The guys that run the web site for the old Dr. Quinn TV show were nice enough to send me some photos of Bill Norred's Vulcan running on their set with a Midwest Central coach.

I was wondering what the current status of the former Norred equipment is. The Davenport 2-4-4 was sold to Disney, where it sat in the Disneyland roundhouse before being moved to Walt Disney World and dedicated and painted only never to run there. It was displayed outdoors at Epcot for a time. It then ended up at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio in a trade where their Baldwin 2-4-4 "Maud L" went to Disneyland, where it again is sitting in a roundhouse under a black tarp. It is an oil burner, and Cedar Point burns coal. It has been there for at least 4 or 5 years and it hasn't done much.

I heard that the ex-Carowinds engine "Melodia" (a 2-6-2 with a Crown boiler built from the frame of an 1897 Porter 0-6-2T), the Vulcan 2-4-0, and the four Disneyland "Retlaw One" coaches (excluding the combine which is still owned by the Norred family) were sold to a man in Santa Margarita, CA where they are stored. There were some pics of the web of relettered, tattered Retlaw One coaches on some track.

I was wondering a few things. First, if the new owner in Santa Margarita has track where the trains are run, or if they are simply in storage. In the photos it appeared the Retlaw coaches were on permanent track outdoors covered in tarps, but I am not sure if this is all the track there is. I would love to see photos of the equipment too.

There was also a rumor that the "Melodia" was converted back to an 0-6-2T tank engine. It passed through Shop Services in the early 1990s and (after seeing a pic on Steamlocomotive.info) appears to have a new stack among other things. I would like to find out what the status of the Melodia is. The other Carowinds engine, #2, is now Michael Jackson's "Katherine" running at Neverland.

Bill Norred also owned 2 15" gauge Hudson locomotives built by Seymour Johnson and Bob Harpur. One he purchased in the early 90s, the other after Seymour Johnson died. Both locomotives were moved to Glen Bell's Bell Gardens Farm, home to a 15" gauge railroad near San Diego, after Seymour Johnson's Montecito estate and 15" and smaller railroads were taken up. The green Hudson was sold to a man (I won't say name for privacy) in upstate New York who is building an impressive 15" gauge railroad. The other Hudson, number 6088, is still at Bell Gardens and was undergoing boiler work. It was still owned by the Norred family. Bell Gardens closed last November, but everything I think is still there.

The photo above is a link from the Dr. Quinn website.

Thanks and Happy Rails,
-Ed Kelley


GTNGRR@aol.com

Photo of the 15" gauge ex-Seymour Johnson/Norred Hudson at its new home near Saranac Lake, New York. Photo link from Dave Crosby's great park trains photo site. You can also find photos of the Strasburg Railroad's 15" gauge Cagney engine and other non-steam park trains at http://www.geocities.com/parktrains

-Ed Kelley


GTNGRR@aol.com

Ed, recent news from Glen Bell Jr's place has it that the track is being removed and disposition of the equipment is not known.

The Retlaw 1 coaches in Santa Margarita may be used on a newly proposed tourist line running on the old Pacific Coast Railway out of Avila Beach. Currently many 2' gauge lokies have been purchased for this operation inlcuding two Pacifics built by Baldwin that were imported to South Africa. I hear that the engines are in So. California undergoing restoration. The ride is scheduled to go about 4.25 miles up the coast.

Jeff


btflco@juno.com

> The Retlaw 1 coaches in Santa Margarita may
> be used on a newly proposed tourist line
> running on the old Pacific Coast Railway out
> of Avila Beach. Currently many 2' gauge
> lokies have been purchased for this
> operation inlcuding two Pacifics built by
> Baldwin that were imported to South Africa.
> I hear that the engines are in So.
> California undergoing restoration. The ride
> is scheduled to go about 4.25 miles up the
> coast.

> Jeff

As far as I know there are only two remaining South African 2' gauge Pacifics - one (ex Eastern Province Cement Co. - see picture in the back of "The Maine Two Footers" 1st ed.) runs on the Brecon Mountain Railway in South Wales and the other (ex South African Railways) was at Humewood Road in Port Elizabeth and to the best of my knowledge remains there. The others of this class got scrapped by 1962.

G


gavin@hamilton.powernet.co.uk

> As far as I know there are only two
> remaining South African 2' gauge Pacifics -
> one (ex Eastern Province Cement Co. - see
> picture in the back of "The Maine Two
> Footers" 1st ed.) runs on the Brecon
> Mountain Railway in South Wales and the
> other (ex South African Railways) was at
> Humewood Road in Port Elizabeth and to the
> best of my knowledge remains there. The
> others of this class got scrapped by 1962.

This'll teach me to check my information before posting responses! The locomotive that I placed at Humewood Road is actually owned by the Sandstone Steam Railroad, Hoekfontein Farm, Ficksburg, Orange Free State, South Africa but is being restored in Bloemfontein.

G


gavin@hamilton.powernet.co.uk

Why would they buy 2' gauge locomotives to use when they already have two 3' gauge locomotives and a set of 3' gauge passenger cars? I would think they would use those and built to 3'.

The Brecon Mountain pacific is a beauty, sort of reminiscent of the Sandy River engines. It's a Baldwin.

-Ed Kelley

GTNGRR@aol.com

Any photos of the Bracon Mountain 4-6-2 on the internet?

ryarger@rypn.org

Here's a picture of the Brecon Mountain Railway Baldwin Pacific, outside frame, that runs out of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. A real beauty, isn't she?

Art prints availible here for $22 US:
http://www.militaryartcompany.com/trains.htm

-Ed Kelley


GTNGRR@aol.com

Here's a photo fairly recent of John Buckwalter's 4" scale Mogul pulling Sandy Whittum's beautiful 3" scale J3 Hudson out of the enginehouse. These are 15" gauge engines. This was the first time the engine ran on his railroad in Northern New York. The Mogul is partially completed, but it runs. It will be a beauty when finished. The Mogul is based at the First City Grand Scale Railroaders club in Ohio, where the Bluebird & Western Railroad is located. Other engines that run there include a Cagney and a Cli-Shay. In addition to the Mogul, a three-truck Shay is under construction. There are only (to my knowledge) 2 other 15" gauge three-truck shays in existence; one in Washington and one in California (both ran on the same railroad in WA state). There are also 15" gauge two-truck Shays at Jim Holmes' Glenwood South Park & Pacific Railroad and Tim Flood's Vulcan Forge Shortline in Ohio. Tim Flood built his loco for merely $2,000! It is a beauty too.

-Ed Kelley

Building a Shay on a Budget

GTNGRR@aol.com