Paducah Chapter

National Railway Historical Society

July 2013

First trip for the beast after the total re-

build. (We) left our shop right on the

hour, but ran very slow because of a

southbound coal train north of us that had a car with a broken drawbar that had to be

set out on a siding. That took several

hours to accomplish, and he had to get by

us before we could go north. So we

chugged along slowly to a siding some-

where around Camebridge where we

waited for another half hour or more, and

then the coal train, now back together

minus the bad-order car, blasted by at

track speed.

Then we got moving, but within 20 miles

hit slow order after slow order due to on-going track maintenance. So the trip was

slow getting there.

Once there, the steam engine cut

off and moved out of the way. The Am-

trak engine was then used as a switcher,

along with a diesel from the museum that

occupies the Duluth depot, to switch

some of our cars out of the consist and

added them to some of the museum cars.

From there, the Museum's steam engine, a

Soo Line Pacific that dates to the 1920's , was used to take this train to just past

Two Harbors - on the Lake Superior north

shore, as a dinner train. I heard it was

great.

My youngest sister showed up!

Hadn't seen her in years. She and her hus-

band have a lake place up on the iron

range. She drove down and found me in

the tool car on our train. I took her up in

the locomotive cab to show her around.

While we were in there, Steve showed up

and moved the engine out of the museum yard, backing down to a switch, where the

switch was aligned for another track,

where we moved into the museum yard

once again. So, my sister, who'd never

seen a steam engine, got to not only see

one that's live, but got a cab ride too. Sort

of.

Six o’clock arrived, and it was

my time to take over the engine. the fire-

man on duty handed me the bag ( a ritual

that leaves me holding the bag) and it was now all mine. I showed my sister what

goes on when you're just maintaining the

fire. I saw that I had inherited a good fire,

but the water in the glass was down lower

than I like, so I set to building up the fire

so that I could add enough water to get

the level where I want it. This takes time.

There was a photo-shoot scheduled. This is where a whole bunch of shutterbugs get

together to share their special lighting

equipment for super cool looking, but

really phony looking, night photos of, in

this case, a steam engine.

They have about twenty things called

Luma-Dynes (or something like that) that

flash for a brief fraction of a second at a

light about three times the power of the

sun. It seems like that anyway. I don't

know when they'll flash, but when they

go off, I can't see for a while. The cab is dark. I keep all the lights off

except for the gauge lights.

I battled with this for the next five hours,

but in the meantime the dinner train came

back. The museum people parked their

steam engine right next to me, on the

track just to the left of our engine, and

just slightly back. This was also for the

benefit of the shutterbugs. Now they

could start all over again with TWO

steam engines. They didn't bother me much taking their

photo's, but there were constant calls to

turn the headlight to dim, turn it to bright,

turn it off, turn it to bright, turn it to dim...

AAARGGGG!

Did I mention that this was Duluth?

Temperature was about 25 degrees out. I

was sort of cold. That museum engine

next to me blocked the cold wind from

the lake and heated what got

past it. Now ol' Markie was

a happy camper. 11’o clock came and I was

relieved of my duty just

when it was starting to get

fun. At least I had the fire

perfect for him and the wa-

ter was at about 3/4 glass.

Perfect, just how it should

be.

I messed around with some

other tasks for a few hours,

then got some sleep. Next day we left at noon

(The late departure is inten-

Milwaukee Road

261 Update By Mark D of the Antique Radio forum

tional so the people who had too much

fun last night have a chance to recover)

and went home. Again, being a 'new' en-

gine, we ran it easy. But it does need to be

tested, so just as we entered the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, and where the

50 mph speed changes (for only a few

miles) changes to 79 mph. We had to stop

to pick up a new pilot for this section, but

as we started out, Robert, the guy running

the engine at the moment, made a nice

gentle start, stretching the train nice and

easy, accelerated nicely to about 25 I'm

guessing, and then began to widen out on

the throttle fairly quickly. The chuff chuff

chuff turned into CHUFF CHUFF AND

and then to BOOM BOOM BOOM, and then as the engine continued to accelerate

the train the exhaust note got that wonder-

fully loud blast that I can only describe as

what I think a jet engine that's pulsating a

bit might sound like. A constant ROAR

that it slightly staccato.

