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  • Conway Scenic Railroad (CSRX) discussion thread

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

 #1588644  by BandA
 
Isn't the cab made of steel? How could a radio, which presumably has a UL listing, cause a fire that extended beyond the cab? Radio is probably not designed for the heat found in a steam locomotive cab but that shouldn't cause a fire risk. UL tested items should suffer component failure without bursting into flame.
 #1588666  by NHV 669
 
Jonathan wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 4:58 pm Only thing I'm wondering is if they're gonna fix it in time for it to run during the snow train season.
The diesels can easily take care of those runs.
 #1588686  by Calebharris39
 
Just thought id chime in because i have a ul listed piece of equipment blow up in flames last year. And funny thing is it was a radio as well i use in my maple sugar operation the board overheated with one of the high power contact solder joints and burst into flames. So seeing another one do it is crazy. Im glad 7470 is saved though.
 #1588724  by arthur d.
 
A UL listing doesn't necessarily mean squat. It doesn't even have to be the radio itself, it could have been a chafed through power cable TO the radio causing a short, and as bpiche said, plenty of wood inside the cab, probably some oil cans, rags, seat cushions, etc, etc, etc. as well.
 #1589009  by jcpatten
 
The way it was explained to me is that 7470's cab interior is wood-lined, which is standard in steel cab steam locos.

The watchman got to it just in time to save the roundhouse, as flames were rocketing out the cab windows and licking the roof timbers.
 #1590109  by ConwayScenic252
 
Hi. I’m a fan of Conway Scenic and looking at the recent things happening with the railroad I’d like to chime in.

First of all, I see that some people have complained about the Rhonda Lee Dome Car. In order for it to look like the rest of the consist, the stainless steel would have to be taken off and a new coat would have to be put on. Conway says on their Facebook they wouldn’t like to do that.

Second of all, there’s a lot of discussion regarding Steam Loco #7470. From what I know, minimal damage was done to the cab. If it were Strasburg it would probably be an easy fix. However since Conway likes to keep buying new equipment and not taking care of their old, I’m not so sure.

Now I’m going to get into the current topic: Ownership. I looked at some of the comments here, and I don’t know if they are true, so bare with me as I am trying to be as accurate as possible.
Some previous threads talk about what they pay, and that it’s under minimal wage. Not going to get into that stuff, I’m gonna talk about what’s going on for the physical railroad itself.
Let’s list all the GOOD things for CSR that happened in 2021:
- Snow Trains through January
- Gertrude Emma returned
- #1751 gets an M3RT1 horn
- Progress on #4268
- #4266/68 repainted and glossed
- #72 added to the roster
- 470 Club Trip
- #255 added to the roster
- #252 restored
- #7470 restored briefly

Let’s now list the BAD things that happened:
- No time for equipment matinence
- Railfans Day 2021
- #252 down for over a year
- #7470 never ran until the VERY END of the year; for 2 days
- Too much unnecessary equipment purchased- a generator?
- Mass Bay exposed Conway to have been not working on #7470 - website said “very little work has been done”
- Many railfans quit after Conway cancelled Steam in the Snow
- Other bad management decisions made.

What will probably happen in 2022?
- #216 breaking down
- #255 painted yellow
- More railfans quitting
- #7470 runs? I hope
- Doubleheader photo freight #255/#252 - they call that “railfans day”
- #4268 runs
- Amazing 470 Club Trip- Revenue run of #4268
- #6505 & #6516 brought back, new owners will take anything
- Equipment breaking down


So, I personally believe that we do need new management, place is going downhill right now. Also some threads say that there is no Ops. Manager because all the others fired or quit because of the railroad’s status.

I hope you enjoyed my “rant”, I know all of us want the place to strive and be as great as it was, but with this ownership, I’m not sure it can…
 #1590129  by MEC407
 
ConwayScenic252 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:56 am Some previous threads talk about what they pay, and that it’s under minimal wage.
Perhaps I missed it, but I don't recall anyone alleging that Conway Scenic pays less than minimum wage. That would be a very serious allegation.
 #1590146  by BandA
 
I am so glad I got to enjoy the CSRX in the 1970s under steam operation. I hope others will too in the future. And I hope one day to cross the Frankenstein Trestle and the Mountain Division. Historic 1940s-1950s diesel locomotives and interesting paint livery are not as important to me.
 #1590151  by CPF66
 
2022 hasn't started off on a good note either. From what has been shared in some of the facebook groups, the 1751 is down again with a non-FRA compliant wheel. They had that same issue in the past which, placed it out of service in 2018. I imagine they used one of those profiling brake shoes to try and dig the flat spot out at the time to get it back in service since NHCR needed a second locomotive.
Last edited by MEC407 on Sun Jan 23, 2022 5:59 pm, edited 1 time in total. Reason: excessive quoting
 #1590168  by CSRR573
 
With the wheel issue, where is the nearest truing machine? Waterville? I would imagine it would be easier and cheaper to send it out then replacing a combo unit in North Conway
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