Having lost most of his fortune on the failed Pacific Wilderness Railroad operation in British Columbia, the former producer of big steam operations (like the Golden Spike Centennial Special, American Freedom Train, Chessie Steam and Safety Specials) Ross E. Rowland, Jr. is now on the payroll of the Ohio Central Railroad as an engineer, running freight trains like all the other engineers on the roster, but also occasionally sitting at the throttle on steam excursions. Sources familiar with the situation say that he’s not just doing it for fun, he does need a job. Ex-C&O Greenbriar #614 sits in the NJ Transit maintenance facility in Kearney, NJ awaiting a suitable buyer.
If Ross E. Rowland reallylost most of his fortune out West then maybe his problem was lack of advertizing because I live out west and I never heard of the Pacific Wilderness Railroad. Of course I’ve haven’t heard of Ross E. Rowland either but thanks for the information. By the way what was the Pacific Wilderness Railway? I guess it is proof that saying from that baseball movie “build it and they will come” isn’t true for railroads. Seems in the past there have been a few other tourist operations have also had to learn that the hard way
The Pacific Wilderness operated on the former Esquimalt & Nanaimo (a CPR subsidiary) on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. In the 1970’s Ross Rowland helped organize the bicentennial freedom train and contributed a RDG 4-8-4 to haul it where the SP’s 4-8-4 would not clear. In the 1980’s he was promoting the ACE 3000 (the ACE stood for American Coal Enterprises) which was a never-built 4-8-2 condensing steam locomotive. His 4-8-4 was destroyed in a roundhouse fire in a CSX roundhouse, so CSX gave him C&O Greenbriar 4-8-4 No. 614 to replace it. He ran excursions in New Jersey in the 1990’s using it. It was put up at auction earlier this year but did not meet the reserve price, which is supposed to be around $1 million. By the way, the demise of the Pacific Wilderness was discussed on almost all on the railfan sites on the internet.
Thanks. Your information helps to make sense of the initial item for someone who isn’t too familiar with the other railfan websites. Its unfortunate that Mr. Rowland put all of his money into his tourist operation and apparently lost it all. However, isn’t tourist train operations a risky business to put all of your money into. With a few exceptions it seems that tourist/ dinner train operations are a sure way to lose money.
Operating a tourist railroad is like any other business. You have to have a market, know how to reach that market, and offer a product that the market wants. Since most tourist railways are a “labor of love” rather than a sound business enterprise, they fail. On the other hand, the Strasburg has been at it almost a half century! By the way, I did get professionally involved in assessing the possibility of operating a tourist train before I retired. We did not have the market (tourists visiting the area already).
the ohio central operates steam powered tourist trains and other special passenger excursions along with their lucrative freight business. the operation is well managed and this may be an opportunity that is mutually beneficial to both parties. there are lots of tourists in this area which is home to the largest AMISH in ohio.
Jerry Joe Jacobsen, who is Amish himself, is a very astute businessman and hires extremely competent railroaders to run his Ohio Central operations.
Hey Andrew, Is the dinner train still in operation that runs out of Renton WA. to the little winery north of there? I rode the train about two years ago and was a lot of fun. Congratulations to Ross Rowland for being able to land a dream job operating the real thing,though he probably feels like its work. Hey Ross,wanna give me a ride? Ill bring the vittles! Gerald
Yes, the train is called the ‘Spirit of Washington’ and it is still operating. Actually, they have a large billboard in downtown Seattle right now advertising their train services so publicity does not seem to be a problem for them. There is another wonderful dinner train just across the border in Vancouver, BC operated by BC Rail. It has beautiful route up the coastline on the same route as the Royal Hudson runs (ran?). Apparently, it is very popular as well with a number of different themes such as murder mysteries (although one would think the scenery would be sufficient!)
This area is really a railfan’s paradise when you look at all of the possible passenger trains. Besides the well known regular Amtrak and VIA trains and the ones mentioned above, several multi-day train tours operate out of Vancouver. The Rocky Mountaineer trains travel to both Banff and Jasper. During high season these trains can be very long for a passenger train. I have seen them over 30 cars in length. As they wind through the mountain canyons it can be quite a sight. In addition, BC Rail has (for now) a new tour train in the summers using brand new full length dome type railcars built specially for the service. So if anyone has wants to see tourist trains at their best this is good place to come.
Just a note of correction, very much off the main subject, Jerry is not Amish, but Mennonite, by marriage.
As a Trainmaster I had the good fortune to ride Chessie Steam Excursion in Michigan with Ross Rowland operating his locomotive. Mark 1 Video has a new vhs Ross Rowland Giant of Steam for sale. Look them up on the internet.
I am sorry he lost his fortune. A lot of Big steam trips would never have happened without this man making them happen.
I was wondering what had happened to Mr. Rowland. Whatever the circumstances, it was a great ride while it lasted…I recall first meeting him when the Freedom Train ran in the northeast.
ACE train experiments here along New River were most interesting. What really sticks in my memory , in addition to seeing C&O steam on C&O coal trains, is how !@#$% cold and snowy it was that winter - anyway, it was all part of the experience, and the weather made for quite a show with the Greenbrier.
work safe
I think every railfan should thank New Jersey Transit for keeping the locomotive under cover until it get a new buyer. But then I think New Jersey Transit is both one of the better operated commuter systems and one that is interesting in preseving transportation industry.
NJT has a vested interest in keeping that locomotive as perfect as possible – the reason why the ‘reserve price’ is so high is because most of it represents money NJT is still owed for the last series of excursions 614 ran on their trackage. To my knowledge, the engine has been continually ‘for sale’ at about that price since the late '90s.
I have seen Ross himself posting on this forum within the past week, so he may be willing to address some of the issues discussed above in person.
Most ot the posts on this thread are either completely or totally wrong(as is so often the case with railfan"intelligence"). Firstly, 614 is safely stored at Port Clinton, Pa. on the R&NRR. It left NJTransit in 2002 and was moved dead in tow by NS from KearnyNJ to Port Clinton without incident.
We did attempt to sell the engine in 2000 as we were totally involved in starting the Pacific Wilderness service in British Columbia and were hopefull someone capable of running her on the mainline would surface and keep her active. Unfortunatly the only buyer willing to pay a sufficient price for her intended to hang her from the ceiling of a new casino in Vegas and we turned him down. I understand that project is now going forward and that the developer has bought another steamer to hang from the ceiling.
The Pacific Wilderness service was cancelled because we were not able to generate sufficient ridership to make it pay. I was a minor investor in the project and the major investor decided in July’01 to shut it down and return the equipment to the States. It turned out to be a very good decision as 2 months later 9/11 occured and the bottom totally fell out of the Canadian tourism business.
I did run engines on the Ohio Central in late’01 and early’02 and thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a “real” locomotive engineer.
We hope someday to be able to run 614 again if we can find the right business deal to justify the approx. $500k we’ll need to invest in her to bring her up to speed with the new FRA boiler regs. etc.
I presently enjoy running #40 on the NH&I occassionally and am selling Real Estate in the Princeton NJ area. Ross Rowland
Rowlands a member of this site I believe, why don’t we get the entire story in his words right here?
I am delighted to be wrong about 614’s present state!
Out of curiosity – can you give us an update on the 4-8-4 at NH&I (if it’s not still there, where has it gone…)?
Would you want to gambol under a 4-8-4 in Vegas! That would be the real gamble!
Ross
Congrats on your new job.keep em rolling.
stay safe
Joe
Mr.Rowland,It would be wonderful to see 614 in mainline service again!She really is a beautiful locomotive!