Also, Pine Creek has been a seed from which other railway preservation organizations and people have sprouted-- Vermont Railway, Empire State Rwy Museum (the early version), High Iron Co., and a few others I'm forgetting. By extension, add Valley Railroad here as well.

Howard P.
(who visited Allaire as a 12 year old and rode the Shay around the loop)

I would echo Howard's post. I got my first steam operating experience at the "old" Pine Creek operation and helped with the move to Allaire. Spent many pleasant days going round&round on the loop which in my case led to a hunger to be able to exceed 6mph.

I applaud all involved at Pine Creek for staying with it and introducing many thousands to the world of railroading.

Ross Rowland

Pine Creek, and Allaire, the whole park has a special place for me. Not only did it spark my intrest in steam but also history in general. Allways was and still is a great place to visit, just don`t live in Jersey anymore but when I`m in the area and have time I try to stop by and look forward to seeing steam around the loop again.

One important aspect of the NJMT / Pine Creek RR. is that it's operating museum devoted to "Industrial Railroading", a railway preservation subject that is sometimes overlooked in the USA. While you can ride behind geared steam on an ex-logging line at Cass or behind a genuine coal mine steam lokie at Ashland, PA, the likes of railroading at steel mills, brickworks, sand pits, assorted factories, and the like is somewhat under-represented in this country. Especially compared to European railway preservation circles where a search on YouTube or Google Images will turn up a whole lot of little "Pine Creek type" museums devoted to industrial railroading. Here in the USA, Pine Creek is in the forefront of this kind of railway preservation and has been for many years. They have built up quite a collection of industrial-type rail equipment including a good number of small industrial-type gasoline and diesel locomotives (aka "critters"). You won't find a flashy Vista Dome car at Pine Creek, but you WILL find a lowly "tipper" car! Plus they have some "common carrier" stuff from various narrow gauge lines across North American and even from Europe.

They will get there with their steam program. Like any place else, it's the matter of time, manpower and money. Talking to the current PCK Chairman last fall, he has plans to jump start the remaining work on Porter 2-6-0 46. Much of the remaining work involves finishing the boiler and the plan I heard from him sounds really good. Since those plans may not be for "public knowledge" (or may have changed) I will not mention the details here. I will say the guys in the PCK shop have done a FANTASIC job on restoring the Porter's chassis. There's still some work to do and I know they had some set backs, but the work they have done is first rate! All the more impressive considering just how "used up" this locomotive was when they got it many years ago. The 2-6-0"s original boiler was beyond any sane hope of repair and the boiler that will be on the locomotive is from a Porter 0-4-0T. Actually this "prototype kitbashing project" was started many years ago by placing the boiler, saddletank, and cab from the donor 0-4-0T on top of the 2-6-0's chassis. The resulting hybrid was to be called the "Phoenix", but this interesting kitbashing project was side-lined until the early 2000's. While the aborted and stored project created a somewhat ugly looking "2-6-0T", when they finally lifted the saddletank off of it, it was like "WOW! That thing looks sharp!" 46 will indeed be a sharp-looking little chooch and as I mentioned earlier the perfect size for the railroad's needs. The tender is pretty much done and was almost entirely made up from new material, a big project in itself. A new steel cab was fabricated and I believe is still in "kit form" ready to be put together. All of this adds up to a lot of hard work, but it WILL be worth the wait. How much longer? They ARE getting closer, but I think it's best to follow the "advice" of the person in Strasburg's shop who chalked "Don't ask when" on the side of 475 during its initial restoration. Steam engines are ready when THEY are ready and if you publicly say "next year" the engine WILL add on an extra year!

Regards,
Jim Robinson

And just to tie this thread all together, the sand domes on the #26 today are actually Porter sand domes which came from the #46.

The locomotive has been withdrawn from tomorrow's (May 10, 2014) auction, according to bonhams.

Could they have made a deal to keep it at Pine Creek? That would be nice, maybe could get it running again after they finish #46

Yes thay now own it. about time.

That`s great news, it belongs there, hopefully it will steam again before too long

The auction was today.

The 1906 Hammond San Francisco California Street Cable Car sold for $87,500 and the J.G. Brill & Company DT-9 Window Streetcar, c.1918, sold for $52,500

Glad to hear my other favorite Baldwin #26 will be staying put.

Are there any updates to #46's restoration? From the pictures that are available, it looks like she's moving along nicely.

Without some major change in management, it sounds like steam is a dead issue. A fairly recent board shake up really removed anyone from the organization with a strong desire to see steam return to the rails. There is though a large contingent of ex-members who are looking to force some sort of change which would ultimately bring steam back. Will be interesting to see if anything comes of that.