The EBT: Coming back strong

[Ed Kapuscinski]

One thing to keep in mind: there may be issues that are a bit more than skin deep.

Give this a read: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=299857#p299857

15 has pine plugs plugging up a few of its flues. The boiler inspector ain't gonna like that.

I'm sure they're all solvable problems, and I know the right people are involved in solving them, but before we all start renting rooms in Robertsdale, lets remember they need the support to just get some wheels turning.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So now one has to wonder if the WMSR will get their poop in a group to have 1309 on the rails before the EBT roars back into life.

Given its long dormancy, and the amount of work that will be required to get back up and running... locomotives, cars, and an enormous amount of track work... I think they are being pretty aggressive with their time table, but as noted elsewhere, the group that's putting the package together has the bones to do what needs to be done.

Huzzah!  I'm looking forward to seeing it under steam again!

Lee

Have you read this?
http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/observation-tower/archive/2020/02/12/1309-s-difficult-past-and-prosperous-future.aspx

It's a really good perspective on it. It's something some mutual friends might benefit from reading, as well...

[VonRyan]

One thing to keep in mind: there may be issues that are a bit more than skin deep.

Give this a read: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=299857#p299857

15 has pine plugs plugging up a few of its flues. The boiler inspector ain't gonna like that.

I'm sure they're all solvable problems, and I know the right people are involved in solving them, but before we all start renting rooms in Robertsdale, lets remember they need the support to just get some wheels turning.

I don’t care for RYPN. There’s a lot of armchair preservationists and it’s a place that harbors a few folks who’d rather slander, backstab, and sabotage certain volunteer preservation efforts rather than help them or at least just keep out of it.

[Dave V]

One thing to keep in mind: there may be issues that are a bit more than skin deep.

Give this a read: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=299857#p299857

15 has pine plugs plugging up a few of its flues. The boiler inspector ain't gonna like that.

I'm sure they're all solvable problems, and I know the right people are involved in solving them, but before we all start renting rooms in Robertsdale, lets remember they need the support to just get some wheels turning.

Bear this in mind too, though.  The shop forces at Ridgway had practically destroyed RGS 20 to keep her running.  When Bob Richardson bought her in the early 50s the RGS men told him “whatever you do to her, just don’t ever, ever try to fire her up again.”  The Strasburg shops and the Colorado Railroad Museum saw some unbelievable things when they took her apart.  She was essentially a time bomb whose clock simply hadn’t quite run out.

Now in 2020 she meets current FRA standards.

Money solves all preservation problems if present in sufficient quantity.

[learmoia]

There is a video on youtube.. of #15 running under steam.... maybe it's an older video that happened to be published yesterday..  but it's just a few people with cell phone cameras..

[nkalanaga]

Pine plugs were probably standard "quick repairs" at the time.  No, the inspectors wouldn't like them, and probably wouldn't let it run, but they would keep a loco running until its next shop date.

[PJPickard]

I just put this video up, road trip with my dad in the early 1970's

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One of my favorite places, I've been many times, glad to finally hear this news.

[Dave V]

There is a video on youtube.. of #15 running under steam.... maybe it's an older video that happened to be published yesterday..  but it's just a few people with cell phone cameras..

Nothing's under steam yet...but the real "spotting feature" of the video is the vegetation in full leaf.  Not in central PA in February.  It's ben a dry winter back there so not much snow, but there are still no leaves on the trees.  So this is from sometime prior to the EBT's shutdown in 2011.

EDIT:  Thanks for finding this.  Gotta say, there are a few whistles that take me back to my childhood and my initial fascination with trains.  One is of course the Reading six-chime worn by Strasburg #90, but the others are the various similar whistle on the EBT.  Each EBT Mike has her own voice, but like sisters, they sound very similar.  I can hear that whistle and be 4 years old again, standing waist-deep in the snow at an EBT Winter Spectacular with my father and older brother.

[nkalanaga]

Looking at that video it looks like they've restored quite a few hoppers since I was there in the early 80s.  They should have enough for a good "photo freight", or a lot of track work.

[Dave V]

Boom.

[nkalanaga]

And those hoppers seem to be everywhere.  I think that's how the Kovalchicks kept the line going so long - finding a market for modern narrow gauge hoppers. 

I know the C&TS, D&SNG, Sumpter Valley, and Silverwood Amusement Park in Idaho have them, and think the WP&Y does.  Any other roads?