| Valley Railroad 97 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 No. 97 preparing to haul an excursion train on November 26, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| References: [1] [2] [3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Valley Railroad 97 is a preserved 200 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive that was built by the American Locomotive Company's Cooke Works for the Birmingham and Southeastern Railroad.
No. 97 was built by the American Locomotive Company's former Cooke Locomotive Works in November 1923 as No. 200. [4] [3] [5] [1] [6] [2] [1] It was one of two locomotives that were intended to be exported to Cuba for use on the National Railway Company of Cuba. [7] No. 200 however, never made it to Cuba as the order was cancelled, it was kept in storage at the Cooke Works factory until it's closure in 1926. [1] Instead, it was subsequently sold to the Birmingham and Southeastern Railroad in February 1926 and was moved to the company's shortline in Alabama on March 5, 1926. [1] [3] [4] The locomotive pulled multiple passenger and freight trains on Birmingham and Southeastern trackage until it was retired from revenue service in 1958 and put into storage. [1] [4]
In 1963, No. 200 was purchased by New York publisher Stephen D. Bogen and moved it to the Vermont Railway, it was restored and placed into service and renumbered to No. 97 to avoid conflict with the railroad’s diesel locomotive No. 200. [4] [3] [7] No. 97 pulled mainline excursion trains on portions of the New Haven Railroad until it merged with the Penn Central Railroad in 1968. [4] [3] [7]
In 1970, No. 97 was moved to Essex, Connecticut to haul tourists trains for the Valley Railroad. [1] It was placed into service for the VALE in the spring of 1973. [1] Shortly afterward, No. 97 would replace 2-6-2 locomotive No. 103 as the Valley Railroad’s train consist expanded. [3] In the late 1970s, No. 97's original small tender was replaced with a larger tender that was previously used from a Central Vermont Consolidation steam locomotive No. 404. No. 97's original tender currently sits out of service in Essex. [2]
In December 2010, No. 97 was removed from service to undergo its 1,472-day inspection and overhaul as required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), it was soon back in service on October 26, 2018. [1]
In June 2007, No. 97 was coupled to some passenger cars to be filmed at Essex station for the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , starring Harrison Ford and directed by Steven Spielberg. [8]
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to 1968. Founded by the merger of the New York and New Haven and Hartford and New Haven railroads, the company had near-total dominance of railroad traffic in Southern New England for the first half of the 20th century.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-8-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. In the United States and elsewhere, this wheel arrangement is commonly known as a Consolidation, after the Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad’s Consolidation, the name of the first 2-8-0.
The Central Vermont Railway was a railroad that operated in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec.
The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, commonly known as the "Frisco", was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central United States from 1876 to November 21, 1980. At the end of 1970, it operated 4,547 miles (7,318 km) of road on 6,574 miles (10,580 km) of track, not including subsidiaries Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway and the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad; that year, it reported 12,795 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers. In 1980 it was purchased by and absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad. Despite its name, it never came close to San Francisco.
Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on 62.48 acres (25.3 ha) in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The museum is built around a working turntable and a roundhouse that are largely replications of the original DL&W facilities; the roundhouse, for example, was reconstructed from remnants of a 1932 structure. The site also features several original outbuildings dated between 1899 and 1902. All the buildings on the site are listed with the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Yard-Dickson Manufacturing Co. Site.
Southern Railway 4501 is a preserved Ms class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive. Built in October 1911 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, No. 4501 was the first of its wheel arrangement type for the Southern Railway (SOU). In July 1948, the locomotive was retired from the railway in favor of dieselization and was subsequently sold to the shortline Kentucky and Tennessee Railway (K&T) in Stearns, Kentucky, to haul coal trains.
The Vermont Railway is a shortline railroad in Vermont and eastern New York, operating much of the former Rutland Railway. It is the main part of the Vermont Rail System, which also owns the Green Mountain Railroad, the Rutland's branch to Bellows Falls. The trackage is owned by the Vermont Agency of Transportation except in New York, where VTR operates a line owned by the Boston and Maine Corporation. The rail line employs about 150 people in Vermont.
The Belvidere & Delaware River Railway Company also known as Delaware River Railroad or Bel-Del, is a class III railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1995 when the Conrail Delaware Secondary line was purchased by the Black River Railroad System, which operates several railroad services in western New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. The Black River Railroad System also owns and operates the Black River and Western Railroad (BR&W). BR&W has leased 10 miles (16 km) of trackage to BDRV since 2004.
Established in 1960, the Empire State Railway Museum is a non-profit railroad museum currently located in the historic Ulster & Delaware Phoenicia Railroad Station, Phoenicia, New York. The station was built in 1899 by the U&D, and is one of the few surviving examples left along the line. The museum owns a small collection of historic railroad equipment. The museum was formerly the publisher of the annual Steam Railroad Directory until the 2006 edition, when the title was taken over by Kalmbach Publishing and now released as the Tourist Trains Guidebook.
