Who has a live steam railroad near them? The one closest to me is the CP&LE (Cedar Point & Lake Erie) at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. It’s narrow gauge, coal fired and really cool.
www.cedarpoint.com
undeworld
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
close to me here in the UK , are 6 steam operations all within 30min,s drive.
There are a number of them here in Florida. Palatka, Manatee, Dundee, Largo, and several others. Check out Floridda Live Steamers.
There are two steam operations fairly close.Knott’s is slightly less than 20 miles away,and has two ex Rio Grande narrow gauge 2-8-0s.Disneyland is a few miles further,and has four steam engines.
About 20 miles away a railfan has a large loop of 2’6’’ track and a WW I German narrow gauge loco.Very close to it,NKP 765 is being restored.I live in Indiana and think the Cedar Point narrow gauge is really neat.
The California State Railroad Museum has two live steam operations near me Jamestown and the Museum at Sacramento has a live steam operation as well.
There’s quite a few near me. Sadly, you have to drive to most of them.
Near me are the New Hope and Ivyland and Black River and Western. Unfortunately the BR&W engine is not currently operating.
Within 100 miles of my house, there is Disneyland RxR, LA live steamers, SF no.3751,
Knotts berry farm, Kern CO live steamers, Riverside live steamers, Fillmore western R.R., & orange co live steamers.
7&1/2 guagers count too.
The nearest live steamers to me would be about 200 miles away with the Texas State Railroad that runs from Rusk to Palastine. Astroworld which is 50 miles from me use to have a couple of old steamers they bought from Mexico and refurbished for the park back in the mid 1960s, but I’m not sure if they’re still around anymore. I’ve been told some rich eccentric guy around here bought a 4-8-4 Northern and had it put in his back yard, and that he goes out and has his coffee in the mornings in the cab of it some times. Must be nice…
The only live steam operation near me is at the Western Development Museum of Transportation in Moose Jaw, which is a three-hour drive from where I live. They have a narrow gauge 0-4-0ST that they run on weekends in the summer. It pulls a home-made miniature tender, two passenger cars and a caboose, each of which is mounted on one full-size truck. This is actually the only live-steam operation in Saskatchewan (unless you count CP 2816 runing through the province on excursions). At the museum (which is indoors), they have a nice selection of railway equipment, including a 1912 CPR pacific.
I’m sorry. You said “live steam”. I thought you meant steam engines in general. No. No live steam clubs around these parts that I know of, but I do have a story for you.
Back in the 1940s, there was an African American engineer that worked for Howard Hughes named Mr. Mann. Mr. Mann became interested in live steam while working out in the L. A. area at that time. One day he approached one of the live steam clubs there about joining them, but because he was black, they were cold toward him, and told him that the only way they would allow him to join their club would be if he built his own engine. So off he went, and spent the next year and a half building his engine back at his home in Houston. When he was finished, he crated the engine up and had it shipped out to L. A., but when he approached the live steam club and showed them his beautiful engine, they replied “so what, we don’t allow blacks in our club”… So Mr. Mann took his engine back home to Houston and stored it in his garage where it sat for the next forty five years. Meanwhile, Mr. Mann went on to leave employment with Hughes, and went to work for NASA. Mr. Mann passed away in the early 1990s, and his live steam engine was donated to the Smithsonian museum in Washington D. C.
How many of the live steam engines that were built and owned by the racist L. A. club that rejected Mr. Mann’s membership are in the Smithsonian ?. None… I love this story.
The best I can do here is a 7-1/2" gauge club in Largo, Fl. (Central Park) that has regularly scheduled meets throughout the year. One stalwart member trucks his U.P. 4-8-4 and 8 smooth side pass. cars to at least one meet a year. By now, they must have over 20 miles of right-of-way in the park. The “Club” seems to be doing well and is very popular among fans and the locals.
Fort Worth, TX… We’ve got a couple locations in reasonable distance:
Grapevine Vintage Railroad (formerly the Tarantula Steam Train) runs a Cooke 4-6-0 between Grapevine and the Fort Worth Stockyards.
http://www.tarantulatrain.com/
A few years back, I did a spot for them and got to ride the tender into the Stockyards with a shot looking forward over the locomotive, and stayed up there and kept rolling for the turn-around on the turntable. Fun stuff!
There’s also the previously mentioned Texas State Railroad between Rusk & Palesine. The have five steam locomotives:
Cooke 4-6-0
Baldwin 2-8-0
Baldwin 2-8-2
Baldwin 4-6-2
Lima 2-10-4
I’m not positive if all are operational, but at least three of them are. It’s a beautiful ride, and the locomotives are gorgeous. They run a train from each end, with a meet in the middle.
http://www.texasstaterailroad.com/
There’s also a park train that runs around Six Flags over in Arlington, TX, but I don’t recall if it’s live steam, or just made up to look like it.
Live steamers at Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
I grew up riding on the Strasburg railroad in Lacaster Pa. and the New Hope and Ivyland in New Hope PA. I’ve also been to steam town in Scranton years ago and rode thier excursion train .
An interesting sidenote is the fact that the New Hope railroad still sells “cab rides”.
I’ve done it several times and it is a great experience that I believe will eventually stop due to legal concerns!
Dont worry about the BRW… you wont see 60 on the road for a long time
The Riverside live steamers (by me) has a 71/2 in 4-8-8-4 in operation.
Closest one is the IRM in Union,IL. One of the largest collections around.
their site is: www.irm.org
Suggest you pick up the May, 2005 Trains Magazine if you are not a subscriber. They have their annual “Recreational Railroading” guide inserted which may give you some ideas.