It has been a tumultuous two years at the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, the longest remnant of the Denver & Rio Grande Western's narrow gauge empire. You've probably heard the story already, at least in general terms. The contract of the previous operator was terminated for non-performance late in 1999. The contract was re-bid twice, but no responsive bids were received. At the last moment, with the 2000 season on the verge of cancellation, the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec quickly organized a new subsidiary, the Rio Grande Railway Preservation Corporation (RGRPC), made a proposal and were awarded the operating contract. I visited the C&TS for the first time in September 2001, and had a chance to talk to Friends President and ARM Board member Terri Shaw and her husband, Friends Director Howard Bunte about the first two years of their railroad adventure.

Before getting into that, it's worthwhile to describe the C&TS and its setting, because that has much to do with the railroad's uniqueness, and its considerable operating challenges. Start with the basic fact that this is one of the most challenging railroad physical plants in North America, running mostly through extremely mountainous country, and most of that is inaccessible by road. At 64 miles, it and the 64 mile Grand Canyon Railway are the longest tourist/museum operation in the country in daily use. The only others that come close are the Durango & Silverton (46 miles), the Knox & Kane in Pennsylvania (45 miles, weekends only), the White Pass & Yukon (41 miles), and the California Western (40 miles) and the North Vancouver-Squamish Royal Hudson (39 miles).

Chama

It is impossible not to compare the C&TS with its sister Rio Grande remnant, the Durango & Silverton. Both feature spectacular scenery, original equipment on home rails and impressive amounts of original infrastructure. Both managements have generally done what they can to maintain keep the railroads' appearances historically accurate.

Geography and popularity begin to separate the two. Durango, with 15,000 residents, is a much bigger place, the hub of southwest Colorado. The great success of the railroad, which carries some 200,000 passengers per year, has certainly helped the town grow. Development now sprawls up the flat valley north of Durango toward Hermosa, and the narrow gauge runs behind condos and strip malls for a distance. The huge crowds of passengers have spawned the expected tourist oriented stores on the main street near the depot. The depot area itself has been modified with fences and gates across the tracks to prevent the hordes from overrunning the yard and blundering into various unsafe situations. The railroad did what it had to do to keep the place safe, but at a price. After traversing the Animas Gorge, the trains stop in the middle of downtown Silverton which, though a nicely preserved mining town, clearly owes its continued health to the trains.

Chama, on the other hand, is a fairly sleepy place of 1100 that still looks like a railroad town. Sure, there are businesses that have capitalized on the train, but it's pretty low key. The yard and engine terminal faces the main street. It's not a big engine house, but it's full of steam locomotives, both live and dead. The yard isn't very large, but its tracks are full of original Rio Grande freight and non-revenue cars, many restored by the Friends volunteers. The depot is there, as are a whole series of support structures and facilities such as the water tank and wood coaling tower. It's smoky and cinder ballasted and looks like 1925 without trying.

Enter the shops and the feeling doesn't go away. Inside the oil house they never bothered to change the stenciling on the Headlight Oil tank, probably last used around 1920. Inside the boiler room is an inactive heating plant constructed of two old 2-8-0 boilers. Yes, there's a new shop building, plus new lighting in the machine shop of the old roundhouse, but it's still a cathedral of grease and coal smoke, complete with veteran employees who get dirty for a living.

Across the Great Divide

The rails climb 2100 feet from Chama to the continental divide on 14 miles of unrelenting four percent grade. Many trains are double or even triple headed and spend a solid hour blasting uphill, twisting and turning up the mountainside. A good highway parallels and crosses the tracks four times, so this part of the trip is well documented. At Cumbres is the first of three major concentrations of company buildings restored by the Friends, including a snowshed and earthen water tank, and they add greatly to the historic experience. Each group has been painted in the color scheme of a different era--1915-45 gold with brown trim at Cumbres, 1880s boxcar brown at Osier and 1960s white with green trim at Sublette. There are a total of eight water tanks along the line (seven are functional), surely the most to be found anywhere in North America.

The highway follows for a couple of more miles to Los Pinos, then the railroad wanders off into the wilderness and doesn't emerge until a half mile before the end of the line at Antonito. This is when you start to realize that much of it seldom gets photographed, except from on the train. You simply can't get to it easily, so it is full of places you never knew existed. The line is ridiculously scenic, passing through upland meadows, then spectacular rock-bound canyons, before descending into a sagebrush desert. Much of it is open range, and we actually had to slow to avoid cattle on the track (where else can you experience that?). From Cumbres it takes 50 miles to drop 2100 feet on an almost continuous 1.42 percent grade. And the curves-the line is almost nothing but curves. They are sharp, typically 20 degrees. There are enough horseshoe curves that you can't remember them all. The track twists high on the wall of Toltec Gorge, a thousand foot drop just beyond the edge of the crossties that continues for miles. You can't help but wonder how in the world the Rio Grande ran 70 car pipe trains over this line. Eventually the mountains are left behind and the final miles are spent looping down the mesas and then following long tangents into Antonito. Though not thrilling in the way of the mountain scenery, the desert miles are timeless, with pronghorn antelope running from the train. At Antonito (population 900), the surviving depot was not for sale, so trains end on the edge of town at a terminal constructed new for the purpose. Antonito gives off virtually no sign that it knows there is a world class historic railroad in town.

