It may be a very small railroad or a very large model layout, but it is definitely a Tiny Town in Colorado. Jason Stamper was there in 2017 and came back with A Tiny Rail Tale.

http://thetracksidephotographer.com/201 ... rail-tale/

Edd Fuller, Editor
The Trackside Photographer
http://thetracksidephotographer.com/

Thanks for the story on Tiny Town. It's really a big deal out here in Eastern Colorado for my friends at Uhrich Locomotive Works (where my Coronet Phosphate #6 is kept). As I write this, they are building a brand new 2-6-0 for Tiny Town, this one will burn some kind of liquid fuel, maybe off road diesel. They want the chug chug toot toot thing, but not the smoke. (I tried to suggest compressed air.)

Anyhow, these are nice folks, I recommend a visit if you're ever out this way.

Part of the reason for it is they do have a fairly good and experienced steam shop for the type of opperation they are however, that does not change the fact of how isolated they are in the mountains and how far the nearest fire department is. They have had a serious conversation in the past about compressed air in the past but when taking into account that when they run trains it is running all day the idea was dropped. That is why the last engine they purchased was an internal combustion Mason Bogie replica just like the Denver Zoo used to have. The fact that they are looking back into steam for their next engine is incredible to me and makes me proud to live in a state that values it's importance so much even amongst the smallest of groups.
Also in other cool park gauge news in Colorado one of the Lakeside Amusement Park steamers from St Louis World's Fair is scheduled to return to operation this year to coincide with their newly acquired roller coaster.

No reason they couldn't recharge the air tanks while they load passengers. They could even fix up a steam engine to use compressed air by making it so that the top of the tender is removable, and a couple industrial type tanks could be installed in the water and coal spaces when it is desired not to use steam. Not only that, but I work for the local Palatek distributer, we'd have been willing to fix them up with a compressor/dryer/filters/reservoirs reasonably.

Lot safer than propane or diesel, etc, especially since those live steamers have the firedoor perfectly in line with the engineer's nads !!!

The big thing is cost and what we came to the result of was what most industrial roads did. This was outside of tunnel mining with how little of a return on distance to volume one gets with CA(Compressed air) vs FL (Fireless Steam) and how similar both are to live steam CA requires to much for too little distance. If either option were to occur it would be fireless with an engine steamed up in the round house for the couple of recharges needed. This would however cost a similar amount as a live steamer and is why it was thrown out. The debate on industry roads was CA was only really useful if oxygen supplies are limited and with this CA was phased out for electrics and battery powered engines, FL was the preferred option but only used in areas with high dangers of having sparks or embers but have been phases out for battery, diesels and, propane/natural gas options for cost. One would be hard pressed to find CA still in operation at a for profit location anywhere in the world currently while FL still is alive and well in Europe, Asia and, Africa. In all reality the only way a CA locomotive would operate at Tiny Town would be if a private individual brought their own with prior permission or we got a screaming (almost if not free) one from a mine. This would then depending on its history either be left alone for historic value or modified to the flexi-scale of Tiny Town. But it is of note to keep in mind that I have not been involved their in a while and my involvement was limited at most so their are more than likely new ideas floating around and they may be open to CA if pitched properly. Also I am not trying to dismiss your idea this has just been my experience and research into the subject and I am actively hunting for an old mining CA engine (preferably a Universal Dredge of Denver but will settle for anything) of a gauge between 14" and 36" as a for fun project because they hold a special place in my heart of being the first locomotive (it was a Porter I just like the Universals better) I was able to run solo.

What I CAN tell you is that many times it was needed to move engines at the C&S roundhouse here in Denver, but they were dead, or else too big to fit on the turntable with a switch engine, so the hostlers would charge the boiler with CA at 160 psi (same as a regular industrial setup such as we routinely install in factories or CNC machine shops), and they got enough oooomphf to make a couple moves. This, even with the boiler full of water.

I've charged the boiler up with air when firing in Guatemala, by putting her in reverse and opening the throttle while being towed in a freight train. When I got where I was going, I already had enough pressure to spot the engine if necessary, or to fire up from a cold start without hooking up an air source to the firing manifold, or both.

The tiny Town engines could certainly make it around their little loop by putting a couple air tanks in the tender, and using the engines empty boiler as a third air tank, just with a few simple and cheap hook ups and a bit of heavy duty CA hose.

Remember, they would have to store diesel or propane on site in an appropriate storage setup, too. The real issue is that a lady with no mechanical experience makes all the decisions at Tiny Town, regardless of what the experienced steam guys try to tell her. When you look at cost long term, what would an accident with those fuels cost vs an accident with compressed air ??

After my firing experience on full sized oil burners, we NEVER stand in front of the fire door, or allow cab riders to do so. The idea of sitting behind the fire door with my legs spread, while firing a live steamer with oil or gas just makes my hair stand on end. Sure, lots of guys do it, guess they must not want to have any more kids....