And I apologize now, this has probably been asked many times, but I have been in the search and couldn’t find anything. With the RFDTV specials and all, I’ve started getting nosy about what engines have ventured out into the deeper waters and where they are currently, possibly for running on a future layout. (That much I can look up on my own though.) Anything helpful you can offer, as well as back links to other threads, would be great. I looked, but quite possibly not in the right places. Gogle gives me list of restored steamers, which are cool in their own right, but I’d rather like to narrow down from just the museums.
I already know of the
-4449
-SP&S 700
-ATSF 3751
-RDG 2101
-UP specials
-MILW 261
Pennsy duo (Strausburg)
NKP 587
NKP765
C&O 610
N&W 611 & 1218
SOO 1003 does Santa Train work for the WSOR, I’m not sure what it does the rest of the year.
Most likely kept in some Canadian Pacific Shed held exclusivly for excursions.
I’ve seen UP 3985 and UP 844 do excursion work, I believe they are both kept in Cheyenne, WY. I know 844 is kept there but I’m not sure about 3985. I believe the same group that began restoration work on 3985 in 81’ intended to restore a Big Boy but I havn’t heard anything further.
I have also seen SF 3751 race up Cajon Pass and supposedly its kept in San Bernardino.
The travel Museum in California has a bunch of stuff too…but they only run on private rails.
N&W 611 & 1218 are not running any more. SOO 1003 & 2719 still make some runs. NP 328 is laid up for repair, as is C&NW 1385. I do not think C&O 610 has turned a wheel in many years. Blue Mountain & Reading used to run a 4-6-2 several years ago, as did NYS&W did with their Chinese 2-8-2. another Chinese 2-8-2 runs out of Boone, IA, and Iowa Interstate has been running a pair of Chinese 2-10-2 engines in the past year.
That SOO 1003 just ran on a Christmas Special on the WSOR. The SOO 2719 is at the Lake Superior Museum and may run again this spring. MILW 261 made mainline trips this past summer, and UP 3985 ran up to St Paul as well this year. It has been a pretty good steam season in the Midwest.
One minor correction- the C&O locomotive you’re referring to is #614.
There is a #610 which was restored and saw mainline service, Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 #610, which was restored as the third steam locomotive for the American Freedom Train, and later ran some excursions as part of the Southern Railway’s Steam Program. It hasn’t run since at least the late 1980s, and is stored on the Texas State Railroad at either Rusk or Palestine.
Frisco 4-8-2 #1522 was restored and ran a number of mainline trips in the 1990s. It is currently mothballed at the St Louis Museum of Transportation. It was taken out of service on account of increasing operational costs (insurance being the big one), and the limited opportunities to get out and run it.
Pere Marquette 2-8-4 #1225 has seen mainline service, mostly on CSX in the early 1990s, though it is run regularly on the Great Lakes Central out of its home base at the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan. It is slated to co-star with NKP #765 (and possibly one or two other steam locomotives) at Train Festival 2009, this July in Owosso.
C&O 2-8-4 #2716 was restored in the early 1980s and ran briefly as part of the Southern Steam Program. It ran sporadically on other trips until the mid-1990s when, needing some heavy work, it was returned to its home at the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, Kentucky.
Another Southern Steam Program veteran was Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson #2839. It was restored in Pennsylvania, run intermittently, then “stuffed and mounted” and put on display at the Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar, California.
Blue Mountain & Reading’s ex-Gulf, Mobile & Northern 4-6-2 #325 ran some excursions in Pennsylvania this last summer, the first time it has
Milwaukee 261 made it’s last run (for a while) in Sept. 2008. It’s now undergoing an extensive required shopping in Minneapolis, and will be out of action until late summer / early fall 2009.
BTW I believe both UP steam engines are kept in Cheyenne WY at the UP shops there. I think there were some clearance issues that came to light that prevented a Big Boy to be restored. I know here in MN any talk of restoring a DMIR Yellowstone has been quickly quashed by the railroads in the area, as they would have to do a major overhaul of their trackage to allow horizontal clearances for the big engines.
UP 3985 is apparently small enough (relatively speaking) to not be a problem.
UP has never had a desire to restore a Big Boy, aside of the fact thart none of the eight preserved are owned by the railroad and factoring in rebuild cost, limited operating potential and a host of other challenges it just ain’t in the cards. Rumors of 4018 being rebuilt for movie work a decade ago were just that, seems Spielberg under-estimated the cost associated with such a venture and general lack of interest.
Wish I could say that Cotton Belt 819 would steam again, but there is not much going on with it lately. Here is a Terry Kirkland photo of one of her excursions to TEXAS.
Up in Canadaland, Canadian Pacific has 4-6-4 #2816 which has been running excursions since 2003 (?), though no excursions are planned for 2009, CPR promises she’ll be out in all her glory again in 2010.
Out west, CPR Royal Hudson #2860 is capable of mainline running and there are rumblings of some North Van-Squamish runs in fall 09. Ex-CN 6060 (Bullet Nosed Betty) is also running, though currently restricted to 10 MPH at its current home. Ex-CP 2-8-0 3716 (my avatar) plies the rails five days per week during the warm season in Summerland BC, though it won’t be doing any true mainline running as the KVR is land locked with the nearest rail head being 30 miles away.
You are correct 4004 in Holiday Park contributed several parts, the 85 was missing her tender stoker screw, alas 4004 was also without one. One was located eventually by City Services in the local salvage yard where it was intended once upon a time to be made into a post hole digger! If memory serves 4004 provided a feedwater heater and several injectors in addition to tender brake piping and valves.
When converted to oil in 91, Sister challenger 3977, provided the oil bunker, heater, and valves/regulators and tender to firebox piping, a new firebox door and oil control valve were aquired from 844’s parts engine.
