Want to locate F7A 718A Western CA tourist train in CA Stored B/N 16590 nee Bessemer and Lake Erie.
And F7B 716B Western CA tourist train in CA Stored B/N 16599 nee Bessemer and Lake Erie.
see EMD F-unit
Need E-mail,phone,address.

owenpaulsen@att.net

I don't know about western calif tourist train, but the two units you describe are located at Schellville CA on the NWP. I think they are owned by Matt Monson and Jim Bruggiere. They may not be currently moveable on thier own wheels due to the shut down of the NWP.

rstabler@sbcglobal.net

Last I knew these two were stored in Schellville, CA, on the north shore of San Francisco Bay between Napa and Novato. Schellville was the historic interchange point between the Northwestern Pacific and the Southern Pacific.

The two F's were to be used on the Northwestern Pacific's dinner train operation that ran for about one season (1997) out of the Cloverdale area. However, they were never used for that purpose and the FRA shut the passenger operation down due to track conditions (this was a year or so before the FRA shut down all operations on the NWP...for track conditions).

The NWP by this point was entirely publically owned (two Railroad Authorities owned by a wierd assemblage of the Golden Gate Bridge District and the county governments of Marin, Sonoma, Trinity, Mendocino and Humboldt Counties). I am pretty sure that these two F-units were never owned by the NWP, but there was a locomotive leasing company based out of Schellville that did provide power to the railroad from time to time.

This should get you close. Like I said last I knew they were still in Schellville.

Hope this helps.

JD Moore
Elko, NV

> Want to locate F7A 718A Western CA tourist
> train in CA Stored B/N 16590 nee Bessemer
> and Lake Erie.
> And F7B 716B Western CA tourist train in CA
> Stored B/N 16599 nee Bessemer and Lake Erie.
> see EMD F-unit
> Need E-mail,phone,address.


jamoore@elko.net

Were the ET&WNC tenwheelers 10 & 14 purchased in early 1942 by the White Pass or the Army? The books and articles say that they were USA not WP&YR engines, and I have not seen a roster that lists them as WP&YR engines. Specifically William Moore's Sept 42 article in Trains makes no mention of them, and he was there in August '42 when Skagway was still a quiet town with a population of 492. He does state "It is likely that more used power will be bought from the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad if it's abandonment application for which has been made is granted". Four tank cars did come from the NCNGRR but no locomotives.
Bruce Pryor's website
http://narrowmind.railfan.net/WPYR/late ... 10-14.html
states that 10 & 14 left the ET&WNC in May 1942, and were at the WP&YR before the Army leased the railway in October.

Is there any factual evidence to indicate who purchased them in 1942?

mike211@yknet.ca

> I am reading the Winter 2003 issue of the
> "Bluebell News: Journal of the Bluebell
> Railway" in the UK. There is a photo of
> a two story building under construction on
> page 29 identified as the "new bookshop
> at Sheffield Park." Scaling the
> dimensions from a man standing in the photo,
> I am guessing this is a 2,000 sq. ft.
> bookshop.

> Where are the best bookshops at preserved
> railways in the U.S.? I remember the
> Illinois Railway Museum and the Colorado
> Railroad Museum as being particularly good.
> I also remember others as being pathetically
> poor where you could buy all the coffee
> mugs, T-Shirts and bumper stickers you want
> but not very many railroad books. The
> elimination of books in favor of other
> merchandise seems to me to be a trend (one
> which I think is unfortunate). One can only
> guess that passengers of U.K. tourist
> railways read more books than U.S.
> passengers and that U.S. gift shops stock
> what visitors purchase.

> My intention is not to discuss which
> country's citizens read more books but to
> find out where are the best bookstores at
> U.S. preserved railways.

I second Strasburg Railroad for new books though IRM has a nice collection primarily for the Midwest. Next Spring or Summer when out at the Illinois Railway Museum, stop by the IRM Used Bookstore in the Milwaukee Road baggage car just after the lineup of locomotives as you make your way onto the property. Elmer Passow has a large and fairly complete collection of rail and model train magazines and some out of print used books, timetables, trolley controllers, etc. Proceeds from the sales go 100% into equipment restoration, so everyone benefits. The more rare books that otherwise would be third duplicates can be found at the IRM Strahorn Library in Marengo (see IRM website for hours and contact, open certain days during the winter).
For those specialized books of passenger cars, I have ordered from Bob Wayner in New York.
Ted Anderson, IRM Pullman Library volunteer curator

tedander@core.com

Go to the web site below and scroll down through the posts.

Dick

3985 troubles

The departure is now set for 8 am on thursday, subject to change. While they were repairing the circulator pipe it was only about 6 degrees overnight and many pipes froze up. On tuesday they were using torches to thaw these, as well as placing portable heaters under tarps to heat the pipes between engine and tender, etc. Check the UP web site for updates to their schedule.

rdgoldfede@aol.com

> Les,
> I didn't make any of the B&OCT trips but
> I did ride the GTW trips in 1966 and 1967.
> The 1967 trip operated with 22 or 23 cars,
> as I remember. GTW 5629 sure was a gutsy
> locomotive. We made it up Valpo Hill somehow
> that day with that huge train. I'm sure that
> Dick Young can probably fill in the details
> that you and I have forgotten over the
> years.
> Don C.

Don:

Thanks. Those were the days when the Grand Trunk Western was still allowing privately owned steam locomotives to power fantrips over their line. I remember a couple of other trips in those days; one with ex-GTW 2-8-2 #4070 (which Jensen repaird) and one with one of the ex-Reading 4-8-4 fantrip engines (maybe the 2102?) I believe it was the 4070 trip that ran later and later and later, finally arriving back in Chicago early on Monday morning! I believe that was the trip that ended the privately owned locomotive fantrips over the GTW.

Les

midlandblb@cs.com

The March issue of Railpace had a piece on the Kutztown RR and said they received two Whitcomb centercabs. The article said that they are "the only two Buda-powered engines in existence." Is this true? I pretty sure that there are more Whitcombs than these two in existence. I believe the Wanamaker, Kempton and Southern has some. How are they powered? Where were Buda engines made?
Scott Markloff


markloff@telus.net