Each day a train leaves from each end of the line. They meet at Osier, where the crews swap engines and consists and everyone eats lunch in a large new dining room with a gift shop. The Chama train is typically twice as well patronized as the Antonito train. The Silverton got all the Rio Grande's passenger cars, so the C&TS created coaches from steel framed flatcars. They look obviously made up, but it can't be helped, and anyway it's the ride and the engines that count. That day we rode behind the oldest of them all, #463, built by Baldwin in 1902 as a Vauclain compound. The Antonito train drew #497, converted from a 1902 standard gauge 2-8-0 in 1928.

The two trains offer passengers the choice of several trips:

Chama to Osier and back

Antonito to Osier and back

Chama to Antonito and bus back

Antonito to Chama and bus back

A two-day all-rail round trip from either end

Each of these options is an all-day undertaking, which would seem to limit the family market or anyone else not interested in eight hours worth of cinders and soot. However, a short trip is offered from Chama to Cumbres, with a bus back, and only a small number choose it. Ridership this year is expected to reach 55,000, down somewhat from the record of 70,000 set three years ago.

The uphill battle

The Friends inherited a railroad that was falling apart and was starved for capital. It was run by a group of veteran but dispirited employees. For years Kyle Railways, a profit making company, had altruistically run it with no expectation of profit, but rather as a break even public trust. All who know seem to agree that Kyle's stewardship was responsible for the railroad surviving as long as it did on as little money as there was. When Willis Kyle decided to retire in 1996, his company was not prepared to continue and declined to renew the contract.

The C&TS has been run by a triad. It is owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico, and administered by a joint commission. The commission hires an operator, who is supposed to run and maintain the equipment, the track and physical plant needed to run the revenue operation. Since 1992, the Friends have been responsible for restoring and maintaining all non-revenue equipment and non-revenue physical plant.

The Commission has generally taken a hands off role, leaving virtually everything to the contract operator. The Commission has required that the operation be self sustaining out of fares and other revenue. Government money had been spent on the Osier dining hall/visitor center, the Chama new shop and the new Antonito terminal complex. Generally though, track and equipment was the operator's responsibility to cover out of revenues. Under Kyle's management, the railroad kept its head above water, although the physical plant was gradually deteriorating.

Kyle's successor was George Bartholomew. What he did, or didn't do, is quite controversial, and the subject of mutual lawsuits between him and the Commission. What seems clear is that he drastically cut back on maintenance and equipment repairs, stating that they were the responsibility of the Commission. He allegedly left behind a trail of unpaid bills, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue cannot be accounted for. The usually passive Commission was slow to discover how bad things were, partially because Bartholomew was months behind in submitting the required financial reports.

By 1999 it was clear that there were major problems and, after some investigation, Bartholomew's contract was terminated. He sued and the Commission counter sued. The Commission filed a motion for Summary Judgment in September 2001. In October the judge ruled in the Commission's favor. The Commission's counter suit remains active.

The Commission put the contract out for bid, with no promise of capital for repairs. By this time the property was so obviously run down that no proposer was willing to make the needed investment. The financial risk was too great. Enter the Friends.

Organized in 1988, the Friends have grown their annual work sessions to the point where they are, by far, the largest and most productive volunteer efforts in all North American rail preservation. These have been recounted in RMQ and in seminars at ARM conventions. This year set another record, with over 340 individuals participating. Yet their focus had remained the non-revenue equipment and buildings only.

In 1999, after the departure of Bartholomew, two bid offerings failed to bring a new operator on board. There was the real possibility that the railroad would not run in 2000, but there were other, greater fears. What if the Commission determined that the railroad could not sustain itself? Would it be permanently shut down, or partially abandoned? Would the equipment be sold off, or offered to other museums and tourist lines? The Friends looked around and saw no one else in a position to prevent these things from happening, so they acted.

Their first action was to raise enough money to prevent the furloughing of shop crew works on the locomotives. Then they formed the Rio Grande Railway Preservation Corporation, raised the $300,000 required by the RFP, presented a proposal and was awarded the operator contract. Finally, they went to the legislatures of both states to request emergency funding to begin rebuilding. The states came through with the funds, and more has followed. The Economic Development Agency of the U. S. Department of Commerce awarded $800,000 for track work, and appears friendly to future track grants. Interestingly, the response of many politicians and state bureaucrats was surprise that no funding requests had been made previously. TEA21 funding is once again being explored after a long lapse.

The whiff of scandal surrounding the Bartholomew departure caused a shakeup on the commission. Whereas previous members had shown little interest in the railroad's inner workings, the new chair is John Swart, an up through the ranks railroader who retired as a Vice President of the Santa Fe. The Commission's head staff member, Executive Director Leo Schmitz, also resigned.

Friends President Terri Shaw was named Executive Director of the RGRPC, and she and Howard Bunte moved from Los Angeles to Albuquerque in order to give closer attention to the railroad.

The Friends' have continued in their previous role, expanded to include fund raising for the railroad and repairs to the passenger coaches. The fact that the Friends are also now in charge of day to day operations is still being digested. Even though the Friends now occupy two legs of the three legged organization, what that means is still being sorted out. Shaw's style is to build consensus, and to move people gradually into a new relationship with one another.

So far this year ridership is better than expected, and revenues have exceeded the previous high year. Some large track jobs are underway. The paid employees have settled back into their routines. Shaw and Bunte say that they are gradually moving out of the survival mode, and starting to think about planning for the future.

