Steam & Excursion > Riding the Reader Railroad Mixed Train in 1967, Part 2

Another six of Roger Patelski's Reader RR photos taken in February, 1967.  1702 was the power that day,  #11 in Photo 2 was cold.  Wikipedia says she was "Caddo & Choctaw 2-6-2.   Sold in 1974, Operated in excursion service on the Transkentucky Transportation inc. between 1989-1993 until the purchase from CSX, displayed in Nicholasville, KY."

Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/19 14:27 by MartyBernard.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/19 14:26 by MartyBernard.

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You see those ugly possum trot stickers on the front of 1702?   I had them removed for the 3-days I shot the mixed train with that locomotive.

I wondered what they were.  --Marty

Very nice to see these in sunshine.  When I rode with my parents a couple of years earlier, it rained all day, and they had a long enough train of loads out of Waterloo, that they could only take the caboose and the combine, not the coach or the parlor car.  Not that it mattered much.  It was cold and very wet, and very poor photos as a result.

Nice cold weather scenes.  I was there with my family in 1963, en route to Laredo, where we spent 2 weeks on a Mexico tour(Trains).  We had #11 on our mixed train that day.  I later saw 11 on the Kentucky Central(TTI as you mentioned), on a few trips, including 2-3 Santa Trains.  Was too bad that operation was suspended due to the CSX insurance issue I believe, or ban on steam.  The line today is pretty dormant.  Its also the line where I sponsored an excursion in 1988 with L&N 152 on a 3 matched L&N coach charter.  Maybe Kentucky will get steaming again with the folks in Ravenna, unless they can get 152 fired-up again.
Thanks for the pics.
Greg Scholl
http://www.gregschollvideo.com
 

Frank Pollock bought the 11 when Reader shut down and he had the engine brought up to the latest regulations by the Reader crew at their shop. Frank owned the Northwest Oklahoma RR at the time and intended to take the 11 there. However, he soon discovered that the NWOK was too remote to become a successful tourist operation. He then agreed to lease the engine to the Orange Belt RR, tourist operation at San Antonio, FL and brought the engine there in 1976. (San Antonio is about 30 milesnorth of Tampa.)

However, tthe Orange Belt only lasted a couple of years and was planning to move to another location in 1978. At that time, Frank elected to move the engine to Tampa for storage while he searched for another location. During it's time in Tampa, the engine was frequently steamed up and "exercised". It was at MacDill AFB, LaClede Steel Co, and a water plant in north Tampa during it's time in Tampa. It was even used in a TV movie, "The Golden Honeymoon" which was filmed in Tampa and ran special train to Brooksville, FL for the filming of the movie. I was part of Frank's team and fired and ran the 11 many times bak then.

Eventually, Frank made a deal with the Hartwell RR in Georgia and moved the 11 there. Unfortunately, Frank died in an auto accident in Hartwell.
The engine was offered to the New Georgia RR but somehow ended up with an NRHS-related group in Lexington, KY who moved it to Paris, Ky on the TTI where it was running when Greg Scholl found it, as mentioned in his post above. It's too bad that the Lexington guys didn't do anything to maintain it after CSX/TTI took it out of operation. It probably should have gone to the Ky Ry Museum for continued operation.

It really was a fine littl engine and deserves a better fate than being stuffed and mounted.

-JH

I'm fortunate to have seen both of these locomotives in operation: #11 in 1991 and #1702 last fall.

One point of interest is that Caddo & Choctaw sister #7 ended up in South Dakota where she operated for decades on the Black Hills Central.  She too is stuffed and mounted today.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Thanks for the extra history on 11 Jim.  You were on the 152 trip I ran on the TTI to Maysville in 1988.  Some of the guys told me that, and the excursions run in 1987 and 1988 led to the NRHS group starting the once-in-a-while excursions after they bought 11.  Most of the excursions required a TTI diesel since the engine was so small and there is a monster grade out of the Ohio River Valley out of Maysville.  The last time I saw it was Dec 1992 on a Santa Claus train running without diesels.  Unfortunately they had bad oil, or firing problems, and had to take the engine off at Carlisle, so only a couple of scenes were captured that day.  It did return to service in 1993, its last year of running.  This TTI line would make a nice tourist line as its interesting and goes between two small towns/cities.  I don't think they have operated a coal train on the line for a year or so now.  This would have been a great place for the Kentucky Railway Museum, using Paris as the museum grounds.  But back then it was still in use by CSX and TTI. FWIW my brother shot some coal activity down there with their U-boats right up until the end.  Its a nice 50-mile line for anyone looking to start a tourist op, assuming CSX would sell it.
Greg