New Hope & Ivyland R.R., in Bucks Co. in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Also, I believe a number of the short lines in New England - Cape Cod, New Hampshire, western Connecticut, Vermont, etc. - may also fit this criteria, but I’m not familiar enough with their recent operations to say for certain.
We drive up your way several times a year to canoe. How is the steam rebuild doing?
The Boone & Scenic Valley in Iowa switches out a couple of industries in Boone. Talking to the General Manager last week a bio-diesel plant may locate there also. IIRC, they had to set up a separate company to preserve their non-profit status.
The FRA also became more interested in all their operations once they started handling freight. Some of that may have been because some UP employees didn’t want to see the switching go to someone else. I personally think this helped to retain some UP jobs and traffic. It’s not a large volume of cars and I think the UP would’ve eventually tried to get rid of this traffic.
Jeff
Mid Continent is still trying to rebuild a couple of steam locomotives for operation. I’m not directly a member of the organization so I don’t know for sure, but last time I was told progress is still being made. They are currently working on trying to get the boiler put back together on the Western Coke and Coal #1. I have no idea how long it’s supposed to take. The folks there are saying steam should be back “soon,” but then again, they have been saying that for years…
Noah
So the 1385 is out of commission?
I beleive the Sierra RR still does some revinue frieght service, as did the McCloud RR before it went under.
Oh and its not the narrow gauge Roaring Camp RR, but the Santa Cruz, Big Trees & Pacific RR, which is standard gauge, which still has some revinue service on it, both are part of the same company, but the Santa Cruz RR interchanges with the UP in Aptos ( I beleive, its been a while).
(Again, let me add the disclaimer that I am not actually a member of Mid Contient, but living near it and having friends who do belong to the museum, I do hear some information from time to time on how certain projects are going.)
The 1385 has been out of service for a few years already, and things don’t seem to be looking up for it. The Museum is talking about having a whole new boiler made for the thing as the old one is pretty well shot, but that would cost lots of money (were talking like 400 to 500 thousand dollars, and that’s for the boiler work alone). Mid Contient simply doesn’t have that much money and can’t seem to raise it, or at least as an outsider it sure doesn’t look like it. If they do turn a profit at all it is just barely on their passenger runs, and donors I think are getting tired of throwing money in what appears to be a bottomless pit without any real work being done. Right now there are other steamers on site that need less money for repairs and so they are concentrating a little more on those, but they do seem to still keep the restorating of 1385 in the picture. Right now though it’s sitting around the yard in peices (I believe the cab is seperated from the boiler which is seperated from the frame and wheels, so many peices). Things sure don’t look too good for the old girl, but there’s always a little hope she could still steam again some day…
Noah
Last year we rode the Verde Canyon excursion train. Awesome. The web site claims they haul freight. I did see some hopper cars in a quarry.
http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/history.htm
When I rode the Mount Hood Railroad in 1995 it was hauling freight to a lumberyard on the line.The weekday train was a mixed if they had freight to haul. The day I rode we hauled some empties into the lumberyard,and picked up a few loads on the return trip.I do not know if the road still hauls freight,or if the mill is still operating.
The Great Smoky Mountains Railway is the only one I know of and its already been mentioned. Just thought I’d throw in my 2 cents.
Cheese
Mid-Continent should have #1 done in a couple of years. 1385 is useless, and Polson Lumber (Saginaw Timber) #2 is being worked on by it’s owner (No, MCRWY does not own it). There was a lot of legal BS that MCRWY got into when #2 broke down at the 1998 Snow Train. The agreement to run it said that MCRWY could not take it apart. What did they do? Take it apart. There is a suit open, and they will end up paying for the repairs made to the engine–something they can’t afford.
What would make sense for Mid-Continent to get is the 175, which is up in Houghton/Hancock, MI, but that is another story. It has a good boiler, but bad firebox. The 1385 has a bad firebox and a decent (I say this because they want to replace the entire boiler) boiler.
The Wisconsin Great Northern does not directly haul freight. However, they own or operate the Mineral Range Railroad in the UP of Michigan under the name of Vreeland Rail. As of 4 years ago, a freight operation would make or break the railroad. But, the railroad has been pulling along good.
Phil
Durango & Silverton has hauled horses up to an isolated dude ranch, although they don’t normally carry freight.
The Arcade and Attica exists not because it hauls tourists, but because of the odd 100-125 ton grain hopper delivered to the line’s owner’s grain mill.
Yes the Verde Canyon does haul raw and completed products to and from a Cement Mill in Clarksdale, AZ. I do beleive it has two trips a week.
Indeed it does. I got a cab ride in GSMR #711. We went to Sylva and picked up five hopper cars, and brought them back to the shops for new break shoes. The railroad mostly hauls feed, but occassionally transports other stuff. I also got a tour of the railroad shops. I have pics of 1702 & 722 in there current condition! [:D]
Add Whitewater Valley RR to the list (by accident, they didn’t go looking for the business)
Add the Black River & Western to the list. (The NH&I’s neighbor across the Delaware.) Also includes the Belvidere & Delaware River line.
The SAM Shortline, which is the “only mobile state park in Georgia” allows freight to be hauled from a CSX connection in Cordele, Georgia, to Americus, Georgia. Not sure how much revenue goes into the SAM coffers, but freight is hauled on the line.
Erik
The SFS used to haul freight with their tourist excursions. Go to www.texaswesternmrc.org and enter the website. Then click "Club Activities: (at the top or to the left), then “SantaFe Southern/Cumbres-Toltec trip 2002”. Our HO club visited there in 2002, on the way to the Cumbres & Toltec.
On the run down to the mainline at Lamy, we picked up a couple of empty boxcars from the local beer distributer for interchange.
Decapod Driver
Webmaster, Texas Western Model Railroad Club
Ft. Worth, Tx.
Add the California State Railroad Museum’s “Sacramento Southern” tourist line: they transfer cars of wood products between Union Pacific and Setzer Forest Products. They typically use an SW1 for the freight switching, rather than their 0-6-0 steamer.