Age of Steam Railroad Museum

Dallas, TX

The museum held a reunion of employees of Dallas Union Terminal. The company operated from 1912 to 1974. Twenty former employees attended. The reunion was organized to help gather material for an oral history project.

Santa Fe 1949 steel caboose #999311 has been added to the collection. Donated by a private party, it is in quite good shape and received new exterior paint before arriving at the museum.

Bluegrass Railroad Museum

Versailles, KY

More on the new owner of Alabama State Docks 0-6-0 #63, reported in the last RMQ. The locomotive is now owned by the non profit Kokosing Gap Trail, a 14 mile trail on Pennsylvania Railroad right of way between Mount Vernon and Danville, OH. The locomotive will be displayed at Gambier, OH next to a Chesapeake & Ohio caboose.

Bowie Railroad Station Museum

Bowie, MD

The museum has received a Maryland Association of History Museums grant for the interior work on Norfolk & Western caboose #518303 (Roanoke Shops 1922). Much of the exterior work is already complete, and when finished the caboose will serve as an exhibit area focusing on work life for railroad employees. Thanks to Stephen E. Patrick

California State Railroad Museum

Sacramento, CA

The Historic American Engineering Record, a division of the National Park Service, is spending two summers documenting the Southern Pacific Sacramento Shops complex. The project is sponsored by CSRM and its Foundation, with the cooperation of owner Union Pacific. Once completed, the photos, drawing and reports compiled during the study will be available for public viewing at both CSRM and the Library of Congress. Some of the structures will survive as part of the new Railroad Technology Museum, and the documentation will be an invaluable aid in restoring them.

May 10 saw the unveiling of a Donor Wall, designed to honor those individuals and organizations who have supported the museum.

The CSRM Foundation has received a pair of $50,000 grants from the North American Railway Foundation. One will upgrade the library's databases so they can be searched online. The other will fund the production of prints from the museum's collection of glass plate negatives.

East Troy Trolley Museum,

East Troy, WI

The body of La Crosse, Wisconsin Birney car #12 (St. Louis 1926), along with a power truck, has been removed from the collection and shipped to the trolley museum in Appleton, WI. The car is described as "dilapidated", and not fitting into East Troy's plans.

Electric City Trolley Museum, Scranton, PA

The museum owns numerous streetcars, but most are Pennsylvania Broad Gauge (5 foot 2 1/2 inches) and won't run on the museum's new standard gauge tracks. In all, 80 trucks need to be converted. An anonymous donor has put forward a $5000 challenge grant to help get the job done.

Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum

Sarasota, FL

On September 14 tropical storm Gabrielle washed out the museum's railroad in several locations and dropped trees on the tracks. The worst washout is about 60 feet long and twenty feet deep. Reportedly, repairs are underway.

Friends of Locomotive #35

Oyster Bay, LI

On August 2nd the long awaited move of Long Island 4-6-0 #35 (PRR Juniata Shops 1928) to Oyster Bay took place. To prepare for the move, volunteers scraped and primed #35.

Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec

Albuquerque, NM

The Friends have received three grants. $100,000 from the Narrow Gauge Trust Fund will be used for locomotive rehab, to improve communications equipment and for back shop support through the purchase of tools, materials and spare parts. The Amhearst Railway Society has given $2000 toward the repair of locomotive #487's side rods. The New Mexico Historic Preservation Division has given $2000 for a Spanish version of the new Chama and Antonito walking tour brochure.

Golden Gate Railroad Museum

San Francisco, CA

After five years of repairs, Southern Pacific 4-6-2 #2472 (Baldwin 1921) returned to steam on August 4. For more on the story, see Behind the Scenes on page15.

Huntsville & Lake of Bays Railway Society, Huntsville, ON

The North American railway Foundation has received a donation of $24,265. It will be used to re-engine locomotive #3 and build a wall inside the engine shed, creating an insulated space for winter work.

A turntable has been installed at the Fairy Lake end of the line, permitting the engine to be turned at both ends.

Illinois Railway Museum

Union, IL

The latest acquisition is Atlantic Coast Line lightweight diner Birmingham (Pullman-Standard 1950). The stainless steel car was purchased by Amtrak in 1971 and retired in 1986. The car, still on its own wheels, became a restaurant in Lansing, IL. Eventually the restaurant closed and the car was donated to IRM by the owner. The exterior is a bit shabby, with broken windows and three missing doors, but the unusual dining room interior is in very good shape. It consists of 12 diamond shaped tables with angled booths. The kitchen has been much modified. IRM plans to restore the car to operation.

RMQ previously reported on the acquisition of Rock Island 50-foot outside braced wood and steel boxcar #264070 (Standard Steel Car 1930). At the time it was complete and intact, but very weathered. The Rock River Valley Division of the National Model Railroaders Association adopted the car and donated many hours of labor to its restoration, which was recently completed.

One would not think it possible, but this year IRM has added five trolley coaches to its collection. Three of them are 1970s Flyers retired recently by Miami Valley Regional Transit Authority in Dayton, OH. In the bargain came Milwaukee postwar Pullman #350, the last trolley to operate there in 1965. It had been acquired by Dayton and had sat outside for many years, so it's in rough shape. The final acquisition is Vancouver, BC #2340 (CCF-Brill 1948). It was one of 200 trolleys that sat in a Vancouver scrapyard for almost 20 years because the owner wanted to sell the fleet to a single buyer. In 2000 the scrapper went bankrupt, and a local group arranged for IRM to buy one of the buses.