The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Essex, Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex, and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad 3025 is a China Railways SY class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive. It was built in July 1989 by the Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works as SY-1658M, and it was exported to the Knox and Kane Railroad (K&K) in the United States. In 1990, No. 1658 began hauling tourist trains for the K&K between Marienville, Kane, and Mount Jewett, Pennsylvania, and it often operated over the railroad's primary attraction, the Kinzua Bridge. By 2004, the locomotive was put into storage, following a decline in ridership on the K&K.
Chartered on June 6, 1903, the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway was a 200-mile (321 km) U.S. railroad that operated from Brownsville, Texas, to Gulf Coast Junction in Houston, Texas. It served numerous towns and cities along its routes and operated a rail bridge between Brownsville and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, in junction with the Mexican government. The Brownie connected the citizens of Brownsville to nearby Corpus Christi for the first time on land rather than using water transportation.
Steamtown, U.S.A., was a steam locomotive museum that ran steam excursions out of North Walpole, New Hampshire, and Bellows Falls, Vermont, from the 1960s to 1983. The museum was founded by millionaire seafood industrialist F. Nelson Blount. The non-profit Steamtown Foundation took over operations following his death in 1967. Because of Vermont's air quality regulations restricting steam excursions, declining visitor attendance, and disputes over the use of track, some pieces of the collection were relocated to Scranton, Pennsylvania in the mid-1980s and the rest were auctioned off. After the move, Steamtown continued to operate in Scranton but failed to attract the expected 200,000–400,000 visitors. Within two years the tourist attraction was facing bankruptcy, and more pieces of the collection were sold to pay off debt.
St. Louis–San Francisco 1352 is an Alco built 2-8-2 Steam locomotive. Built in 1912 as a 2-8-0 Consolidation-type by the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, New York, for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, the engine was later rebuilt into a 2-8-2 Mikado-type to keep up with the traffic demands from World War II. After being retired from the Frisco, the locomotive was moved to many locations under several owners, until it ended up in a small engine house in Rural, Illinois. The locomotive was disassembled by a group with the intent to restore it to operation. Later, the American Steam Railroad ("ASR") was founded, and they purchased the No. 1352 locomotive in 2008 with the hopes of restoring it to operating condition. However, it was left partially disassembled in Taylorville, Illinois, due to the ASR being busy working on restoring another steam locomotive Reading 2100. In November 2023, the No. 1352 locomotive was purchased by the Valley Railroad located in Essex, Connecticut.
Illinois Central No. 790 is a preserved 2-8-0 “Consolidation” steam locomotive, built by ALCO’s Cooke Works in 1903. In 1959, No. 790 was saved from scrap and purchased by Lou Keller, and he used it to pull excursion trains in Iowa. In 1965, the locomotive was sold to a New York businessman, who, in turn, sold it the following year to F. Nelson Blount, the founder of Steamtown, U.S.A.. As of 2024, No. 790 is on static display at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The Massawippi Valley Railway was a short line railway established in 1870 between Lennoxville, Quebec, and the Vermont border. Part of the Quebec Central Railway from 1926, the line was abandoned in 1990 and removed in 1992. Most of the former railway's right of way is now used for bicycle trails.
Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad No. 33 is a preserved SC-1 class 2-8-0 "consolidation" type steam locomotive originally built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in April 1916 for the Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway as No. 44. In 1924, the MM&SE was purchased by the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad and the locomotive was renumbered to 33. It served the LS&I by pulling heavy iron ore trains until it was retired from revenue service in 1962. The following year, it was sold to the Marquette and Huron Mountain tourist railroad to operate in excursion service, but instead sat idle in Marquette.
Valley Railroad 40 is a preserved 101 class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive that was built by American Locomotive Company's Brooks Works for the Minarets and Western Railway. It was initially built as No. 101 for the Portland, Astoria and Pacific Railroad as part of their small order of locomotives. However, the order was cancelled, and the locomotive was subsequently sold to the Minarets and Western Railway to haul logging trains. No. 101 subsequently went through several ownerships during revenue service, until it was retired in 1950, and by that time, it was renumbered to 40. After spending several years in storage, No. 40 made its way to the Valley Railroad in Essex in 1977. As of 2024, No. 40 is being used to haul tourist trains between Essex and Deep River, Connecticut, alongside 2-8-0 No. 97 and 2-8-2 No. 3025.
New York, Susquehanna and Western 142 is a China Railways SY class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive. It was built as SY-1647M in May 1989 by the Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works for the Valley Railroad (VALE) in the United States. Its design was altered to meet requirements for U.S. operation. It made its inaugural run for the VALE in early 1990.
Everett Railroad No. 11 is a 260-111 class 2-6-0 "Mogul" type steam locomotive. It was built by the American Locomotive Company's Cooke Works for export to Cuba, but it remained in the United States and was sold to the Narragansett Pier Railroad in 1923. It was later operated by the Bath and Hammondsport Railroad until 1949. It subsequently hauled excursion trains for the Rail City museum in New York until 1972.
