood Superior winch (from Raymond International in NJ) and a boiler purchased from Art Young, founder of Rough and Tumble:

A few privately owned estate railroads in PA made some major progress too. Future issues of 2 Footers will probably cover what is meant to be public.

Don't forget 3-Rivers-Rambler Southern Railway #154, whose return to steam came out of NOWHERE... The upcoming year promises no less than THREE Southern 2-8-0's in steam with TVRM's 630 joining the #154 and #401.

Matt Bumgarner

I don't get to many other museums in resent years. But I was in Monticello in 2009 and saw the restoration efforts on the 401, I knew I need to go back to see the finished product.

She is second to none in quality of work. Kent and the crew did an outstanding job.

Ted Rita
General Manager
Hesston Steam Museum