Apparently they ran steam on Thursday Sept 27th.

http://www.koaa.com/news/century-old-st ... -thursday/

This almost went under the radar.

How about that Vauclain compound!

More photos here:

http://tinyurl.com/9mvtnns

Anyone know who did the oil fired conversion and when?

The article implies they went to the top - did they? The last few steam ups they only went a third of the way up. Steam at the peak would be very noteworthy!

"The article implies they went to the top - did they? The last few steam ups they only went a third of the way up. Steam at the peak would be very noteworthy!"

Indeed it would be, but blast it, I can't tell for certain from the story whether they went all the way up or not. The story notes that the engine would be on a single trip from 11:00AM to noon, however, a study of Pikes Peak's schedules reveals that a round trip is three hours and ten minutes. The story notes that the engine would require three tanks of water for the trip, and that and the times suggest it was another one-third trip; the reason steam hasn't been to the top has been the lack of watering facilities that were demolished when steam was retired way, way back.

Blame this on newspaper reporters not knowing the subject as well as they should--the usual stuff that has a President-elect or candidate riding a "caboose" that's 80 feet long, weighs 80 tons, and has six-wheel trucks, or has Amtrak trains "chugging" along, or is describing an oil-burning steamer as "converted to diesel". . .

http://cograilway.com/

http://cograilway.com/alongroute.htm

They would not have ventured out of the yard very far; there are no longer any facilities up the line from which to take water. These were test runs; no passengers were carried. Maybe in October...?

AFAIK, the surviving M&PP locomotives are the last of their kind--Vulclain compounds--anywhere, and the #4 is the only one of those that is operational.

Mike

Loco was in Steam Monday - Thursday of this past week.

It ran up the hill with "Top Brass" from the parent company on Thursday.

GCRR steam guys were on hand to help out.

It was stated by an employee that it will run again on the last two Saturdays in October.

TH

Congratulations and thanks. It is running - hooray.

You figure, on the one hand they wish the publicity, but on the other hand, they wish to reduce expectations in case there is a mechanical failure. Sounds like break-in runs for next season.

Now you have me curious - who from GCRR visited you?

The only Graham County RR steam guys left I know are Dan Ranger and Wayne Laepple...........I suppose both might have been there.

dave

I think he meant Grand Canyon RR.

Is there a railroad out there?

GCRR immediately relates to Graham County for those of us in the southeastern mountains and piedmont.

dave

There is a slender thread of relationship between the Pikes Peak and the Grand Canyon. Something like you and your grandfather's cousin's grandson.

Grand Canyon RR is part of Xanterra Parks & Resorts which is owned by Anschutz Company.
The Pikes Peak RR is associated with The Broadmoor Hotel of Colorado Springs and in 2011 the Anschutz Corporation bought the Hotel.
Anschutz Company and Anschutz Corproation appear to be separate entities within the Anschutz enterprises.

I posted about this on the NGDF
Steam on Pikes Peak has produced several discussion threads on the Narrow Gauge RR Discussion forum.

It'd be very interesting to know how well this locomotive performs. After all, it not only the only Vaulclain compound but the only operating compound steam locomotive of any kind in the U.S.

Kudos to Pike's Peak for operating it.

That's not quite accurate, Hugh. I believe the Black Hills Central is still running its Mallet compound, and the Niles Canyon recently made some test runs with theirs as well.