Steam & Excursion > Fifty Years ago, in New Jersey

Yes, it's been that long...

50 YEARS AGO...
Ross Rowland launched the 2nd year of the High Iron Company's series of excursions over the CNJ RR.

Ross arrenged for a 5-trip season over the CNJ.... From Communipaw and Elizabethport, NJ to destinations as varied as to Bridgeton, via Red Bank.... Trips to Green Pond Junction, to Jim Thorpe, PA ( now Mauch Chunk)..

They were superlative trips...Exciting, varied, sold out, and all the crossings were packed with happy families, kids and photogs trackside...
We whistled past all those CNJ suburban stations, at track speed.

Our engineer was Charlie Strunk, a wonderful man and he was totally in charge, but he coached Ross on becoming better at running...
We had CNJ open window coaches for those trips, a nurse and doctor on all trips .... Mostly cinders/ eye cases.

Ross perfected his unbeatable Photo-Runby skills,
Nobody got injured, on any of our trips...
All trips sold out --- immediately, only advertising was mailing lists from 1966 trips and flyers/ streamers hung at CNJ passenger stations....

Tony Koster wrote in the NKPT&HS Magazine, about the 1968 return to service of NKP 759...,
Back then he called the HICO crew:
" the Can-Do boys from New Jersey..."
A title that still stands, as we, the followers of Ross, .... still cheer him on... Lo, these 50 years glorious accomplishments....

So, take a moment to appreciate what Ross has accomplished, ---lo, these many years.
Without Ross, we wouldn't have a "steam excursion business", with all the current participants and volunteers.

Doyle McCormack would have stayed as an engineer on the NS. There'd be NO shiny, ORHF in Portland, Ore.
Scott Lindsay would not have spent his weekends volunteering at HICO, and absorbing, the skills, like a sponge...
Bob Claytor, Pres & Chairman, N&W, would not have realized his dream of running both the J & the Class A...two more feathers in Scott's cap...

There'd have been no restoration of NKP 759, no Golden Spike Centennial Limited, a 10-day extravaganza to Salt Lake City & return.... Powered by NKP 759,
There would have been NO American Freedom
Train, No AFT #1, and No SP 4449.....

And here we are,---- his famous engines, still blasting, TODAY, in full glory, owing their long active life to one Terrific Giant of a man and an organizing Genius...
. [ Soon, SP 4449, will be roaring & romping through Oregon.... Frolicking, at full-bore, as Lima intended .... Resurrected by Ross's Team in 1975, to pull the AFT, proudly through the West...]

All of these outcomes resulted from his Big Dreams and powerful, supportive and inspirational leadership....
No one stands taller, in this endeavor than Ross Rowland, Jr.

Ross Sr. was Vice President, Real Estate for the CNJ RR.
And a very young Ross Jr. hung out at the CNJ's Cranford, N.J. Enginehouse, as an unauthorized hostler, and service helper...

So, for 70-some years, as he said earlier, he has been doing this....

Luckily, I was able to join him in the early, "Glory Years" of the High Iron Co. Where we groomed the likes of Doyle and Scott and many more..

Many thanks for all you did for me, Ross.... And may you have many more years of similar cheerful times...

Nobody, but Nobody runs Photo Runby-s as spectacularly as RR...

We are ALL indebted to Ross..

Wes Camp

Posted from iPhone



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/17 11:53 by wcamp1472.

I could not have said it better than Wes. I did not get into the steam excursion era until 1981 but I did know of Ross Rowlands accomplishments.

Thank you so much for all that you have done and are still trying to do.

-Fred-

I agree 100% with you Wes. I appreciate everything that Ross has done and I am so glad that I met the man back when the 2101 came over to the B&O Railroad Roundhouse in Riverside Yard in South Baltimore, Maryland where he and his volunteers began the difficult task of rebuilding that locomotive for the American Freedom Train.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Thanks for the memories, Wes. We all owe those of you who started all of this, for we have certainly enjoyed the fruits of your efforts.

