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| The Crystal Ball | ||
| by Jim Wrinn 1 July 2001: | ||
| For this month's Crystal Ball, I'll refer to recent trips to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania is teaming with tourist railroads, many of them steam powered. It's always been a favorite of mine. What I saw there on this trip reminded me of the tough environment for steam operators at the beginning of the millennium. At Ringoes, N.J., one of the best looking Alco 2-8-0s on the Earth, former Great Western No. 60, is stuffed in the shop. Some sort of "pump problem" the crew on the diesel-powered train tells me has led to her being sidelined, which led the line to launch into her 15-year inspection. Nearby, at New Hope, Pa., 2-8-0 No. 40, an alumni of North Carolina's Cliffside Railroad and South Carolina's Lancaster & Chester, is in fine form. She steams freely on West Virginia Pocahantas coal that fails to make smoke even when firing upgrade. My old friend, Chris Bost, is at the throttle and under his direction she runs quietly and effiently, pulling three cars upgrade out of the Delaware River valley. When a bearing on the No. 1 driver starts to run warm, Chris gives her a few pumps with the grease gun, and off she goes again to the delight of New Yorkers, French tourists and kids with odd hair colors and body piercings. Not far away is a former Mexican Railways vest-pocket 4-8-4, which the line worked on in the mid-1990s. "Taco Loco," as she's been dubbed, will take more work than the New Hope crews have time for now. Coaches and track work will take precedence to keep the tourists, and the dollars flowing in. At Ashland, narrow gauge 0-4-0T "Henry Clay" still putters along with a few cars at the Pioneer Mine exhibit. A scoop of anthracite will last her a whole trip, the crew says. Popping off is a bigger problem than keeping up steam. The moral of this story: 1. Don't count on engines that have been there for almost 40 years to still be there. Fortunes and personnel will change, erasing what was and what seemed like it always would be. The Jim Fetchero rule applies here: Go see it while you can, as soon as you can. 2. Bigger ain't always better. While New Hope's light-weight Consolidation is digging its heels into the hill on this ex-Reading branch, Taco Loco is still out to lunch, owning to its condition and size. 3. The meek have inherited the Earth. The Henry Clays of the World now out number the "Mikado and larger" list of big engines running on a regular basis. Get over it and get out there an enjoy the little guys that are puttering around your backyard. On to the land of cheese... In the northwoods, I chased and rode Soo Line Pacific No. 2719 for two days on magnificent trips out of Ladysmith, Wisc. The experience reminded me that mainline steam isn't completely dead, even though the ground is shaky. Yes, it looks like the Canadian National is buying Wisconsin Centeral, ending that steam-friendly line's independent existence. There's been talk that CN will not allow further steam excursions, but a meeting of the 2719's keeper and other groups running over WC lines (notably MTM at Osceola, Wisc.) with CN's top operating officer indicates that the good times may continue to roll... at least one more year. The 2719 ran off mile after mile on relatively level, straight track at 50 mph. She steamed nicely and even handled her 20-car train in rainy weather. On both the June 16 northbound run to South Itasca and the June 17 deadhead move to Spooner, she handled a start from Murray siding easily, with only the slightest nudging from a GP35 helper. The 2719, I feel, will fair well no matter what. She is in good shape, having only come out of the rebuild shop in 1998. She has good handlers. She was at home on WC's mainline, and when I last saw her she was off to the Wisconsin Great Northern for a month to drag tourist trains at 10 mph over a former mainline that's now a shortline. It's good to be big enough to run on the mainline, but even better to be small enough to squeeze on the tourist line-and keep running. | ||
| Jim Wrinn, a staff writer for The Charlotte Observer and a volunteer at the N.C. Transportation Museum, writes this exclusive preview column quarterly for steamcentral.com. Send updates to crystalball@steamcentral.com. | ||
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