Also on the bus front, a new bus garage building with concrete floor has opened. It is big enough to bring the entire bus collection under roof for the first time.

With inside storage at a premium, someone did a little calculating and figured out how to squeeze one more car inside. 16 cars were shuffled about to achieve the greater efficiency.

Kentucky Railway Museum

New Haven, CT

KRM has been awarded a $100,000 TEA-21 grant. It will be used for track repairs and for further restoration of a Brill Model 55 motor car.

Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad Preservation Society,

Muddy Creek Forks, PA

The Society has been working cooperatively with Trout Unlimited and the Isaak Walton League to stock trout in portions of Muddy Creek that are accessible only by rail. In addition to the fish stocking trains, specials are operated for fisherman on opening day of trout season.

Midland Railway Historical Association, Baldwin City, KS

Midland has been awarded its third TEA21 grant, for $192,000. It will be used to improve the runaround track at Baldwin, extend the brick platform and build a new track at the Baldwin depot. An additional siding for equipment storage will be built at Elm Creek.

A PCC streetcar body has been removed from the collection and donated to the Regional Transit Alliance in Kansas City. Plans call for restoring the car for permanent display at Kansas City Union Station.

Minnesota Transportation Museum

St. Paul, MN

A swap with Shore Line Trolley Museum has sent Twin City PCC #416 (St. Louis 1948) to Connecticut in exchange for various parts and electrical components. These permit MTM to complete its current restoration of Twin City Rapid Transit standard wood car #1239 (Snelling Shops 1907), as well as the pending restoration of Winona, MN single truck streetcar #10 (St. Louis Car 1913).

MTM has acquired Great Northern 1900-vintage wood coach #757 from a private party in Montana, who bought it off a GN dead line in 1963.

National Railroad Museum

Green Bay, WI

The Frederick J. Lenfestey Center, the museum's new exhibit hall, opened for the public on July 14. It houses the museum's prime pieces of rolling stock, as well as the Frederick Bauer Drumhead Gallery.

New York Transit Museum,

New York, NY

The museum's main facility, located in a decommissioned 1936 IND subway station in Brooklyn, has been closed for renovations, beginning September 1, 2001. The work will take about 15 months to complete. The improvements include enhanced climate control systems, new fire and safety installations, improved lighting and electric systems, a new art gallery and a renovated lecture media room. Reflecting the museum's recently expanded mandate to cover all New York transit, there will be a new permanent exhibit on the history of surface transit, both streetcars and buses.

A major exhibit, "Moving London", has opened at the museum's Grand Central site. Imported in cooperation with the London (England) Transport Museum, it is a multi-media chronicle of the last 100 years of public transit in London. It runs through January 2002.

Niles Canyon Railway

Sunol, CA

The railway's Brightside yard is undergoing a major expansion. Three new 700 foot yard tracks are being installed. The Sunol depot has a new roof, complete with new rafters. The boarding platform has been extended. The added on freight shed at one end of the depot was raised 2.5 inches to its original height, replacing decades of sag. Recent arrived NW2 diesel #1423 was painted and made operational.

North Carolina Transportation Museum, Spencer, NC

Attendees at the ARM/TRAIN joint convention will see the beginnings of a major expansion of the museum. Having completed the roundhouse restoration, next is the renovation of the massive 600 foot long Back Shop. So far, $10 million has been raised toward the projected $32 million project. The latest major gift is $100,000 from the Cannon Foundation.

Phase I of the project, the removal of asbestos, lead paint and other hazardous materials, is just beginning, and is expected to be completed by September 2002. Phase I also includes other external repairs to masonry, the roof, windows and doors. Phase II will focus on internal repairs and is set to begin in late 2003. Phase III will see the installation of exhibits.

Northwest Railway Museum

Snoqualmie, WA

The museum has acquired two US Army diesel switchers. Both are model RS4TC (Baldwin 1954). They spent most of their lives at the Tooele, UT Army Depot, and were retired from the Yakima, WA Army Supply Depot. These are the two units that were caught up in the Yakima Interurban Lines controversy and were repossessed from YILA by the federal government. Reportedly they will not be accessioned into the museum's collection, but will power scheduled passenger trains, reducing wear and tear on the accessioned diesels.

Orange Empire Railway Museum

Perris, CA

Permission has been received to begin expending a $431,000 TEA21 grant on the renovation of the Perris Santa Fe depot. The money will fund an historic and environmental analysis, an engineering study and a detailed design focused on earthquake stabilization and structural rehabilitation.

A pair of Southern Pacific signal bridges, two track and three track, have been acquired. Both were removed from the SP's Beaumont Hill, located about 20 miles east of the museum. They were installed there in 1943, but may be older.

Spurred by high electricity costs, the museum has replaced a number of what are described as "ancient" building air conditioners with modern units. At the same time some buildings were insulated. The result is lower energy costs and better quality cooling.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

Washington, PA

By Scott R. Becker

Over 800 feet of ties and rail have been placed on the new right of way heading towards the East Site as part of our ISTEA grant project. Since Atlas Track Construction finished building the right of way last year, our Power & Signal Dept. volunteers have been busy putting up the poles, signal wire, feeder wire and the trolley wire itself. With their work done on the straightaway, it was the Way & Track Dept's turn to begin their work. Ties donated by Koppers Industries were laid out and then the rail was placed on them by volunteers. Track building has begun in earnest. In related ISTEA news, our Power & Signal crew finished installing feeder wire all the way to Arden Loop.

