I found a neat little concise history of the company that may well be called America's last steam locomotive builder, Crown Metal Products of Wyano, Penna. :

http://www.bjwrr.com/ontrack/crown.htm

True, they only built "amusement park" steamers, but what steamers they were--and most of them still run somewhere or another!



(Gee, if I had know this was what was running at South of the Border, I would have stopped by and risked having the bumper sticker applied to my car!)

Same here. The last time I drove past it, it was 1998. Was it running then? I had no idea they had anything steam, you certainly couldn't see it from the highway!

I'm amazed you located it, the site is in the process of being "torn up" for a rebuild! Much of this info falls old and outdated at times. I don't normally feature amusement park-related 'stuff' anymore...but it helped us get started with the site 3 years ago.

As for the photo from South of the Border, it was little more than a pose. It never ran there, but apparently was planned to. Later was a roadside display elsewhere; in Vermont. A 2' Crown still runs up there. Those coaches were the only enclosed ones made by Crown, and the locomotive that went along with it is now in Huntsville, AL.

Actually, you CAN see the Carolina & Upper Mexico RR from I-95 -- but it helps to be a passenger, not the driver, and you have to look fast. If you're headed northbound, look at the outskirts of the complex just before you pass the sombrero. You should be able to make out the "bridge" and a portion of the track ducking into a grove of trees. It's harder to see from the southbound side but if you know where to look it's still possible.

It's even more obvious from US 301, as the "depot" is right on the road at the southern end of the complex, along with the other carnival-type amusement rides.

The Crown never ran at SOB. The C&UM is operated by a standard 24" gauge Chance "CP Huntington" in desperate need of a tune-up. The Chance is a high-numbered one so it's a relatively late model. It's an OK ride, but the whole complex has gotten rather tattered-looking around the edges. Mr. Schaffer's death a few years ago didn't help, although the deterioration started well before that.

Ed, that's a terrific site, and thanks for putting the Crown history together.

Does the "Neverland" Ranch have a steam shop of some sort and a steam crew?

Thanks Stephen.

I don't know if the "Neverland Valley Railroad" has a true shop, though there's an enginehouse/car barn along the line (for Californians, quite similar to the San Francisco Zoo's 22" steam operation) which doubles as a 'tunnel' when the railroad is in use since the primary stall is on the 'mainline'. The locomotive sounded pretty out of square in the video, as many Crowns were.

I believe he's got someone to run it for him (since it has an 'automatic fireman' setup, it only needs a one-man crew)...I recall reading a night run is not uncommon. I more recent years, I recall hearing the late Jack Sessums of Redlands was on the contact list whenever a mechanical problem should arise.

Apparently, Mr. Jackson had difficulty understanding a steam locomotive was the far from a turnkey device that could be 'fired up' on demand with a few minutes notice...however, I believe that engine can be up to pressure in about an hour.

I believe by the locomotive's 1993 arrival date it was among the last rebuilt by Stan Matthews. The "Melodia" (1897 Porter 0-6-2T from Louisiana rebuilt by Crown), which also ran at Carowinds with the Jackson engine, was also rebuilt by Shop Services around the same time, and currently resides in Santa Margarita, CA, about an hour north of Los Olivos.

Out of mere curiousity, does anyone know what was done to set the locomotive up for one-man operation? And has this been done in other places?

Thanks!

If it's an oil burner, just relocate the firing valve to the engineer's side of the cab. The Tuskeegee 101, a small Baldwin "catalog" industrial / logging Prairie was set up this way when it arrived at IRM, who moved the valve back to the fireman's side. The atomizer controls remained in their original left side location; once set, they don't need much attention while running. As I understand, one man operation was relatively common on industrial lines.

Howard Terminal had their #6 (former Sierra #30) set up for a one-man crew, and Roaring Camp's little "Kahuku" remains that way. For industrial operations, it made sense; one body less on the payroll. For Hawaiian plantations and shunting around a factory of sorts, it was usually on flat terrain at relatively slow speeds.

Right-hand firing is simple (as described above), but this is AUTOMATIC firing. Not a very widespread arrangement, but utilizing a sort of flow sensor on the delivery pipe and boiler pressure, it regulates the proper flow of oil and steam to the atomizer. Most 3' Crowns burn propane (whether originally built to do so, or converted later)...however, the "Melodia" has been fired off oil I believe even previous to Crown rebuilding her. Given this information, I don't think Carowinds would bother with two seperate refuelling facilities when it wasn't neccessary. Since this locomotive was built new for the park, it probably burned No. 2 diesel and still does. Of course, this can't be done with solid fuel (aka coal or wood).

I'm not positive on anything, however; I know there's some Midwest Central guys making the web rounds who could tell you more.

Sadly, the owner of Crown Metal Products, Earl S. Carlson, died recently. Obituary here:
http://obituaries.triblive.com/listing/241107/Earl-S-Carlson/

[quote="o anderson"]Sadly, the owner of Crown Metal Products, Earl S. Carlson, died recently. Obituary here:
[url]http://obituaries.triblive.com/listing/241107/Earl-S-Carlson/[/url][/quote]

Crown Metal Products was owned by Ken Williams, and later by his son, Bert.

Mr. Carlson was an employee, and apparently had a lot to do with the design of the Crown engines.

that site is gone (web) perhaps its on the archive

https://web.archive.org/web/20050315055 ... /crown.htm

As far as the automatic firing goes, it was also done a slightly different way by Baldwin. On Standard Steel Wire Co #10 (at Ct Eastern RR Museum, Willimantic, Ct) and #11 (French Lick Scenic RR, French Lick, IN), there is (or was on #11) a group of 3 linked valves, that regulated the burner based on the steam pressure of the boiler (one valve measured pressure, one regulated the diesel oil and the 3rd controlled the atomization air). All the engineer had was a control handle that set the fire parameters (Idle, Light, Medium, Heavy, Full) to tell the system how heavy he was planning on working the engine.

Rich C.

What was normal practice on Crowns? Were they typically set up for one man operation? Obviously the smaller ones were, since there's no room. The local 2 foot gauge operation is set up for one man operation. Two people can ride in the cab, but the firing controls are on the engineer's side, so it's still pretty much one man operation even with two on board.

The only ones I recall seeing have a two man crew are the 3 foot gauge ones at Busch Gardens.



Guessing that's correct. A bit fast, but it can probably be done since the boiler is relatively small. Then again, I've heard stories of full size steamers being brought up to pressure quite quickly. ("What's that popping noise?")

sometimes engines are prefilled with hot water and steam from a stationary boiler, just add coal and match and its fairly fast.