Your right --- I guess #2100 was just stored there for quite a while; one of the first times I met Jason was to go see her at Morgan Run ---- To quote Steam Locomotive.com:

"For some time, 2100, which was owned by a private group, had been stored by the Ohio Central Railroad. It once steamed on test runs conducted during the last week of May, 1998, on the tracks of the Ohio Central. "

I have a picture of Heather (my wife, girlfriend in the time) in her cab, circa 1996.

Shoot, 2-6-0 #96; dang. Another sweet little engine. And me, a CN/ GTW fan..... fifty lashes with a wet noodle.

TJ

It is very fundamental and important to keep some relevant facts in mind when considering the subject of the future of steam/pssgr. operations on the O/C.
Firstly Mr. Jerry Joe Jacobson is the SOLE shareholder(owner) of the entire shooting match. Yes,of course he has a team of employees (about 175 people) who keep the rr running and growing on a daily basis-but he is the SOLE final decision maker. It's truly an anomoly in todays world and especially in the world of corporate railroading. This is a key point as even with the best of insurance coverage and corporate paperwork "walls" if there should be a bad accident its a certainty that the ambulance chasing attorneys would come after Jerry personally and he'd thus be potentially at risk for everything he owns.
As many of you know Trainfestival 2004 was plagued with many many operational/mechanical issues several of which had the potential of resulting in very serious incidents. Fortunatly no one was injured and the worst that came out of it was serious mechanical issues to the 6325&1293. However I'm sure the near misses materially swayed Mr. Jacobson toward taking the stand hes now adopted and who could blame him?
I've known Jerry a long time and consider him a good freind and I know he loves steam as much today as ever and will do all possible to be a good steward of the equipment in his stable. I'm also confident that while the days of the public being able to ride behind steam on the O/C may well be history that we'll all enjoy seeing one or more of his engines pulling freight from time to time.
In the interim may I offer him and all who helped him a hearty thanks for a great show!!
Ross Rowland

Ross, Can I assume the "operational" issue you refer was a certain engineer who violated the railroad speed policy while hauling passenger? Yes, that would be a potential liability wouldn't it Ross - excessive speed while hauling families and children? I will bow to your expertise on that subject.

You are correct in that Jerry has the final say on what goes on with his railroad, and anyone who knows me will verify that I have nothing but the utmost respect for the man and have never spoken ill of him or been disrespectful in any way (which is more than I can say for some whom claim to be his friends); he always treated me decent and I would not take it well to hear anyone else speak ill of the man.

I don't claim to know what all goes on but I do know there are some terrific dedicated people who no longer involved with the steam program. However,I do know enough to believe (and this is my opinion only) that we will not see the likes of another Trainfestival sponsored by the Ohio Central - shame that it is. I miss the great bunch of fellows I met and worked with and the friendships forged in my five years on the OC. I miss getting together and the good times we had. I hated seeing some come in with their own agendas, thinking only of self and not the program as a whole. The majority of us thought of each other first, we would go out of our way to make sure someone else got a chance at some peach task and would always jump in to help the guy who had the dirty duty. Am I bitter, no - Saddened, yes. Saddened at the selfishness that some people in the industry have.



Greg

edited by G Schultz for content :-)

No, your stated assumption is incorrect. The issues I addressed involved poor planning and poor mechanical supervision which resulted in extensive(and avoidable) mechanical injuries being inflicted on both the 6325&1293. In addition the mad rush to attempt to get the 33 done in time for the event resulted in much of the work that was done in the last several months leading up to the July'04 event having to be undone and redone at great expense.
The damage done to the 6325 has yet to be corrected and the 1293 has just come out of months of work needed to address the abuse she sufferred. This all cost SERIOUS money in addition to the potential risks of causing a serious incident. The 33 is not yet road worthy and will no doubt need further axle and other work before it is.
When you add it all up it's perfectly understandable why Mr. Jacobson has made the decision he has.
IMHO-Ross Rowland

I look back at TF2004 with some great memories. It was a lot of work but we had some great volunteers who came out to help. We had over 27,000 visitors to TF in THREE days and we would have had over 30,000 if the weather had cooperated. I might add that Steamtown only gets a little over 100,000 visitors in ONE year. The train show was a great success and I had friends there who were vendors. They told me that it had been one of their best shows and when would we be having another TF. There was a great mix worked into the TF with displays and an operating live steam layout. We received many positive comments from the vistors that weekend. I have a photo in my office of all of the volunteers taken in front of the 6325 - GREAT WEEKEND!

The OC and the volunteers have had a very strong influence on my teenage son. Jason Johnson has helped him with career and college choices. TJ and JJJ were kind enough to write letters of recommendation for Mike that helped him secure a scholarship to Rail Camp in 2005. Mike has been invited back to Rail Camp this year as a youth counselor. He told me that his goal is to get more young people interested in preservation and steam. Greg got him off to the right start by giving him mundane tasks to perform. I wanted to see how he would react to see if he was really interested. Instruction is always taken better from someone else. Thanks to all of the help that he got in Ohio, he is now in his second year working on the NH&I for the summer. He has just starting filling in as a student fireman. There are now people working on steam railroads and special projects all over the country that got their start on the OC. It only lasted a short time but the benefits will be around for many years to come. We are sure glad that we had the opportunity!!

And with Mr. Muldowney's kindly and considerate thoughts, this thread is now locked.

RyPN does not exist to host debates involving detailed criticisms of specific operations or their events, or rebuttals to same. If we want to have a general conversation about what makes a good event, what planning is necessary to pull one off, what pitfalls to avoid, that's great and very valuable. But this site does not exist to host critcisms of specific maintenenace and operational practices of specific operators or defenses of same. That is too close to either ad hominem or debate for its own sake.

So, let's move on and let Ron's well-taken post be the last work on this topic for now.