Steam & Excursion > Last Steam Freight on the McCloud! #25 Shines Again!

After months of planning and many days of preparation, the last steam freight on the McCloud is now in the history books. There are many challenges to running a steam engine that has not operated for many years on a railroad that has down-sized to nearly no crew. I spent the last 3 days hostling, firing, wrenching, braking, and conducting to put on my photo freight with McCloud #25.
Jeff Forbis was great to let me have the run of the operation and with the help of Malen and Larry, and some of Albert and Jeff when needed we were able to pull off two great days of steam freight on the McCloud.

Here are some samples of the results that my guests and I were able to achieve. I want to thank several of my guest that helped out when needed and all who were patient of the mechanical issues that come up on trips like these. While I came away tired, I was glad to get this last opportunity to put #25 back into freight service and to have the proceeds from this run pay for putting #25 back into a cosmetic condition that we can now sell her to a new home. She will be missed at McCloud, but for those who came to see her one last time in revenue service the send-off was great!

Martin

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Here are a couple of my favoties. I love the cool fall weather on my trips with steam at McCloud.

Martin

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We hate to see McCloud #25 go away, but here is what she loks like today. The second shot is the very last steam train on the McCloud's famous Nebraska Curve.

Martin

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Martin, et al,

A truly great weekend on the McCloud. Many thanks for your efforts and I'm proud to have been a part of it.

Let me offer a shot of the man who ran the trains, Malen Johnson.

Larry

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Larry,

Thanks for introducing Matt and I to Malen, he was exactly like what Bill and Roger described him as. A great man indeed. To bad our grease gun didn't fit on the 25's fittings.

Tim Stricker
Redding/Chico, CA

Here are a few more from my photo freight with McCloud #25.

Martin

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Great photos guys, but did you do a group photo of the photogs? Photo of the fireman with the camera?
A photobob in action pic would be of great interest. Anyone?
Thanks for the photos

Dave,

I did get some of those. I will dig them up and post them.

Martin

sp4294 Wrote:
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> Larry,
>
> Thanks for introducing Matt and I to Malen, he was
> exactly like what Bill and Roger described him as.
> A great man indeed. To bad our grease gun didn't
> fit on the 25's fittings.
>
> Tim Stricker
> Redding/Chico, CA

I second that, thank you Larry. Even that chuck we brought over Sunday afternoon was still just a bit to small for the fittings. Wonder what the plan on that is now.

Also I don't think it is quite the very end of the McCloud steam runs yet. We still have the PLA trip coming in November so there is still a chance to see McCloud steam in action.

Great shots, Martin, and really enjoyed the trip! Major props to you for your hard work making this trip so memorable for all of us, and...yes, if 25 has to go, at least she's going out in style--thanks again!

As one of the guests, I have to tell you that Martin worked his butt off this weekend to make this all happen. You can tell from his photos that the weather was just perfect, cold in the morning for good steam, sun all day, the mountain "was out," the folks were all good company. Thanks to Jeff Forbis, Malen, Larry, Martin and all the other crew for putting on such a great show. It was an experience for me to meet so many notable photographers and writers who were there. For Dave, here is one of the shots I got of the fans in a photo line, or hill, and I'll let any of them identify themselves. Any guesses as to how many thousands of photos were shot?

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Excellent job Martin. Its really hard to keep 20 people happy as far as locations for runbys, etc., etc. but I feel you handled the situation quite well. Thanks for the opportunity to see this fine locomotive in action.

Thanks Bob. Good to meet you and glad to have you on board.

Martin

Another thank you to Martin for organizing this. The 25 looked fresh off the Baldwin shop floor and sounded like a loco twice its size. The mountain was cooperating, the weather cooperated and a good time was had by all. If it had to end, this was the way to do it. Thanks again Martin.

BTW, how cold was it? See photo.

Michael Allen

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Beautiful photos Martin - thanks for sharing them.

It's hard to believe in this day and age we can still
watch history disappear before our very eyes. It'd be
cheaper to keep it mothballed as opposed to a future
wish to rebuild the line. It's like going back in time
and watching the narrow gauge circle come apart, or EBT
disintegrate into a small stretch of track. Yet in my
own time. Sigh.

What's the story with #25? I joined you for a charter
with #18 in July of 2005. Where was #25 then and was
it running?

/Mitch

Mitch,

By July 2005 the #25 had been out of service for 3 years. She was in the same big enginehouse that we had the #18 and the diesels in. You must not have noticed her back there.

Glad you liked the photos.

Martin

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> By July 2005 the #25 had been out of service for 3
> years.

That being the case, adding that McCloud was running #18
for what was thought to be the last time before abandoning
steam and removal of a good chunk of track, why was #25
restored? Glad it was but wondering where the money came
from and what the motivation was to do so?

Looks like the "in" crowd was there - sorry I missed it for
all the stars, #25 and fellow TO members.

/Mitch

Last time I rode behind 25, the train was held up!

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Dave, I managed to capture the elusive PhotoBob, and met him, for the first time on this trip. He is escaping to the left of the photo after getting a shot that is probably better than any of mine. The man has great talent, and it was a pleasure to meet him, finally.

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