November 2009

I am pleased to report that steam locomotive #7470 is back in service. The engine was fired up in the early morning hours on Sunday, October 25, and after the necessary tweaking, tightening and testing was judged ready to be the power for our two scheduled trains of the day.

It handled the 11:30 train to Bartlett and the 1:30 train to the Pumpkin Patch at the Cider Company in Glen. The locomotive was then drained and is now temporarily back in stall 3 of the Roundhouse in North Conway. On December 17, 18, 19 & possibly on the 20th it will be the power on our evening Polar Express™ Trains and also on the 3 pm trip to Conway on Saturday the 19th for our "Snow Train Celebration" in conjunction with Cranmore Mountain. Earlier trains on the 19th will be diesel powered.

Our “Steam in the Snow” trip with the Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts is scheduled for a 10:30 am departure on Saturday, January 2, 2010, with return by 4:00 pm. The train will be handled westbound by GP-7 #573 to Notchland and will feature #7470 facing east on the return trip from Notchland to North Conway. As in the past, several photo run-bys are planned. Tickets for this event are still available on the web (www.conwayscenic.com) or by calling the station at (603) 356-5251. We all are very pleased that steam is back in service here!

Conway Scenic held its annual employee dinner recently where we had a chance to review a few of this year's accomplishments which I include here:

• RDC-1 #23 was painted, lettered and named “Millie” in honor of Russ Seybold’s Mom.
• Both of #573’s trucks were sent to Derby Shops in Milo, ME, on the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway for rebuild.
• The Crawford Notch Line was surfaced from Mountain Junction to Bartlett using 5,000 tons of new ballast.
• The Frankenstein Trestle redecking project was completed.
• 3400 ties were replaced between Fabyan’s and Hazen.
• CSRR handled two halves of a very heavy transformer for Public Service of New Hampshire from Hazen to North Conway, marking the first revenue freight move on the Mountain Division since 1984 and CSRR’s first revenue freight move ever.
• On a volunteer basis our track crew reopened the Bartlett wye for use by maintenance of way equipment.
• Some missing iron finials were repaired in the roundhouse and replaced on the North Conway Station roof.
• CSRR produced a video titled “Winter Steam” documenting the operations of #7470 in cold weather months (available now in HDVD & Bluray).

During the last week of October, we delivered Portland Terminal Snow plow #68 and Maine Central box car #35059 to the Bartlett Roundhouse lead track. The plow was built by the Russell Snow Plow Company of Ridgway, PA, in 1923, and the boxcar was built in 1918 by Keith Car Company of Sagamore, MA. The boxcar had served as a tool car at Bartlett from 1941 to 1968; if only it could talk!

The two pieces of equipment will soon be on long-term lease to the Bartlett Roundhouse Preservation Club. It is the Club’s intent to stabilize and preserve this equipment for educational display purposes. During the switching in Bartlett our boom truck #211 was used to pull the cars onto the Roundhouse lead, and I took the opportunity to get some ‘rare mileage’ by having the 211 back all the way to the end of track in the building. A few photos of the move can be seen on the Conway Scenic Facebook page. It is always interesting when you are operating on tracks that have not felt the weight of a railroad car in many years!

As always, thank you for your interest in and support of Conway Scenic Railroad.
Always expect a train!