Passenger Trains > Hiatus for Ardenwood's Equine Motive Power

The use of draft horses to power the 3' gauge passenger trains at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont, CA is what makes this operation so unique but that practice is now on temporary hold. Belgian draft horse "Red", who has provided the motive force for the past few years, has died and the farm will revert to internal combustion power to start the 2014 season.

A new Belgian has been brought in, "Goliath", but it's a slow training process to adapt to heading up a train vs. a wagon and the best hope is that he will be ready this fall. In the interim Plymouth-built #1 "Katie" will power the trains.

Red is seen in three views on opening day 2013 last April as he begins his final season of loyal service. North Shore #1725 was built by Carter Bros. of Newark, CA in 1887.
http://www.spcrr.org/

---

---

---

Plymouth-built #1 Katie is seen this morning on two revenue and one non-revenue run along the high speed Deer Park to Ardenwood mainline. The Katie can handle multiple car trains whereas the horses are limited to one car. The #1 is a model HSG built in 1968 with a gasoline engine and hydraulic transmission.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/14 15:48 by shed47.

---

---

---

While this operation is unique in North America, you can find regularly scheduled(excepting late Fall through early Spring)horse trams on the Isle of Man. There are multiple horses available for service so if one should die, its not an issue. However at a fairly young age, those horses go to the Island's "Horses Home of Rest" where they enjoy their well earned retirement while providing new replacements to keep the service going.

R.I.P., Red. I like you better than Katie...

An Equine precursor to trains, equine powered or otherwise, was the canal barges. In England many of the early railway routes were right beside the canals. On our first narrowboat trip, Chris and I took a brief horse drawn narrowboat trip from Llangollen, Wales to near the Horseshoe Falls at the head of the Llangollen Canal. While the trip was only an hour or so, it was a fun way to get a feel for the work the horses did well into the 20th Century.
One of the things we enjoy about narrowboating is railfanning the adjacent tracks from the comfort of our boat.
David

Don't have any photos scanned, but back about 20 years ago we visited Washington DC, and rode a restored section of canal with authentic mule power. At one point, the mules have to cross over to the other side of the canal, so one of the boat crew members unhooks the tow rope and and another guides the mules over a bridge. The boat has enough headway to "coast along" until a crew member can pickup the tow rope with a boat hook and reconnect to the "motive power".

They should have rebuilt the old horse and kept it in service! The new horse will undoubtedly be one of those ugly modern designs... ;^)

Will the new horse be Tier IV complient?

PHall Wrote:

> Will the new horse be Tier IV complient?

I guess an inexperienced horse is a "green" horse. Is that anything like a Green Goat?

Too bad it's a pure breed - they aren't as fuel efficient as hybrids...