Anyone have photos of Strasburg's new Cagney in operation?

ryarger@rypn.org

> Anyone have photos of Strasburg's new Cagney
> in operation?

whats a cagney?

superheater@rrmail.com

> whats a cagney?
Thats their "new" 15" gauge operation. A little something extra for the kids I guess; I haven't seen any photos yet.

> whats a cagney?

A B movie actor who played a lot of thugs, but who's favorite role was George M. Cohan in "Yankee Doodle Dandy".

Actually, it is a cool little vintage park gauge locomotive, here's a brief history


Cagney Brothers

And a pic - from the same source

> whats a cagney?

The Cagney Brothers were once the largest supplier of miniture steam train rides for amusement parks and similar venues. These were built in a number of gauges from about 7.5" through 12" and 15" to 22" and larger. Most were 15" gauge.

They are mentioned in the book once published by Howell-North books "Little Railways of the World" by Shaw.

Also see the Park Trains website.

Brian Norden

Cagney Brothers on the Parktrains Website
bnorden49@earthlink.net

> whats a cagney?

I believe it was a British author that published a history of the Cagneys together with a copy of their 1903 catalog (listed in Ken Riddle's Summer 2001 catalog) The book covers some recent restorations and concludes with a history of John Rimmasch's (CMO at Heber Valley Railroad) restoration of his grandfather's Cagney No. 4 (built for the 1904 St. Louis World Exposition and served it's life at Como Hot Springs in Morgan, UT until the late 50's). Technically, it is the oldest steam locomotive to be under steam in Utah in the last twenty years.

For those on the left coast, there is a beautiful restored Cagney operating at the San Francisco Zoo which contracted with GGRM for the restoration and maintanence of the train. It had been "retired" some 30 + years ago and was recently "discovered" stored in the elephant house.

sc 'doc' lewis

Heber Valley Railroad
utweyesguy@aol.com

In a couple weeks there should be a photo on our website www.strasburgrailroad.com

The Cagney made its debut on the first day of our Thomas event. It has been going strong ever since and has proven to be quite popular with kids and adults. They seem to be fascinated by its size and the fact that it is coal fired just like our "real" locomotives.

I must say there is something theraputic about removing an eccentric strap and putting it my pocket to carry it to the work bench.

Strasburg Rail Road
linnwm@supernet.com

We'll all be looking for the photos. Unlike smaller hobby-built live steamers, Cagneys were built to make money, just like the mighty Big Boy. At the turn of the century, they were the "monorails" of world's fairs, transporting people from exhibit to exhibit, serving an actual transportation function rather than just amusement. And unlike today's live steamers, they are not scale models, having huge, robust boilers enabling them to haul large out-of-scale loads. In their own right, they are "real" locomotives and genuine antiques that deserve preservation just like the big ones.

ryarger@rypn.org

I'll be up there this weekend. I'll take the digital camera and take a couple of pictures.

> Anyone have photos of Strasburg's new Cagney
> in operation?


acp19809@yahoo.com

> And a pic - from the same source

It never ceases to amaze me how many people know about and use my parktrains website.

When somebody gets a photo, please email me a copy. The parktrains website is long overdue for another update. The "new" Cagney at Strasburg is a good way to light a fire under me.

The Parktrains Website
mconrad@compuzone.net

Were the steamers that once ran at Connecticut's Gillette Castle Cagneys? What's their status today?


jcpdeke@aol.com

> I'll be up there this weekend. I'll take the
> digital camera and take a couple of
> pictures.

It is my understanding that the start of the Crown locomotive line came about when Ken Williams and his son Bert acquired a 14" Cagney,
rebuilt it in their machine shop, built a track for it around their 250 year old Penn. farm house and then thinking that it might have commercial possibilities, advertised in Billboard Magazine
that they would build the engines to order.
Galen Borders of Flora, IL saw the ad, went and ran the Williams engine and ordered the
first "Little Toot". The Williams advised Galen to order a 15"gauge engine and cars, the 14"gauge
being a seldom used gauge, This he did. The train ran in Flora from 1959 until 1968.I bought Toot after Galen died and moved her 40 miles to Centralia.
I sold the train in 1980 and she went to the Peoria, IL area where she first ran in the Wildlife Prairie Park and then in a Peoria
City Park. In 1994 Toot moved to Sean Bautista's
tree farm at Reedly, California and in 1999, 40
years after she first ran in Flora's Charlie Brown Park, Toot returned and is again running
at the site of her first home.
The Cagney engines were designed to be park engines and the design has proved to be quite reliable.
Jim
.

rrfanjim@mvn.net

My family used to live in Centralia, near Fairview (?) park. I can remember riding Little Toot several times when I was young.

I had heard it was back in operation in Flora but have not been able to find exactly where it is and when it operates. Can you provide any contact information?

Thanks.

> It is my understanding that the start of the
> Crown locomotive line came about when Ken
> Williams and his son Bert acquired a
> 14" Cagney,
> rebuilt it in their machine shop, built a
> track for it around their 250 year old Penn.
> farm house and then thinking that it might
> have commercial possibilities, advertised in
> Billboard Magazine
> that they would build the engines to order.
> Galen Borders of Flora, IL saw the ad, went
> and ran the Williams engine and ordered the
> first "Little Toot". The Williams
> advised Galen to order a 15"gauge
> engine and cars, the 14"gauge
> being a seldom used gauge, This he did. The
> train ran in Flora from 1959 until 1968.I
> bought Toot after Galen died and moved her
> 40 miles to Centralia.
> I sold the train in 1980 and she went to the
> Peoria, IL area where she first ran in the
> Wildlife Prairie Park and then in a Peoria
> City Park. In 1994 Toot moved to Sean
> Bautista's
> tree farm at Reedly, California and in 1999,
> 40
> years after she first ran in Flora's Charlie
> Brown Park, Toot returned and is again
> running
> at the site of her first home.
> The Cagney engines were designed to be park
> engines and the design has proved to be
> quite reliable.
> Jim
> .


rrtp@onecliq.net

Yes, indeed we have a Cagney live steam engine running at the Zoo here in San Francisco. The Golden Gate Railroad Museum built a fun line with many curves and both a tunnel and bridge over the pond.

The engine is different than most as it runs on LPG. An alternate fuel system that has a distinctive smell to say the least!

ted_miles@nps.gov