Everett Railroad 11
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 No. 11 when it operated for the Narragansett Pier Railroad, circa 1934 | |||||||||||||||
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Everett Railroad No. 11 is a 2-6-0 "Mogul"-type steam locomotive. It was built by ALCO in 1920 for export to Cuba, but it remained in the United States, being sold to the Narragansett Pier Railroad in 1923. It was later sold again to the Bath and Hammondsport Railroad, where it operated until 1949. It was subsequently sold to the Rail City museum in New York, and it hauled tourist excursion trains for them, until the museum's closure in 1972.
In 1977, No. 11 returned to the Narragansett Pier Railroad and was partially restored, and then it was sold to the Middletown and New Jersey Railroad, where it was stored indoors. In 2006, No. 11 was purchased by the Everett Railroad, who sent it to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad's shops for a complete restoration. In 2015, the restoration was completed, and No. 11 began hauling tourist trains for the Everett Railroad. In 2022, the locomotive was converted from coal to oil firing.
Construction and revenue service
[edit]No. 11 was built in 1920 by the American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Cooke Works, and it was one of fifty-nine identical 2-6-0 "Mogul" locomotives built between 1920 and 1926 for export to Cuba.[1] By that time, the sugar industry of Cuba was booming, and ALCO attempted to capitalize on the industry by offering to sell locomotives.[1] Concurrency, Cuba's economy was unstable, and ALCO only succeeded to export forty 2-6-0s to the country. The remaining nineteen locomotives, including No. 11, remained in storage while ALCO searched for domestic buyers.[1]
In 1922, ALCO found an owner for No. 11, when the Narragansett Pier Railroad in Rhode Island agreed to purchase it, and the locomotive arrived the following year.[2][3] No. 11's first trip made it as far as Wakefield before coming to a sudden stop at a sharp curve. Railroad management realized the flanges on the drive wheels made navigating the curve at Wakefield impossible. This prompted a trip to Providence, Rhode Island, where New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (known as the New Haven) shop forces fixed the problem by removing the flanges on the middle pair of drive wheels (creating blind drivers).[3]
As the newest locomotive, No. 11 continued service after older locomotives were retired, becoming the railroad's only locomotive in 1926.[4] Insufficient maintenance meant No. 11 spent much of its time in the engine house for repairs, with rentals from the New Haven filling in at significant cost. This finally grew unbearable by 1930, when the company purchased outright a used 4-4-0 "American" locomotive from the New Haven, numbered 20.[3]
No. 11 continued at the Narragansett Pier Railroad until 1937, when the higher operating costs of steam power and the increasing age of the company's locomotives combined with decreasing revenue led to the railroad retiring all of their steam locomotives in favor of a Plymouth Locomotive Works gasoline switcher.[5] Upon No. 11's retirement in Rhode Island, the locomotive was sold to the Bath and Hammondsport Railroad (B&H) in New York State.[6] The B&H operated No. 11 until 1949, when the railroad adopted dieselization. Instead of scrapping the obsolete locomotive, the B&H kept it within their roundhouse until a buyer could be found.[7]
Preservation
[edit]In 1955, preservationist Stanley A. Groman purchased No. 11 for a new museum he was planning in Sandy Pond, New York, to be called Rail City.[8] The locomotive hauled tourist trains on a 1-mile (1.6 km) circle line at Rail City until the mid-1970s, when declining patronage forced its closure.[7][9]
By 1977, the Narragansett Pier Railroad was owned by John Miller, a dentist who lived in Newtown, Connecticut, and planned to redevelop the railroad as a museum. Miller announced his intention to reacquire No. 11 from Rail City for passenger excursions.[2] No. 11 was subsequently shipped to the Narragansett Pier, and restoration work begun, but not completed. In 1981, No. 11 was sold to the Middletown and New Jersey Railroad (M&NJ), whose president Pierre Rasmussen held a personal interest in steam locomotives and hoped to run No. 11 on the railroad. By the time of Rasmussen's death in 2004, the No. 11 locomotive had spent more than two decades inside the M&NJ roundhouse without any further restoration progress.[7]
Ownership of No. 11 ended up with James Wright, who had done business with the M&NJ. Two years later, in 2006, the Everett Railroad's president, Alan Maples, purchased No. 11 with the desire to run his own steam program. No. 11 was sent to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad's (WMSR) workshop in Ridgeley, West Virginia, where the WMSR began the locomotive's restoration under contract.[1] Crews at the WMSR performed multiple tasks on No. 11; the frame was reconditioned, the running gear rebuilt, and some parts of the boiler were replaced. In March 2015, No. 11 was moved to the Everett Railroad shops in Claysburg, Pennsylvania, where the remainder of its restoration took place, which involved additional replacement parts being installed for the boiler and running gear.[1]
In August, No. 11 underwent a hydrostatic test and a test fire, both of which were deemed successful.[1] Following reassembly, the locomotive hauled its first trains on the railroad in October.[10] In 2022, No. 11 was converted from coal to oil firing, due to difficulties in securing coal and the desire to cut down the amount of smoke it generated. This was a return to No. 11's original configuration, as it was converted to coal firing shortly after construction.[11] On May 6, 2023, No. 11 hauled a fundraising excursion that benefited the restoration of Pennsylvania Railroad 1361, sponsored by the Railroaders Memorial Museum (RMM).[12]
See also
[edit]- Canadian National 89
- Huntingdon and Broad Top 38
- McCloud Railway 25
- Southern Pacific 1744
- Valley Railroad 3025
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g "Preservation - Everett joins the steam ranks". Trains. Vol. 75, no. 11. Kalmbach Media. November 2015. p. 92. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
- ^ a b "Historic R.I. Rail Line to Get 1923 Steam Engine". Nashua Telegraph. June 13, 1977. p. 15.
- ^ a b c Henwood 1969, p. 36.
- ^ Henwood 1969, pp. 36, 45.
- ^ Henwood 1969, p. 39.
- ^ Henwood 1969, pp. 45, 47.
- ^ a b c "Equipment". Everett Railroad. 22 February 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Nichols, Harold (July 17, 1955). "Doctor Collects Old Locomotives for Museum". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 72. Retrieved November 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "History to Go on Block". The Post-Standard. August 15, 1973. p. 55. Retrieved November 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Laepple, Wayne (October 28, 2015). "Man behind the 'Mogul'". Trains. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ Railfan & Railroad Staff (March 23, 2022). "Everett Railroad Steamer Converted to Oil". Railfan & Railroad. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ "Everett RR Company hosting special excursion event to benefit K4 restoration project". WJAC-TV. April 28, 2023. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
Book sources
[edit]- Henwood, James N.J. (1969). A Short Haul to the Bay: A History of the Narragansett Pier Railroad. Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen Greene Press. ISBN 08289-0101-5.