CALLING ALL B&O FANS

[J3a-614]

CALLING ALL B&O FANS.
CALLING ALL B&O FANS.

SPECIAL ALL POINTS BULLETIN.

Be on the lookout for Potomac Eagle F-7 No. 722, also known as Bessemer & Lake Erie 722.  Potomac Eagle 722 is now known to be in disguise as Baltimore & Ohio 722, sighting confirmed by J3a-614.   Be on the lookout for these features:

Last observed in blue and grey coat (of paint) with black and gold stripes, wearing black (brake) shoes (trucks, fuel tank).  Last seen near grade crossing on US Route 50 in Vanderlip, W.Va., west of Romney, on May 5, 2010.  No photo of current disguise available, but is known to be close or identical to original B&O coat (of paint) in use in 1949.
 
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=264834&nseq=31

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=218684&nseq=71

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=275540&nseq=62

Anticipated to be in vicinity of Romney, Moorefield, and Petersburg, W.Va. June 25, 26, and 27, 2010 during West Virginia Rails Festival.  Be on lookout.

http://www.wvrails2010.com/

That is all.

[jettrainfan]

Great info! i was actually talking to my dad trying to convince him to go to the event. So far its a maybe.

[J3a-614]

Glad you got the message, and I hope you and your father get to come to West Virginia.  I don't know if you've been following everything here on West Virginia, but this is still a beautiful place, even if we have been too foolish and thrown too much away over the years.

Steam will be there, too, including some engines you've seen before--specifically, a couple of little 0-4-0Ts--the original post now has a link to the event.

We are also home to the Cass Scenic Railroad.  This former logger has an average climb of about 5%, and two stretches of 11%, plus two switchbacks.  At one time it had a short section of 13%!

At about 5:00 in this first video sequence, the train restarts after taking water from a tank below track level (these engines have steam syphons for this sort of thing, they often had to get water from a handy stream when on temporary woods track).  The grade these engines routinely start on here is well over 8%!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDJkzW7ligQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGgnVxp9sQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUXdt3hAFus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wppnPxASeJ8&feature=related

http://www.cassrailroad.com/

http://www.msrlha.org/

This one died in 1965--but what was interesting was that it died in steam, almost 10 years after steam was gone elsewhere.

http://buffalocreekandgauley.com/

This one is only 90 minutes from my house, same as a trip to Cumberland or Romney, and is a favorite.

http://www.ebtrr.com/index.php

http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/

As usual, enjoy.

[jward]

vanderlip, at the 50 crossing, is where the potomac eagle parks their locomotives when not in use. they run excursion trains out of wapocomo station just north of romney on 28. the line they run on is pretty much inaccessable other than these two points until you get just outside of moorefield. normal excursion trains don't travel this far south, but they are well worth the ride, following the potomac river through a narrow gorge full of rocks and eagles.

if you get a chance, ride this train.

south branch valley had, not sure if they are still around, a chessie gp9 and another one painted in b&o blue with the name spelled out on the hood.

[J3a-614]

Yes, Jeff,

They are both still around, at least as of a couple of months ago in Moorefield.  Early EMDs, some in classic paint, great scenery, small towns--your type of railroad.

The B&O unit, by the way, is a former dual-service "torpedo boat" job (for new fans here, an engine with its air tanks on top of the locomotive, due to large water tank in addition to fuel tanks under frame for when steam heat was needed for passenger service).  I've also seen photos of an identical unit, in the same paint, at the B&O museum in Baltimore.  Wouldn't they look great in multiple unit operation on an excursion train of heavyweights in blue and grey?

Came across this recently--looks like something you and Pipefitter would like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjuhayJpwdM

That's a pretty fair number of people to be around the station at Point of Rocks, Md.; I think they were waiting for another train:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dsLOdfi_nQ&feature=related

That's more like it for me!

I prefer the classic stuff (steam, B&O blue and grey, NYC lightning stripes, steam, CNJ tangerine and blue, Camelbacks), but there are others who like some later images, among them Chessie the Cat.  In this case, the location is certainly a classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDbQLmwt8KQ&feature=related

At the other end of the tunnel at Harpers Ferry (actually in Maryland);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUlz831TKSU&feature=related

Cabooses were still around at Weverton, which used to be a junction with a branch that ran frm here to Hagerstown via Keedysville.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqC9qyJdsKc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCYa6GthUoA&feature=related

Funny to think these were new and now they are gone.  Of course, I also miss the old steam-era hoppers that were still around then, too.  It seems that the better times just slip away, and nothing as good replaces them, at least for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCYa6GthUoA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STxlGO4Jle0&feature=related

Enjoy, even if most of it is "dismals" or "diseasles."  :-)

[jward]

yes, that torpedo geep is an old friend. it worked the pat train out of pittsburgh in the 1970s before they got the f units. i rode behind it many times.

and yes, the south branch valley is my kind of railroad. and i especially love the fact that it's in the ridge and valley region, where no two rock outcrops seem to be tilted in the same direction. as a matter of fact, my freelance railroad's mainline runs one valley to the west. ideally, when i have the room i'd like to model a relatively busy north south mainline through that type of scenery.

my connection with the south branch goes way back. in 1982, as a teenager, i rode their trains with my dad and sister. they were entirely alco then, using mostly hand me downs from the navy. traffic on the line moved by the carload, rather than the unit grain trains common to-day. and yes, the eagles were building nests in the trough even back then.....

[J3a-614]

CALLING ALL B&O FANS!
CALLING ALL B&O FANS!

BULLETIN UPDATE.

Photo available, from Railway Preservation News.

http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29395

That is all.

[jettrainfan]

 

im speechless

[J3a-614]

CALLING ALL B&O FANS.
CALLING ALL B&O FANS.

(I've been watching too many old episodes of "Dragnet" and "Racket Squad.")

BULLETIN UPDATE.

New night photos from Railway Preservation News:

http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29444

That is all.