Other East Site news was the donation by the Port Authority of much of the Drake Trolley Loop in Pittsburgh's South Hills. The Drake Trolley Line is currently out of service and will soon be used to test new light rail cars. These new cars cannot negotiate the very tight Drake Loop making the loop surplus and PAT crews dismantled it. It will complement material acquired from the Overbrook Line and will be used as part of the East Site Project.

Railroad Museum of New England

Thomaston, CT

The museum serves as a good neighbor every year by transporting participants to and from the MacDermid Brass City Fishing Tournament, held at a roadless location along the Naugatuck River. The tournament is preceded each year by a community river cleanup. Naugy trains bring in the volunteers and haul out the junk and debris they collect.

Railtown 1897

Jamestown, CA

The year 2000 saw the dollars begin to flow as part of the California State Parks deferred maintenance funding program. In 2000 six miles of track at Railtown 1897 were upgraded to FRA Class 1 standards. That will improve to Class 2 this year. The water tank, a well known feature on the Petticoat Junction TV series, is being refurbished. Money is going into the roundhouse and machine shop building, with an emphasis on structural stabilization and fire suppression equipment. In addition, the machine shop's original belt driven machinery is being returned to operation as an interpretive exhibit.

Shay #2 and famous 4-6-0 #3 are being rebuilt in compliance with the FRA's new steam standards. In the process, both engines are being "reverse engineered". As they are disassembled, a complete set of drawings is being created to document them.

Rockhill Trolley Museum

Rockhill, PA

By Joel Salomon and Paul Ganter

Trolleys have been operating over a portion of the former East Broad Top Shade Gap branch right-of-way for nearly 40 years. The museum has placed 3,000 feet of track in service extending the mainline to over a mile and a half in length. The track now ends approximately 200 feet from State Route 522. The highway is scheduled to be realigned in the near future and when completed the track will be about 25 feet from the highway.

K. W. Reese Inc., a track contractor located in Mercersburg, built the new track under contract. All design and survey work was performed by volunteers. New materials, including poles for the overhead trolley wire, ties, bolts, spikes, and stone ballast have been used for the project. Rail was supplied by the Kovalchick Corporation. During a week-long volunteer work session in early August, great progress was made in erecting the overhead wire, with the final connections made the following Friday afternoon. The first trolley acquired by the museum in 1960, Johnstown Traction Co. # 311, became the first trolley to operate to Blacklog Narrows on August 17.

This coming winter and next spring, museum volunteers will construct a pocket track at Blacklog Narrows to allow trolleys to pass and to provide storage for cars laying over at he eastern end of the line. A passenger platform will also be constructed which will allow passengers to change cars at the Blacklog Narrows terminal. A custom-built track frog (necessary for the sharp curvature and limited space in the area available to build the pocket track) has already been constructed by museum volunteers and installed in the track. The entire project, costing over $150,000, is being financed completely through the museum with no governmental assistance at all.

Another project underway at the museum has been working to return a GE 25 ton locomotive to service. The locomotive, built in July of 1942, was donated to the museum in the spring of 2000 by Adtranz (Daimler Chrysler, now Bombardier) from their plant in Elmira, NY. It was originally built for the US Navy and was used at locations in Michigan and Virginia before being located to New York by other owners.

The locomotive received over a year of work, including removal of surplus air brake piping and equipment, patching of rust spots and dozens of bolt holes in the cab, replacement of all windows, painting of the exterior and cab interior, and attention to hundreds of other details like gauges, switches, lights, horn, sanders, and cab lettering.

Under the hood, many months were spent on less visible work. The engine's fuel injection system was entirely worn out, so it was completely replaced with a more modern version. The air compressor was similarly tired, so it was replaced with a rebuilt unit. The radiator was recored. With the help of Deka Battery of Lyons Station, PA, new batteries were obtained. Much deteriorated low-voltage electrical wiring was replaced. At that point the engine was test run, and after just minutes of operation, an internal mechanical failure caused a big setback! A pushrod had broken, causing considerable damage to the piston, cylinder liner, and pushrods of one cylinder. After more than a month of determined searching, replacement parts were finally located at tolerable prices. With the engine carefully reassembled and tested, the locomotive was finally placed in service July 8, 2001.

The museum was fortunate to receive a $3,000 grant from the National Railway Historical Society for motor work on single-truck semi-convertible trolley car 172. The motor has been rebuilt and will be reinstalled in the car this winter. Car 172 will renter service in 2002.

San Bernadino Railroad Historical Society, San Bernadino, CA

The Society has been trying for years to establish a permanent museum in San Bernadino, hopefully adjacent to the former Santa Fe mission style depot. In 1999 the society signed a lease that would have been the first step toward the permanent site. At the last minute, the mayor had second thoughts and the lease has languished unsigned since then. Caught in limbo, the society has had to pay large amounts to store and insure Santa Fe 4-8-4 #3751 (Baldwin 1927). To make matters worse, the original concept plan of a museum building next to the depot has been scrapped. The current concept moves the museum some distance away, dramatically raising the construction cost in the process. The most recent Crew Car newsletter wonders where this will all end, and questions the city's commitment to a rail museum.

