Folks April 2nd and April 9th will be historical days on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. These 2 days will be the last time locomotive 734 will run till after it's 1472 rebuild which is exspected to take 5-8 years. The month of April 2016 is also historic since #734 will be 100 years old. Dispite some press concerning track erosion near Frostburg the trip will proceed as scheduled and should not be missed by any steam fans. The train will be a mixed freight and leave Cumberland at 8AM. The train will be on the line then the rest of the day doing photo runbys, till we arrive back at Cumberland at 4PM. Different props will be used during the day to create a 1950's train. Then we will tour the WMSR shops and see and photograph the mighty 1309. Cost for the trip is $200.00. Trip is limited to 60 riders per day and are selling at a brisk pace. Tickets can be gotten by calling 717-643-1104 after 4PM eastern Time or email wmsrphoto@wmsr.com

Beautiful shot!

Reports secondhand from "the scene" indicate today's runs did not exactly go as planned, and I suspect some refunds might be forthcoming for next week's trips.

I'll let more authoritative voices chime in with more details.

Was the slide ever officially determined to be caused by mine subsidence?

The wheels of bureaucracy rotate slowly. No "verdict" that I have heard yet.

Additionally, there was reportedly another "washout/landslip" found today which prevented the special from going past Sunnyside......

Alexander can you be more specific about your resources of information?

They could still do their runs but greatly shorten the ride, just give the riders as much show they can.

I doubt the length of the ride would matter, as I've heard from more than one person that leaking flues and water leaking into the firebox greatly hampered things...

More "reports from the scene" indicate that they begin this morning to fix the leaking flues enough to run next Saturday's "farewell run."

It’s not over till we say it’s over. This was the word from the team at the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad last night after the photo charter on April 2nd. The trip yesterday started just a few minutes late and at the hallway point our steam locomotive 734 had a tube break in the boiler. The good news is no one on board got hurt and the damage is relatively minor. The locomotive was towed back to Cumberland and set off at the shop. The special now with 501 and 1 coach became a directors special and ran some rare millage on the West Virginia side of the railroad. The train then continued to the Iron Bridge where some final run-by’s took place. The group took a short break after returning to the Station and reconvened at 5:30 for the shop tour and 4-hour night shoot with the 1309. The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad would like to thank the crews, staff and our patrons for a wonderful day and we look forward to next week and the 734.

JGoodrich - WMSR Company Photographer

Thats what I would rather hear and everything is overseen properly and the riders taken care of and the train run despite the hiccups made it thru...thats railroading..man...thats the experience..

Someone at least could get the old gal a Birthday Cake for next Saturday seeing she is turning 100 years old this year.....

Just wondering did 734 run on the 9th
Al

It ran today, no reported problems.

I believe reports via Facebook indicated the WMSR replaced eight flues during the course of the past week to have it running for this trip.

My friend said of the WMSR: "WMSR could have fixed their steam problem with a hammer and instead went with a mallet."

well played, un-named friend.