Attention Steam Foamers

[NS9030]

Not running since 1994, N&W 611 may run this summer!
Now I say *may* because they are still trying to figure out if it can run yet, so don't get your hopes up.
http://www.fireup611.org
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Also NKP 765 will be doing some excursions too. Buy your tickets to ride behind it this spring!
http://fortwaynerailroad.org/category/events/

[mapitts]

I know I am all for that! Only problem is 611 USED to be able to only travel on a select few of the old Southern lines. Axle loadings. NS wanted to bring 611 for a Huntsville AL - Chattanooga TN excursion. 2 bridges brought a halt to that. Instead we got 1218! Got a cab ride back from Chattanooga. Had a bad order car that could not be moved back to Birmingham. They would have had to get the car department up from Birmingham to temperarily repair the car to get it back to Birmingham. Being a welder, I did the RIP repairs to the car so they could get it back, just not in passenger service. I worked on the car for 2 days to get the car department to accept it. NS asked me about the bill. I told them A cab ride back would settle it up as far as I was concerned. They jumped right on that one.

[bpetit]

I know I am all for that! Only problem is 611 USED to be able to only travel on a select few of the old Southern lines. Axle loadings. NS wanted to bring 611 for a Huntsville AL - Chattanooga TN excursion. 2 bridges brought a halt to that. Instead we got 1218! Got a cab ride back from Chattanooga. Had a bad order car that could not be moved back to Birmingham. They would have had to get the car department up from Birmingham to temperarily repair the car to get it back to Birmingham. Being a welder, I did the RIP repairs to the car so they could get it back, just not in passenger service. I worked on the car for 2 days to get the car department to accept it. NS asked me about the bill. I told them A cab ride back would settle it up as far as I was concerned. They jumped right on that one.

dern that is awesome.

[mapitts]

At the time I was a volunteer mechanic for a railroad museum here. One of the jobs we had when the excursion train came to town was to give a rolling run by on each side of the train a couple of times to see if everything was OK. That time turned out that one of the old Southern Railway cars, 842, had a terrible rattling noise under it on one end. Turned out to be the generator drive shaft. The bearings had fallen out and was dragging and catching in the ring gear on the axle. It was jumping and catching the ring gear. I told them that if it jumped above the ring gear it would get pulled in and the wheel would start sliding. Had to do a lot of air arc gouging to get all of that out of there. No pit just laying on the ground. Ended up cutting the whole gear case out in pieces small enough to man handle from under the car. Another time we had 610 pull an excursion. 610 had just been shopped at the TVRM and trail ran. This was it's first road trip I believe. It had an awful sloppy sound from the 1st drive axle. Found that they had not put a thrust washer in the crosshead connecting pin allowing the whole crosshead to almost twist just a bit. Made them a washer and put it on. Good to go. It is always nice when you can use your skills to help the railroad in stuff like that. Lots more stories on stuff like that!