He brought it up to track speed just in

time to begin slowing down as we would

no pass through BNSF's Northtown Yard.

That is only about two miles or so from

our shop. The old beast lives again, and I'm sure

there's a lot more trips left to run into the

Did I mention that it was Duluth? I totally

HATE Duluth! Cold and foggy all the

time. And dingy. Along with that, It

seems like a northern version of a dusty

plains city that never has summer. My

mother grew up there, and we still have

relatives there. I spent a lot of time up

there as I grew up, and never did really

like it. Cold. Dreary. Decrepit.

But when we're taking the steam engine

there, I'm all for it.

PAL: No exact figures on the

ex CSX SD 70’s now in service, but they are increasing, some in

new P&L paint, and some in the

old paint with “patches.” As ex-

pected, the work is being divided

between VMV and Progress

Rail. As far as can be deter-mined, none with EVWR or

A&O lettering yet. However,

early in June, CEFX 106 and

CEFX 122, two of the leased SD

90’s, left Paducah on the BNSF

local headed for the EVWR in-

terchange at Woodlawn.

On June 14th, the Louisville Cou-

rier-Journal reported that the

P&L had announced that a bro-

ken rail had been determined to

have caused the October 29th de-

railment near West Point that caused massive explosions and

fire, restricted Dixie Highway

traffic, and even closed the Ohio

River for a time. The company

declined to speculate on what

broke the rail, but described it as a “transverse/compound fissure.

VMV: Nothing particularly un-

usual to report. The usual

GMTX’s including GMTX

9041, one of the iconic Oakway

SD 60’s, this one listed as being sold to OmniTrax; GMTX 151, a

switcher (there are usually vari-

ous switchers seen around the

plant); GMTX 2238 & 2237, GP

38-2, ex Long Island RR; and

GMTX 2222, a GP 38 AC, ex

GTW. Also, as reported above

some of the SD 70’s have been

seen in the paint shop or outside in primer.

DISCOVERY PARK OF

AMERICA:

The big local railroad news this month is the arrival in Union

City, TN of a steam locomotive

and several passenger cars that

have been placed on tracks the

Discovery Park of America site.

DPA is a 50 acre, $ 100 million

attraction funded by the Kirkland Foundation, and being com-

pleted on Union City’s northwest

border. The education and enter-

tainment complex is scheduled

to open with a ribbon cutting on

November 2 and it is anticipated

that it will attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

The locomotive is a Swedish-

built 4-6-0, No. 1149, with a

5000 gallon coal tender, that for-

merly belonged to the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad in

Maine. The locomotive and cars

have been placed on a 250 ft.

section of track near a new vin-

tage depot. The locomotive and

cars were moved by train on flats

through Canada, and down to Union City by Canadian Na-

tional. The unloading of the lo-

comotive and the wheel sets of

the cars onto the tracks, and then

the lowering of the cars onto the

wheel sets was done by massive

cranes, supervised by former UP

executive Steve Lee.

Also moved to the new site was the former G.M. & O. caboose

that for many years has been be-

side the old N.C. & St. L. /G.M.

& O. depot in downtown Union

City. It was one of 40 built in

1946 by American Car & Foun-dry for the Alton Railroad, but

has been five various paint

schemes, and was presented by

the I.C.G. railroad to the late

Col. Tom Elam upon his retire-

ment after 48 years as the local

ICG attorney. The unit has been historically accurately restored,

is fully equipped both inside and

outside and currently painted in

G.M. & O. colors and logo. It

has been placed at the end of the

passenger cars.