Shore Line Trolley Museum

East Haven, CT

The museum has acquired two samples of electrification technology unique to the New Haven Railroad. The first is a piece of the famous triangular catenary installed in 1907 and only now being replaced by a more conventional design.

The other artifact is quite obscure, pieces of the first third rail installed on a steam railroad. It dates from 1896, when three miles of the New Haven branch from Nantasket Junction, MA to Weymouth were electrified. Like a Lionel train set, the third rail was in the center. It was A-shaped, resting on wood blocks. Third rail shoes located between the axles of each truck rode the flat top of the A. In 1897-98, identical third rail was installed from Hartford, CT to New Britain and Bristol. In 1898-99, the original Massachusetts installation was expanded from Weymouth to Braintree and on the branch from Nastasket Junction to Cohasset.

Not surprisingly, the open third rail was dangerous and was outlawed by the State of Connecticut in 1905, The Massachusetts installation had been removed in 1902. Pieces of the third rail survived. They were bolted head to head to form X-shaped poles that were used to support lights and overhead wires. Recently, Metro North Commuter Railroad donated two of these poles to the museum.

The museum has acquired PCC car Twin City Rapid Transit #416 (St. Louis 1948) from the Minnesota Transportation Museum. The car will be restored as Transport of New Jersey #27, its number from 1953 to 1978, when it was sold to Cleveland RTD. Retired in 1982, it was purchased by MTM in 1990, along with sister #3 , which was ultimately restored to service as Twin City #322.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

Chattanooga, TN

Canadian National 4-6-2 #5288 (Montreal 1918) has been purchased from Steamtown. It arrived at TVRM on June 29. Also acquired in the same deal was Kansas City Southern F7A #4061 and a spare EMD 567 engine. This is part of Steamtown's campaign to divest itself of non-accessioned rolling stock.

West Coast Railway Museum

Squamish, BC

In July and August Perry's Old Time Portraits, located in Vancouver, set up a remote operation at the museum. They will outfit the subject in vintage costume and photograph them in front of an inside backdrop or with a piece of vintage rail equipment. A percentage of the proceeds go to the museum.

Newly restored exhibit cars opened this summer. Canadian Pacific colonist sleeping car #2514 (CPR Angus Shops 1905) was partially completed when ARM visited in 1999. It is now done and contains a video display on immigration to western Canada. August saw the grand opening of the recently restored CP post office car #3704 (Canadian Car & Foundry 1949). Most of the 5000 volunteers hours spent on the car was done by members of the Canada Post Heritage Club. The car's interior is complete and features videos telling about the RPO and its history.

Western Railway Museum

Rio Vista Junction, CA

The major job of moving the museum's extensive archives into new quarters in the visitor center has begun. They were stored in rail cars at the museum, and in multiple locations elsewhere. For the first time everything is now at the museum, though a great deal of cataloguing remains to be done. Large amounts of donated shelving have been procured. These efforts are partially financed by the ongoing sale of surplus items on ebay, at the rate of ten per week. If you're interested in what they have, go to www.eBay.com, then do a "search by seller" for "rr things."

The F. W. Smith Memorial Library within the visitors center opened for the first time on September 22. Initial hours are 11 AM to 4 PM on the second Sunday and fourth Saturday of each month.

The last RMQ referred to a historical group acquiring a portion of the Union Pacific, ex-Missouri Pacific branch line from Waterville to Blue Rapids, KS. The group is the Marshall County Railroad Historical Society. They have completed raising the $45,000 necessary for the transaction.

Wichita Chapter NRHS Sparks

The Louisiana Steam Association has received a $900,000 federal grant to restore Texas & New Orleans 2-8-2 #745 (Algiers Shops 1921). Gulf Coast Railroad Museum Gulf Coast Railroading

behind the scenes

Museum volunteers doing

the hard jobs.

#2472 is back together

By Don Micheletti, reprinted with permission from the Golden Gate Railroad Museum Dispatcher's Sheet

It took the GGRM over five years to get Southern Pacific 4-6-2 #2472 repaired. Why did it take so long?

In 1996, 2472 had a bearing failure of its left front driver. This bearing had been running hotter than the others for as long as we have been running the locomotive. We searched for a reason but could not identify the cause. The last operation, when things came to a head, involved backing over 100 miles. This was the straw that broke the camel's back.

We are a small group of volunteers and nearly all of us have regular jobs. We worked on the locomotive one day a week at best.

Repairing the bearing required removing the front driver set. To do that, it was necessary to jack the locomotive up about four feet so we would have the necessary clearance to get the wheelset out. Actually, all the wheels would have to be removed since the front driver set had to come out the rear. In the "old days", at the locomotive shop, taking a set of wheels out was a couple of hours' job, using a wheel pit and dropping one or more sets as required. We have no such facility.

Fortunately we have a good shop, the big jacks and a large beam capable of holding one end of the locomotive. We had gone through the process at the Fairgrounds when we had the locomotive apart years ago. Thus we already had some experience on how to go about this job.

Getting the locomotive ready to jack up is a long process. Most of the piping and appliances at the rear of the locomotive had to be stripped off so the jacking beam could be installed and provide clearance to remove the wheels.

Once we got the locomotive jacked up and all the wheels were out, we faced the problem of replacing the bad bronze bearing and machining the journal bearing on the driver set (that weighs about 8000 pounds).

