Nostalgia & History > Alleghany Central (ex-CP) G5c #1238 - June 1981

In May 1981, SR #4501 was laid up due to some mechanical misfortune (I cannot remember the details).  Purdie & Co. arranged a short-term lease of Alleghany Central (ex-CP) G5c #1238 to protect #4501's schedule during June of that year.  Events included ferry moves to and from its SR appointments, the filming of a BBC documentary at Montpelier Station (Va), and a couple of Alexandria-Front Royal excursions.

Photo 1:  #1238 at Low Moor, Va, having come off the Hot Springs branch at Covington, Va and being towed to Clifton Forge, VA for a quick trip to the pit and a spin on the turntable at the shop there.

Photo 2:  #1238 headed into the shop for a quick inspection over the pit.

Photo 3:  After its spin on the turntable, #1238 takes water at the plug by the station prior to heading east over the Chessie System (ex-C&O) Mountain Subdivision to Charlottesville, Va.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/24 09:31 by TractiveEffort.

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Photo 4:  #1238 departs eastward from Clifton Forge, with private car Erie 400 in tow.

Photo 5:  #1238 and the Erie 400 at speed near Longdale, Va.

Photo 6:  The small consist rounds a curve at Goshen, Va, site of the terminal for the short-lived 611 trips in fall of 2023.

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Photo #7:  #1238 prepares to top the grade at North Mountain, VA, highest elevation of the former C&O at 2082 feet (10 feet higher than Alleghany summit).

Photo #8:  #1238 and train meet northbound Amtrak #20 at Manassas Va.

Photo #9:  #1238 and accompanying FP7 haul the excursion train west on the Front Royal branch at Wellington, VA.

 

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First-rate historical coverage.
Bob

still run there?

Great coverage of the former Canadian Pacific engine #1238 which I too had the privilege to ride behind.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

dan Wrote:
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> still run there?

No; both engines are mothballed in Canada now, although there is a plan to re-steam the '38.

Both used to sit at C&O flats yard in Staunton...on the Mountain Local we would occasionally go in and shuffle them around...from time to time they would be fired up to burn out the vermin that sometimes seeks refuge in unused tranportation equipment...there was an ash pit dug into one of the tracks so we would move which ever one needed to be dumped over said pit.