"21st Century Steam" NS Steam Excursions.

[SouthernRailway]

Doesn't NS have enough of its own equipment to use real Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western passenger equipment for these runs? I recall Southern Railway steam excursions around 1980-ish and they had plenty of modernized heavyweight coaches on them. Not luxurious, but they were fine.

[Gadfly]

Doesn't NS have enough of its own equipment to use real Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western passenger equipment for these runs? I recall Southern Railway steam excursions around 1980-ish and they had plenty of modernized heavyweight coaches on them. Not luxurious, but they were fine.

I thought they sold most of it when the program was abolished. Dunno.


GF

[rwk]

NS did sell some of the excursion coaches but they do have a large fleet of coaches for the OCS business train, some were modified for other purposes so would be unsuitable for the public to use as they no longer have coach seats. There are a few regular coaches on the OCS train though. They did buy six coaches from Connecticut for use on the steam train, a power car and five coaches. They are under restoration at Altoona shops. I think most of the former N&W/SOU coaches were sold to the NYS&W as I rode a long distance excursion in NJ behind the 142 steam which has been at Phillipsburg for several years on a tourist line which I also rode, I rode behind the 142 three times. There were ex-NS cars on that long distance excursion in northern NJ. I also enjoyed Steamtown, and Reading and Northern's steam over the years. I never got to ride any of the old NS steam excursions between 1982 (start of NS and start of 611 on excursion use) and end of Dec 1994 (end of NS corporate steam program). Now, NS has announced at TVRM that 630 will operate 1,800 miles next year and that they plan a system tour that will cover 22 states by 2015! Wow. I am so going to buy a ticket for an excursion run if it comes up north to Virginia or Pennsylvania, two of the four "commonwealth" states. I live west of Allentown, PA and NS runs right through our area between Harrisburg, Reading, and Newark, NJ on the former Conrail lines, ex Reading, LV.

[habu]

I was on my way home from the grocery store this morning when I heard the distinct sound of a steam locomotive whistle. Next thing you know hear comes Southern 630 pulling 3 passenger coaches southbound thru Lenoir city Tennessee. I had no camera with me!

[wurlitzer153]

FWRHS has just announced that 765 will pull a NS business train sometime this summer:
http://fortwaynerailroad.org/765-norfol ... niversary/

[Champlain Division]

My wife's ex-sister in law from a previous marriage called me last night and informed me that Lula Railroad Days in Lula, GA to be held May 5th has secured steam powered train rides between Lula and Gainesville, GA. I couldn't get more details other than they are looking for "train geeks" to help out. Sounds like a definite 21st Century Steam possibility. Can anyone corroborate her claim?

[wurlitzer153]

Many of you have probably heard elsewhere, but Southern 630 has been running a few test runs recently on the mainline. Last week she went up to Cleveland, TN and today she went south from Chattanooga into Alabama. They apparently had a hot crank pin and had to drop the rear connecting rods, making her an impromptu 2-6-2...

Here's a video I found of today's run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49-Yokp2m5g

Seems they made surprisingly good time after dropping the rods.

[Southern4501]

This is my shots of the 630 from Chattanooga to Collinsville:

Wauhatchie Pike:
http://youtu.be/yZKieB_FzrU?hd=1

South of Trenton:
http://youtu.be/lhX4Y8L4vGI?hd=1

Trenton, GA:
http://youtu.be/QKuf_a4uAks?hd=1

Collinsville, AL:
http://youtu.be/NjW5ramxNUQ?hd=1

[wurlitzer153]

A rough schedule has been announced for the Employee Appreciation Excursions by various sources. The list below is from http://steamcentral.com/ , who added the reported destinations.

TO: ALL NORFOLK SOUTHERN EMPLOYEES

Norfolk Southern employees soon will enjoy opportunities to ride
behind steam-powered excursion trains.

NS’ “Employee Appreciation Excursions” will be operated on weekends
this summer and fall in recognition of the corporation’s 30th
anniversary. Each of the railroad’s 11 divisions will host several
excursions.

The tentative schedule is:

June 2-3, Georgia Division (630, Inman yard, GA – Austell, GA)
June 9-10, Piedmont Division (630, Salisbury, NC – Barber Junction, NC)
June 30-July 1, Virginia Division (630, Roanoke, VA – Walton, VA)
July 14-15, Central Division (630, Knoxville, TN – Coster Yard area)
July 21-22, Lake Division (765, Bellevue, OH – Bucyrus, OH)
July 28-29, Dearborn Division (765, Toledo, OH Homestead yard – Airline yard)
Aug. 4-5, Pocahontas Division (765, Williamson, WV – Naugatuck, WV)
Aug. 11-12, Pittsburgh Division (765, Conway, PA – Homewood, PA)
Aug. 18-19, Harrisburg Division (765, Enola yard, PA – CP Capitol, Harrisburg, PA)
Sept. 8-9, Illinois Division (765, St. Louis, MO Luther yard – Robertson, MO)
Sept. 15-16, Alabama Division (630, Irondale, AL – Birmingham (14th St.), AL)

The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and the Fort Wayne Historical
Society are providing the steam locomotives, equipment, and services
to make these excursions memorable, fun, and of course, safe.

Southern Railway 630 will be used for the trips on the southern part
of the system. No. 630 was built in 1904 by the American Locomotive
Company at Richmond, Va., and is one of the three locomotives that
will be used in NS’ 21st Century Steam program over the next four
years.
----------

Rich Melvin has posted on the O-gauge forum that the destinations on this list are subject to change. He also said they will MU with the NS/NKP 8100 during deadhead runs to save fuel. Finally, these are not public excursions and will be quite short out-and-back runs.

[rwk]

So the 765 finally returns to PA for the first time since July, 1988 and it won't be open to the public? Darn. And what's up with 5-10 mile excursions for employees? Sounds like a jip to me. I wonder if there will be any public excursions at all with the 765 or 630 this year? Even the June 2 Summerville excursion at TVRM with 630 was cancelled because 630 will be busy with NS hauling their private train. Does NS have anything up their sleeves for railfans other than displays of diesels and exhibit cars this year? A 100 mile public steam excursion would be nice...

[Champlain Division]

Just heard from a friend who heard from an NS Georgia Div Conductor that the June 2&3 excursions have been amended to run Downtown Atlanta - Spring St to Forest Park and back on the C Line/former Central of Georgia mainline.

[wurlitzer153]

Rich has also amended the 765's schedule slightly. Due to lack of wyes at Williamson and Conway, those trips will have two different endpoints, one east and one west. These will be Ought One and Naugatuck, WV; and CP BELL and CP WOOD, PA. Also, the St. Louis trips will be Berkley to St. Peters, MO.

[wurlitzer153]

Public trips with 630 announced:
http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/ ... _june.html
http://www.tvrail.com/pages/21st-Century-Steam

This includes a weekend of short round trips out of Spencer, NC and a two-day trip from Spencer to Roanoke via Winston-Salem. TVRM has announced several additional trips in the works.

[Champlain Division]

Heard more from that friend that the Central of Georgia Heritage unit will be assisting in Atlanta.

[wurlitzer153]

I must say, anything bigger than a geep would look terribly out of place behind the little 630! LOL