Not surprisingly we found other problems.

Many suspension pins and bushings were worn out.

The bushing mounting holes were in bad shape.

Two other driver bearings were nearing wear limit.

The driver axle (a forging that is 13 inches in diameter and five feet long) was very near its wear limit and might need to be replaced.

Most important, we found a lot of lateral (sideways) wear on our bad bearing--why? What caused the bearing problem? We think several things.

1. A lateral force contributed friction.

2. The bearing had been machined by SP as an oil lubricated bearing. Ours are grease.

3. The grease feeding geometry had not been machined correctly on the bearing for reverse operation.

4. Perhaps some misalignment in the pilot truck might be the source of the lateral force.

5. The locomotive may not be trammed (wheels aligned) correctly.

We had the locomotive apart to this degree not eight years before. Why did we not fix these problems then? Simply, we did not know they existed--save the wear on the two bearings. Without operational history there was no way knowing.

Some of the problems we faced were simply the availability of tools large enough to handle the 80 inch (73 inch plus flange) diameter, 8000 pound driver wheel set.

Since we expected we would have to replace the axle we were looking for a hydraulic wheel press large enough to accommodate the wheels. This would be a 300-tom minimum press. We found none on the west coast. The closest was in the east. We had an axle forged. That took a couple of months. We had one company tell us they could machine the axle, but we would have to remove the driver tires. We had to have a heater to do this. We removed the tires and sent them the wheelset. After working on the job for nearly a month, they gave up--they were unable to get an acceptable finish.

We again looked for a machine. The only lathe large enough was at California State Railroad Museum; however, it was very doubtful that machine could handle the weight. We gave it a try and were successful The lathe was maxed out and it was very slow going. It took several weeks to get the job done (we are volunteers) working when we could. Finally we had an acceptable journal bearing! We did not have to replace the axle.

Since the locomotive was apart, we decided to get some other things done as well. We recognized the driver springs were beginning to sag, so we had already begun a replacement program.

We had wanted to convert the trailing truck bearings from plain bronze to roller bearings. We decided to do this now.

Back to the repairs. We had expected the pilot truck might be part of the lateral wear problem, so we disassembled that and checked it from top to bottom. We even checked the springs to be sure they were well matched--that is, they deflected the same amount with the same load--we found nothing wrong.

We found worn suspension pins and bushings. They were OK just a few years before. Why had they failed? We found SP had replaced these parts, that should be hard steel, with parts that were soft steel. We think they probably figured the locomotive was not going to be around much longer and "made do".

When we removed the bushings from the frame to replace them, we found many of the mounting holes were in very bad condition. This required welding some up and machining many out to clean them up. We had to build a machine to do this. Then we had to make the pins and bushings.

The actual bronze driver bearings took some doing. Each of the bearings is about 16 inches in diameter and 13 inches long. We had these cast--not a big deal, but nonetheless a six-week wait and $1300 each. As mentioned, we needed to replace the #1 and felt that the #2 main bearings were close enough to their wear limit and we would replace them also.

Fortunately the GCRM has a very good machine shop with some very large machine tools and presses (not big enough for the drive wheels, though).

We did not have some of the required specialty tools of the steam era and had to make do in some cases or make the tooling in others. We were faced with having to make and fit the three bearings. To do this we had to "learn" the technology of fitting bearings that was common 50 years ago. We also had to rebuild several parts of the steel sections of the bearing boxes. The process is a very slow cut and try procedure. We could not afford any mistakes. It took us a long time. Because of new springs and bearings we had to retrofit many of the suspension parts.

Once the bearings were complete, we then had to "tram", or align the bearings in the frame. We enlisted the skills of some of the old SP machinists and others who have had some experience along this line. Again, we had to make some special tooling to do the job correctly. The job of collecting dimensional information to make the necessary adjustments took us a long time. Cutting and fitting the parts that align the bearings was also a slow process.

Obviously we finally got to a point where we felt we had it right. The actual lowering of the locomotive and putting it back on its wheels went quickly.

We had some boiler work to do, but that is "business as usual", nonetheless time consuming.

Then we needed to put all the other parts back--that took six months! There were literally hundreds of small, time consuming jobs. Just finding all the small parts after so long a time was a big job.

So-why did it take so long? Look at what we did. Each one-day job (and there were a lot) represented a week--minimum--in actual elapsed time. The disassembly, cleaning, learning, planning, searching, fabricating, machining and assembly just took time.

Five years represents 125 weekends or workdays (if we actually worked every weekend, and we didn't). That is about 25 work weeks, or half a work year. Considering the work we did, what we had to learn, the resources we had (people, skills and time available) I think we did well.

On page 17, of the Winter 2001 issue of Railway Museum Quarterly, you published a photo of Chicago Aurora and Elgin Jewett-built Car 320 taken at Midwest Old Threshers Midwest Electric Railway in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. A nine-year rebuilding effort by Midwest Electric Railway Association volunteers at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa brought new life to #320. It had last run during the Midwest Old Threshers 1991 Reunion wearing the postwar CA&E red and gray colors.

Serious renovation efforts began following the 1991 Reunion. No one, however, had fully anticipated the extent of work necessary to restore this car to its present condition. Since its last days on the CA&E in 1957, car 320 suffered extensive water damage, and more than half of all wood in the car had rotted and split so badly that it had to be totally discarded and replaced. Midwest Electric volunteers discovered that they were within just a few years of totally losing the car to the ravages of time and of the elements.

