This was a cut and paste from a posting on the TRAINS News Wire,today. Looks like we can get all the exposure to the “new” Chinese engines anyboy could want…This should be a lot of fun!# Details finalized for fall excursions behind Chinese steam
July 18, 2006
The Friends of the 261 and other sponsoring organizations have finalized details for the operation of two Chinese 2-10-2 locomotives out of the Quad Cities this September.
As reported on TRAINS News Wire last week, the excursion trips are being operated in conjunction with “RiverWay 2006,” the celebration marking the 150th Anniversary of the country’s first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River. Sponsoring groups are The Friends of the 261, the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, and City of Rock Island, Illinois, in cooperation with the Iowa Interstate Railroad and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad.
The trips will use Chinese class QJ 2-10-2s No. 6988 and No. 7081 owned by Railroad Development Corporation, owners of the Iowa Interstate Railroad. Since RDC hopes to resell the locomotives, this might be the only time the pair will operate together in passenger excursion service. The schedule is as follows:
Thursday Sept. 14: An all-first-class dinner train with ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony at 6:00 p.m. Train departs Rock Island, Ill., at 6:30 p.m., with dinner and fireworks at the Iowa Interstate’s Government Bridge, arriving back in Rock Island at 9:30 p.m.
Friday Sept. 15: Depart Rock Island at 9 a.m. for a trip west on the Iowa Interstate to Iowa City and Homestead, Iowa. A lunch stop will be made in Iowa City and the train wi