Is the former PRR Madison Railroad still operating? This was the one with something like a 6% grade in the Indianapolis area. The 0-10-0T at the Children's Museum there once ran on it and PRR later assigned a special SD7. I think it became a shortline in the Conrail era.

ryarger@rypn.org

After minor searching, looks like it is.

> Is the former PRR Madison Railroad still
> operating? This was the one with something
> like a 6% grade in the Indianapolis area.
> The 0-10-0T at the Children's Museum there
> once ran on it and PRR later assigned a
> special SD7. I think it became a shortline
> in the Conrail era.


http://railyard.railfan.net/cmpa.html
ryarger@rypn.org

http://www.roundaboutmadison.com/madison/Inside%20Pages/Archived%20Articles/2003/1_03MadisonRailroad.html
ryarger@rypn.org

Don't know why this stuck in my head, but the
PRR SD-7 was numbered 6999.

> Is the former PRR Madison Railroad still
> operating? This was the one with something
> like a 6% grade in the Indianapolis area.
> The 0-10-0T at the Children's Museum there
> once ran on it and PRR later assigned a
> special SD7. I think it became a shortline
> in the Conrail era.


vze46wzm@verizon.net

PRR had two SD-7's built for the branch, both with extra weight and dynamic brakes and neither with MU. I do believe they were 6998 and 6999.


Electric City Trolley Museum Association

> PRR had two SD-7's built for the branch,
> both with extra weight and dynamic brakes
> and neither with MU. I do believe they were
> 6998 and 6999.

One of the pair was stored in Indianapolis for some time after being used in Terre Haute. It was later sent to St Louis. TRRA now has it, though they have chopped the high nose.

David Farlow

hudson.industries@att.net

> One of the pair was stored in Indianapolis
> for some time after being used in Terre
> Haute. It was later sent to St Louis. TRRA
> now has it, though they have chopped the
> high nose.

I recall reading an article a year or two ago about the SD9s. The story goes that after the Conrail merger one of the units went to an ex-NYC shop which did not know about the dynamic brakes. So they removed the dynamic brakes. It was quite a surprise to the crew on their first trip down the hill and found out that they did not have the expected dynamics to slow down the train.

BN

bnorden49@earthlink.net

Perhaps unique to these two SD-7's was that they were equipped with steam generators connected to steam pipes aimed at the rail and facing the opposite direction of the sanders. I looked at the unit stored at Mt. Vernon in the late 70's and the piping was in place at that time. I was told at the time the units were ordered one of the customers at the bottom of the hill was a slaughter house. Tankage was shipped by rail and there was a problem with grease dripping on the rails. Steam cut the grease, followed with sand as the units made the pull.

As I recall, at the time Conrail was formed a couple of Penn Central employees bought one or both of the units because they "knew" they were the only power which could handle Madison Hill. The first shortline operator declined to pay the quoted monopoly price and used an SW-1 instead. There was less traffic by then and they doubled or tripled as necessary.



dsrc512@sd.value.net