EBT No. 15 Next up for Restoration

Pennsylvania tourist railroad East Broad Top said the next steam locomotive that is expected to be restored to operating condition will be 2-8-2 No. 15.

The locomotive last ran in 2011. It was built in 1914.

In February the EBT operated 2-8-2 No. 16 following the completion of its restoration.

No timeline for the restoration of No. 15 has been announced, but officials hope restoration work can begin this year.

EBT has six 2-8-2 steam locomotives and it hopes to eventually restore all of them to operating condition.

Steam Saturday: The Akron Coaling Tower

The Cuyahoga Valley Line never replenished 2-8-2 steam locomotive No. 4070 with coal from the former Baltimore & Ohio coaling tower in Akron. The facility had been out of service for well over a decade by the time the CVL began operations in summer 1975. In the photograph above, the 4070 is passing the coaling tower in September 1978. The light Mikado was turned here in preparation of its return trip to Cleveland. Of course at one time B&O steam locomotives pulling trains on the Valley Line between Cleveland and Akron did sit in this location to get a new load of coal.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: Lesser Known Iteration of the 4070 Tender

Over the years former Grand Trunk Western No. 4070 carried many heralds and letterings on its tender. That was particularly the case when it worked on the Cuyahoga Valley Line, now the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

It has carried heralds and lettering for the CVL and during its time when it was filmed for the movie The Natural, it even carried a Burlington Route herald.

In the image above, it carries lettering for the Midwest Railway Historical Foundation. This might be the least remembered of the tender’s many identities.

That is the name of its owners at the time, an organization based in Cleveland that has since renamed itself the Midwest Railway Preservation Society.

The 2-8-2 light Mikado is shown working in Peninsula in September 1982.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Changing of the Steam Guard in Northeast Ohio

From 1975 to 1990 the summer and autumn norm in northeast Ohio was former Grant Trunk Western 2-8-2 4070 running from Cleveland to Akron on the Cuyahoga Valley Line.

Even though it was shut down during 1986 and 1987 due to the transition of the ex-Baltimore & Ohio branch from CSX to the National Park Service, when it returned in 1988 many figured 4070 would be running for years to come.

During the 15-year period I spent many available weekends riding, photographing, then volunteering on the restoration and operating crews.

Little did we all know that after the September 1990 mechanical breakdown of 4070 that a changing of the guard was in the works with the organizations and steam in the area.

Luckily Jerry Jacobson’s Ohio Central began operating steam tourist trains out of Sugarcreek in October 1988.

For the next 15 plus years we saw a variety of steamers operating, the former Canadian National 4-6-0 No. 1551.

It had been built by Montreal Locomotive Works in April 1912 as Canadian Northern 1354.

These are two of my favorite photos of Jerry’s first operating steamer on the Ohio Central taken just one month after 4070’s last time under steam.

In the top image, No. 1551 leads a train near Fresno. In the bottom image it cruises through Baltic. Both images were made on Oct. 14, 1990.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Steamtown May Restore CN 2-8-2

Steamtown National Historic Site is eyeing a former Canadian National steam locomotive as its next restoration project.

Superintendent Deborah Conway told Trains magazine that CN 2-8-2 No. 3377 is a “likely candidate” for restoration.

However, the park’s shop first plans to finish its restoration work of Boston & Maine 4-6-2 Pacific-type No. 3713.

No. 3377 was built by the Canadian Locomotive Company in 1919 and is nearly identical to Steamtown’s other CN 2-8-2, No. 3254, which was taken out of service in 2012.

No. 3254 had a high profile at Steamtown throughout the 1990s and 2000s, but park officials think No. 3377 might be in better condition than No. 3254.

“A condition assessment is needed to fully determine a course of action but overall staff feels that No. 3254 is pretty worn out,” Conway said.

In the meantime, Steamtown has awarded to the Strasburg Rail Road a contract to build the firebox of No. 3713.

NKP 587 Stranded 24+ Hours in Kentucky

Many railroad operating employees have stories to tell about going on duty and their train never turning a wheel during their shift.

Nickel Plate Road No. 587 had a similar experience during its trek from Indiana to Kentucky.

A truck hauling the steam locomotive from the Indiana Transportation Museum to a new home in Ravenna, Kentucky, got stuck for more than 24 hours on a country road in Madison County, Kentucky.

The driver of the truck, Ted Squier, said he was following the route provided him with a permit from the State of Kentucky when he because stuck between two curves.

He said if he had proceeded he might have flipped the load of his truck, spilling the 2-8-2 Baldwin-built locomotive onto the ground.

Squier said he should never have been routed to this road.

“I was 118 foot long and 185,000 pounds so I had no business being on this road. I should have been on a four-lane highway,” he said.

Two wreckers helped escort his truck out of its predicament.

A nearby resident and several other people worked through the night putting rock down on the road.

“They were out here all night long with bulldozers, the police were out here. They had my entire driveway blocked, wouldn’t let me through. I had to take out the ditch line to come through my house,” said Chad Isaacs, who lives in the area.

The route outlined in the permit had Squirer taking Panola Road in Waco.

2-8-2 Headed for Age of Steam Roundhouse

Another steam locomotive is en route to the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek.

Yreka Western 2-8-2 No. 19 was loaded onto a flatcar this week and left Yreka, California.

AOS owner Jerry Joe Jacobson bought No. 19 for $400,000 last October at a sheriff’s auction after a boiler company placed a lien on it for nonpayment of work done in 2006.

The steamer was built in 1915 by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1915 and has worked for an an Arkansas logging railroad and California’s McCloud River Railroad. It appeared in the 1973 movie Emperor of the North.

No. 19 is the second ex-McCloud locomotive to be owned by AOS, including 2-6-2 No. 9.

AOS Buys Another Locomotive

Jerry Jacobson owns another steam locomotive. His Age of Steam Roundhouse purchased Yreka Western 2-8-2 No. 19 during a sheriff’s sale on Thursday in California.

AOS won out over the Valley Railroad of Essex, Connecticut, the only other bidder for the locomotive.

Trains magazine reported that the winning bid of AOS was $400,000.

The sale of the locomotive happened after the Chelatchie Boiler Works of Woodland, Washington, placed a lien on it for $264,000.

Chelatchie acted after not being paid for boiler work that it performed in 2006. By a 2013 court order, No. 19 was confined to its engine house.

A sheriff’s sale had been set for October 2013, but was called off when the previous operators of the Yreka Western alleged that they had a superior line on the locomotive.

Under terms of the sale, AOS will have two weeks to move the locomotive from its current location.

AOS officials told Trains they plan to load loose parts onto a truck and contract with a trucking company to move the locomotive on a low-boy trailer.

The tender will be taken by truck to Sugar Creek while the engine will move to Sacramento, California, where it will be placed on a railroad flat car for transport to Ohio.

The AOS owns another former McCloud River Railroad steam locomotives, No. 9, which it purchased last year from Steve Butler.

No. 19 last operated in November 2008. It appeared in the 1973 move Emperor of the North with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine.

It also once ran on the Oregon, Pacific & Eastern Railroad.