The exterior arch windows, which the CA&E had removed while "modernizing" these cars during the late 1930s, have been restored. Inspired by the workmanship of the Jewett builders, Steve Conry of Riverside, Iowa, who directed the rebuilding effort for the first six years, wished to return 320 to the way it looked when it was first delivered to the railroad in 1914.

Conry left the project after the 1997 Reunion, and Keith Bray of Iowa City continued the reconstruction efforts and directed the final reassembly. Volunteers George Crawley of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Fred Perry of St. Louis helped to rebuild 320's wiring and electrical systems. Perry rebuilt the controllers and also installed a new canvas roof on the car.

Car 320 is painted in the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad's first color scheme, dark red with brown and gold trim, used between 1922 and 1929, rather than in the 1914 colors of its predecessor Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railroad. To our knowledge, this is the only surviving CA&E car with the restored arch windows and painted in this color scheme.

At the time of the photo in the Winter issue, work on 320 was not totally finished. Midwest Electric volunteers were determined, however, that the car would run during last year's 50th Annual Old Threshers Reunion. Although it became impossible to get everything completed on the car before then, the unfinished work did not interfere with the car's operation.

This summer, the exterior stained glass arched windows and all the clerestory windows have been installed. The plumbing pipes and fixtures in the car's restroom are installed for cosmetic purposes only. Midwest Electric does not intend that this be a working restroom. The third-rail shoes and beams are also now on the trucks, but these, too, are only for cosmetic appearances. All that remains to be done is to connect the car's buzzer system and make it operational.

An enthusiastic public response greeted 320's return to service last year. It is part of a collection of eight interurbans and streetcars that operate on a 1 1/4 mile trolley loop, and each year, they provide mass transit service through the campgrounds and to an authentically recreated pioneer log village during the five-day Old Threshers Reunion ending on Labor Day.

Peter J. Weller

I found the latest RMQ to be quite interesting. I've tried to keep track of all of the South Shore Line equipment, but it isn't easy. Several pieces have been traded among various owners, and of course some has been scrapped. Unfortunately many of the cars are stored outside, and with canvas roofs, they won't last all that long. With the National Park Service retaining ownership of many of the cars, the current caretakers are reluctant to invest money in cars that may be reclaimed.

There are actually a few pieces of equipment that you missed....hard to imagine. Locomotive 802 was given to the B&O Museum in Baltimore, as the B&O/C&O was loosely related to the SSL. The engine is now at the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society located in North East, PA. They have put together a collection of equipment built by GE in nearby Erie, PA, along with other railway equipment. SSL 503, ex-Indiana Railroad baggage trailer is in Scottsburg, IN at a former Indiana Railroad shop facility. It is on freight car trucks, as someone else already had taken the trucks when the car was at Michigan City.

As to the SSL scrapping dates, I suspect the dates are when the cars were retired from service. I have slides of the shorty trailers in Michigan City on the following dates.

208 On its side complete with seats. July & October 1974

210 Complete October 1974 / Stripped December 1974

211 Complete October 1974

354 On its side October 1974

As I recall, the SSL would not sell the cars at that time, because they wanted certain parts to maintain the operating fleet. Seems like they wanted the trucks and pilots. I recall the seats, fans, baggage racks and light fixtures in most of the cars while they were lying on their sides.

Bill Wulfert

HISTORIC SITE MANAGER wanted

The Roundhouse Railroad Museum, located in the Central of Georgia Railway National Historic Landmark District in Savannah, Georgia, is seeking a qualified, experienced person to lead the growing programming and preservation effort of this site. Knowledge of steam and diesel locomotive operation, railroad history, rolling stock restoration, historic building care and restoration, techniques of historical interpretation, educational programs, gift shop management, after-hours fund raising programs, as well as volunteer and staff management will be considered. Experience in the operation of railroad museums is required. Graduate and post-graduate training in the field of Historic Site Management and life experience will also be evaluated. Position opens in January 2002. Compensation: 30's to mid 40's, depending on experience and skills. Call or write for a pre-interview application and more information about this opportunity - to: Executive Director, Post Office Box 1153, Savannah, GA 31402, or e-mail: director@chsgeorgia.org.

TRAMS FOR SALE

The Amsterdam Municipal Transport Authority will be offering its used 130 (track gauge 1435 mm) trams for sale as of March 2002. They were built between 1959 and 1975, are in perfect condition and still operational in the city of Amsterdam. The unit price amounts to Euro 5.000 plus VAT, not including maintenance, custom clearance or any other costs. It is possible that some may be given to railway museums. Contact the following team members for further information: Florence Vaucelle Tel.: +49-89-722-45552 mail to:florence.vaucelle@icn.siemens.de, Markus Eheleben Tel.: +49-9131-7-46195 mail to: markus.eheleben@ts.siemens.de

FOR SALE

Interurban Power trucks. One pair of Baldwin model 75-A-25 (with curved equalizers). 75-inch wheelbase, 33 inch wheels. All axles powered by 600-volt 50hp Dick Kerr electric traction motors (equivalent to GE 203).

Also, two Mitsubishi 60hp Traction Motors. For more info and photos contact Jim Vaitkunas at 952-688-7255 or by e-mail jvaitkunas@earthlink.net.