Although many rail purists

(including this writer) may ques-

tion choosing a European style

locomotive with buffers, in an

American Historical park, the display should be an attractive

and eye-catching addition. Ide-

ally, the track would be extended

to circle the park, and the train,

which was apparently in running

condition in Maine, could be

made to run again. But that is a rail fan talking! (Above informa-

tion from Pat McDurmon, the

Union City Messenger, John

Deming, and others).

FIRE UP 611: Most rail fans

are familiar with former NS

Bob Johnston

Published monthly by the Paducah Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. Send your news, photos to:

Editor — Charles Gibbons

oldradiorepair@bellsouth.net

President…........…......Logan Blewett Vice President…….......John Deming

Secretary…..…......Charles Gibbons

Historian…........……Jack Johnston

Treasurer..................Glen Pollender

Program…....…...….…..Dick Kastas National Director.…..Bob Johnston

Directors…………..……...Dick Kastas, Charles Gibbons, Logan Blewett

Membership — Charles Gibbons 3409 Central Avenue, Paducah 42001

Roundhouse Notes

Class J 611. At least one of our

members, Bill Wood, has ridden

behind the famous steamer when it ran on Norfolk Sothern’s fa-

mous steam excursions. When

they ended abruptly in 1994, be-

cause of management changes at

NS, the engine was placed on

display in the Virginia Museum of Transport. Now a move is un-

derway to restore the 4-8-4 to

operating condition and run it

again. This coincides with the

reopening of a modified steam

program in cooperation with the

Tennessee Valley Railroad in Chattanooga. On June 28th the

results of a feasibility study was

announced that said the project

was doable, and the campaign

continues. For further informa-

tion and history of 611 go to

www.fireup611.org.

FREIGHT TRAFFIC UP: On

June 7, the Association of

American Railroads announced

that in May, freight car loadings

increased over the same month in the previous year for the first

time since February 2012. 11 or

20 categories peaked with in-

creases ranging from 5.2 per cent

for sand and gravel to 41.8 per

cent for crude oil. Total carloads

increased by 0.7 per cent over May 2012. Economists say that

increased freight car loadings

generally point to a stronger

economy.

MUSEUM: The computer, with

very similar results from a man-ual count, shows 386 visitors in

June, compared to 290 in June

2012. This is a nice increase,

helped by a visit on June 21st of

77 children and adults from the

McNabb Elementary School

Summer program….. One Mon-

day when the museum is nor-mally closed, I was called by

Penny Fields, Director of the

William Clark Museum, who

asked me to open to show it to

the sons of C.C. Thompson, who

were in town to participate at a

news conference at her museum. Mr. Thompson while an em-

ployee of the I.C. R.R. in Padu-

cah in 1940 invented an im-

provement to the Walschaert

Valve Gear for steam locomo-

tives, which greatly improved their performance by reducing

vibration and “seeking” for the

rails. The Clark museum has a

large working model of the Wal-

schaert gear in their foyer. Inter-

estingly, while I was in our mu-

seum, waiting for, and then showing the Thompson brothers

through, six other people walked

in, “off the street,” all of them

coming from out of town, espe-

cially to see the railroad mu-

seum. It makes you wonder how

many people we miss when we are closed, but of course because

of lack of volunteers and other

considerations, it is not possible

at the present to open any more

than we are. SPEAKING OF

WHICH, the first of 13 river

boat visits will occur on July 1st.

Please consider and volunteer some time as a host if called, or

even if not called. The schedule

is available at the museum.

MEETNG PROGRAM:

Charles Gibbons will present a

video on NASA’s railroad at the Kennedy Space Center launch

facilities.

Meeting time Tuesday July 9th

7PM.

McCracken County Library

Second Floor Meeting room.

Roundhouse Notes

% Charles Gibbons

3409 Central Ave

Paducah KY 42001

Gosh! Its almost time for

the meeting! We sure

don’t want to miss it.

TUESDAY

July 9th

7 PM

MCCRACKEN

COUNTY

LIBRARY

SECOND FLOOR

Milwaukee Road 261 First trip to Duluth MN In May 2013