Amen. We definitely owe a huge thank-you to Ross and his crew. I think I recall the FWRHS was inspired by Ross's Golden Spike trip with 759 - "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to get 765 running!?"

the founders of the FWRHS were inspired by the 759 on its way to and from KC and that resulted in the 765 leaving the park. It seemed that the Frisco 1522 crew got some of their inspiration from the FWRHS and maybe the ATSF 3751also. they were in touch with the FWRHS a lot before they got going. the return of the 759 was a watershed event.

Posted from iPhone

Another case of one man's vision having a profound effect. Who would have thought what would be accomplished?
Wes and Ross, we thank you.
SPChuck

Wes --
AMEN! YES! You do have to dream BIG, and,
boy, did Ross ever dream BIG -- and still
dreams big! You GO, Ross and everyone else
who is "dreaming the impossible dream"!
It's only impossible until it's done.

And the SP 2472 would also never have been
restored had it not been for Ross -- and the
SP 4449 would never have been restored, and
I would never have had a glorious and incredibly
beautiful locomotive to fall in love with.

Yes, one person CAN make a HUGE difference.
Never stop believing in your dreams.

THANK you, Ross -- and Wes and everyone else who
worked so hard to make your dreams come true. You
lit a fire that is still burning brightly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/17 20:09 by Margaret_SP_fan.

We love hearing the stories about the successive groups that formed, inspired by what they had seen as the Results of Ross and those teams that returned the locos to service.

An early group that Ross inspired and supported was the folks that worked so hard to bring the Pere Marquette 1225,back to life... she became the inspiration for the movie version of the Polar Express....it's amazing how broad the "reach" is......

I often refer to the analogy of throwing a rock in a pond and seeing the expanding rings.... Ross threw a HUGE Rock in the loco restoration Pond.
There have been so many folks, groups and supporters that have cropped-up, and it's so heartening to see their successes. Like so many expanding rings, in the wake... More and more sprang up!

One of the things that I suspect is: that Ross is also very pleased that so many other groups have "done their own thing", and so many were very successful.

Ross didn't direct these other restorations, yet he appreciates and supports all of those groups---- they're following their dreams, and doing it on their own--- locals become inspired from seeing success and many join in.

If others here can relate the threads of their successes, ------- from the first glimmer of inspiration,[ We Could Do that...!!) ----- what was it that sprouted the germ of the thought that a specific restoration might be possible? Was it the HICO Golden Spike Trip, the AFT, later experiences....???

Taken together, the stories could relate how one person's efforts enabled others to believe in their own dreams and abilities..

So, keep those cards and letters coming, folks.

Those stories of successes will be examples and foundations that could yield NEW groups to start their own restoration journey..

Wes C.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/17 05:11 by wcamp1472.

I'm both grateful and a little embarrassed by Wes's profuse tribute. I accept all the compliments on behalf of all the great folks who comprised the teams that executed each of these projects without whom there would not have been anything to celebrate. All of these endeavors required lots of dedicated folks who put their heart & souls into seeing that everything went right.

Wes is certainly right that it is very gratifying to see all the successful projects that came to life after the Golden Spike Centennial Limited and American Freedom Train projects showed what could be done.

I was especially pleased by my recent visit to the N&W 611 operation to see a good number of young men & women on their team........folks we can pass the steam torch to for future generations !!

Onward & upward. Thanks, Ross Rowland

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROSS !!!

From all The HICO crew, and
All the "successor" engine crews!

W.
( the Original "W" ...)

Posted from iPhone

Happy Birthday!

Yes, those projects took a lot of people, but they started with one who thought "What if we could?" instead of "Too bad we can't."

Rebecca Morgan
Jacobsburg, OH

Happy Birthday Ross! Back then living in North Plainfield, NJ I often would run into Ross at the Model Railroad Shop in Piscataway, NJ Ross always had something to share in fact on one of the 614 trips out of Cumberland he invited me into the cab, we often played horn whistle tag with him.
Ed K. cp Laurel Run

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