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Valley Railroad No. 97 is a preserved 2-8-0 steam locomotive that was built in 1923 by Alco. It was used for pulling services around the valley railroad the locomotive was restored in 1963 and was retired in 2010, On October 26, 2018 the locomotive was restored again. As of 2024 the locomotive is still operational.
No. 97 was built by the American Locomotive Company's former Cooke Locomotive Works in 1923 as No. 200. It was one of two locomotives that were intended to be exported to Cuba for use on the National Railway Company of Cuba. No. 200, however, never made it to Cuba, and it was stored at the Cooke factory until it was shut down in 1926. The locomotive was subsequently sold to the Birmingham and Southeastern Railroad on March 5, 1926, and it was moved to the company's shortline in Alabama. The locomotive pulled multiple passenger and freight trains on Birmingham and Southeastern trackage until 1958.
In 1963, New York publisher Stephen D. Bogen purchased No. 200, and it soon began operating on the Vermont Railway. It was also renumberd to 97 to avoid conflict with the railroad’s diesel locomotive No. 200. Locomotive 97 pulled mainline excursion trains on portions of the New Haven Railroad until it merged with the Penn Central Railroad in 1968. No. 97 was subsequently moved to the Connecticut Valley Railroad in 1970, but it didn't start operating there until 1973. Shortly afterward, No. 97 would replace 2-6-2 locomotive No. 103 as the Valley Railroad’s train consist expanded.In 2005 it was sold to the private owner to the Valley Railroad. In 2007 the locomotive was filmed on Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull. [1]
No. 97 ran until December 2010, when its flue time expired, and while being displayed outdoors,
the locomotive underwent a 1,472-day inspection as required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). [2] [3]
No. 97 returned to service on October 26, 2018. In September 2019, it had more maintenance In January 2020, 97 had been lifted off its wheels for the first time in decades. [4] In 2021, 2022, and In 2023, it hauled the north pole express. [5]
In June 2007, No. 97 was coupled to some passenger cars to be filmed at Essex station. This was for the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull, starring Harrison Ford and directed by Steven Spielberg. [6]
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.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a 2008 American action adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Koepp, based on a story by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson. It is the fourth installment in the Indiana Jones film series and a sequel to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Set in 1957, it pits Indiana Jones against Soviet KGB agents led by Irina Spalko searching for a telepathic crystal skull located in Peru. Jones is aided by his former lover, Marion Ravenwood, and their son, Mutt Williams. Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent are also part of the supporting cast.
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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, as the first of its wheel arrangement type for the Southern Railway (SOU). In July 1948, the locomotive was retired from the Southern 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.
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The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in 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 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.
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.
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Valley Railroad No. 40 is a preserved 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive that was built by Alco in 1920. 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 Connecticut 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.
