Steam & Excursion > I'm going to miss the 2472 on the NCR

I was looking through my 2472 pix and thinking how nice the engine looked on the NCR and with the PLA cars.  Too bad it needs to move.  But perhaps the move will create some new opportunities.  The 2472 was a nice "big" engine on the NCR, and it fit well with the Harriman style passenger cars in the PLA collection.  And I can't complain too loudly becaue we had plenty of opportunities to see and photogaph it in that environment.  The results are some of my favorite pix of the 2472.  Thanks to all who made it possible, at both the GGRM and PLA .  I have attached a few pix, and more can be found on my website at 2472 Album.

JBWX



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/16 16:59 by jbwest.

---

---

---

I guess I'm out of the loop.  Where is she going and why?

Displaced, lease lost, most likely going to Santa Cruz, ah the vagaries of personality differences,
or something. GGM wanting a home of their own, merger with PLA wasn't about to happen, as JBWX
says, hard to understand.

Out

Beautiful shots. I always loved SP steam.

John.

Niles canyon was the perfect place with just enough grade to maker her work and stretch her legs.

Was great to have seen her run there. 

jbwest ---
Thanks for the gorgeous photos of The Old Girl in a beautiful
setting.   I LOVE her lines and looks --classic, just classic.

Yes, it is really, really very much too bad that she and the GGRM
could not stay in Niles Canyon indefinitely.    Howvewr -- unless a
RR museum actually owns the land it uses, there is no way they
can ever be sure they will be able to stay anywhere indefinitely.
See the Fillmore & Western , for one example.    And the PLA
in Niles Canyon is another.

AFAIK, very very few RR museums have the huge amounts of
money that are necessary to buy the land they use.  IRM is a
huge exception.  And no RR museum is going to be allowed to
use any RR's RoW -- probably not even a short line would allow
that.  Sooooo -- the only other alternative is to use government-
owned or controlled land, which is what the PLA has been doing
for more than 30 years.  (Alameda County is the custodian of that
RoW.  There was a very interestin discussion over on AP about
just exactly WHO actually OWNS the ex-SP RoW in Niles Canyon.
Informed sources agreed that Alameda County was the custodian,
but no one knew who actually owned to RoW.)

But, as the PLA, and other RR museums know, sometimes a
government agency that is the owner or custodian of the land
the RR museum is using may be approached by a commuter
RR or a Class 1 RR which wants to use the RoW the RR museum
is currently using, and the RR museum would then have no choice
but to try to find another place to run.  Or the government agency
that owns the RoW might just decide that land is quite valuable, and
that it wants to sell that RoW to others, and, again, the RR museum
would have no choice but to leave.  That is what is happening to
the Fillmore & Western, which  is currently fighting an eviction effort
by the county.

The PLA is aware that both ACE and the UP are very interested in
possibly using the tracks the PLA now runs on (the former SP RoW),
because the PLA ran a special train not long ago for ACE and UP
officials, so those officials could inspect the RoW from a train. 

I wish with all my heart that things were different; that all RR museums
(that operate equipment) could stay where they are indefinitely, no matter
how valuable the RoW they use becomes.  But no operating RR museum
should expect that it would be allowed to run on any RR's RoW, because
no RR would ever allow a RR museum to run its museum trains with non-RR
employees on a regular RR's tracks.  Insurance requirements would kill
that idea before it got anywhere.

I, too, will very much miss the 2472 running in Niles Canyon,  That is a
GREAT place for her to run, even if she could only go around 30 mph max.
But at least she could run -- and pull a train uphill, making all that glorious
music with her her stack talk.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/16 19:37 by Margaret_SP_fan.

What about OERM?

TomPlatten Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What about OERM?

Yeah -- I forgot that OERM actually owns the land it runs on.
Can't remember everything!  (I am right that OERM is the
actual owner, right?  TIA!)

And let's not forget the Western Railway M7useum in Rio
Vista Junction, CA.  They do own the land they run on.  (How
could I have forgotten them?)

And doesn't the Musum of the American Railroad own the
land it sits on in Frisco, Texas?  And so does the TVRM, and
Strasburg, PA, right? 

Please forgive me if I left out any other RR museums that
operate equipment that actually own the land they run on.
My point still stands -- because those RR museums are in
the minority.  But, oh, are they ever fortunate!

How imminent is any action by UP or ACE to take over the NCR trackage.  It is one thing to say that want to look at it, quite another for anything to actually happen.

JBWX

jbwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How imminent is any action by UP or ACE to take
> over the NCR trackage.  It is one thing to say
> that want to look at it, quite another for
> anything to actually happen.
>
> JBWX

John ---
I don't know, and I have not read anything at all recently
about that, but it does not seem that anything is going to
happen all that soon to the ex-SP RoW in Niles Canyon.  
You are quite right that there is a huge difference between
expressing serious iterest and actually DOING something.
But, as they say, stay tuned!

My point was about any long-term plans the PLA may have
had that assumed that they could continue to operate indefinitely 
in Niles Canyon.  Please remember: I am not even a PLA member,
and never have been on the Board of Directors of either the GGRM
or the PLA.  I am only sharing what I know as of right now.   Any
and all corrections and additions to the info I have posted here are
more than welcome!

I had the pleasure to ride behind the 2472 this past March and I'm glad I got a chance to see and ride behind her. She definitely worked up the canyon and slipped the drivers a few times but the stack talk was amazing. The crew was very nice and let us up into the cab. I'm sad that she won't be returning this year but all of the equipment is still there. They said they were going to hopefully have a formal announcement in february.

Posted from Android

It was nice to hear her get up the perfect cadence and work the grade, it's class-II track on the main I think?

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

---

---

---

Couple more from her September 05 2011 run.

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

---

---

Mike ---
Man, those are incredibly gorgeous photos of the old gal --
what a treat to see her so beautifully shown in your great
photos!    She really looks GREAT splitting the signals --
semaphores.  Wow.....

I'm gonna miss her a lot, bein' there.  What a locomotive!

Harlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was nice to hear her get up the perfect cadence
> and work the grade, it's class-II track on the
> main I think?

Yes, when I was there we were authorized 20 mph.

This thread has gotten me going through my 2472 images so I might as well post a few more.  What I really liked about the NCR operation of the 2472 is the PLA's consist that included a combine.  Having a headend car, even just a combine, really added authenticity to the pix since most non-commute passenger trains had some kind of headend equipment for baggage and mail.  In many cases it was the headend business that kept the trains running when most of the passengers had left for the highway.  And the canyon is so typicl of coastal California, it makes the images very believable.  The curves and tight confines somewhat limited the photo ops, but the ones that do exist are interesting.  And a couple of the photo excursions were scheduled for some nice light.  Anyway, here are a few more pix.

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/16 09:40 by jbwest.

---

---

---

The Sumpter Valley Railroad just acquired the the yard and shop property at McEwen which was the last big piece of land that wasn't under our ownership.

Taylor

Posted from iPhone

That's good news but what about the yard at Larch?

Out

The third image is stunning!  The lighting is amazing!