Santa Fe’s QNYLA intermodal train, operating from New York to Los Angeles with Conrail, flies out of Chillicothe, Illinois, at 12:17 p.m. on December 8, 1990. Super Fleet GE B40-8W No. 503 and a pair of EMD GP60Ms provide horsepower for the westbound hotshot.

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NS Train 168 is heading into the setting sun on Norfolk Southern's Southern West District at Bartelso Illinois on its way to St. Louis.

Tags:   Norfolk Southern NS Freight Train 168 EMD SD70ACe Bartelso Illinois Trains IL West District Cornfield

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C&NW "Scoot" train 327 heading north at Wilmette, Illinois on the evening of September 11, 1970.

Tags:   illinois wilmette cook county chicago north western railway passenger train commuter scoot emd e8 diesel locomotive grass sky trees double track cars vehicles gallery coaches bilevel photodecor.net george hamlin photography 5029qa 327 pole line

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C&NW "Scoot" train 346 pushing towards Chicago after stopping at Wilmette, Illinois on the evening of September 11, 1970.

Tags:   illinois wilmette cook county chicago north western railway passenger train commuter scoot emd e8 diesel locomotive grass sky trees double track cars vehicles gallery coaches bilevel photodecor.net george hamlin photography

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Steam Sunday - Putting On A Show

Like many people of a certain age who grew up in Eastern Massachusetts or Rhode Island a visit to this place was a right of passage, particularly during the holiday season. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of cold nights, warm wooden coaches, and twinkling lights beneath stars, and along the bogs of cranberry country. Edaville Railroad was a special place for generations, and it had been more than 35 years since I last visited. Named for its founder, Ellis D. Atwood, who did so much to save the unique two foot gauge equipment, Edaville was later purchased by Nelson Blount of Steamtown fame after Mr. Atwood's tragic death. When Blount also died young in an accident their spirit and dream lived up through successive owners until finally foundering in the early 1990s. Despite most of the classic two foot gauge equipment being repatriated to Maine and the original five and a half mile long loop around Atwood Reservoir being cut back to only two miles Edaville has survived.

For the first time in 35 or more years I returned thanks to the suggestion of a friend for a fun little photo charter featuring two steam locomotives, sponsored by the railroad and coordinated by Bill Willis of Precious Escapes Photography (make sure to give him a like or follow if you don't already). The star of the show was Edaville #3, an 0-4-4T Forney type locomotive built by Vulcan Locomotive works in 1913 for Maine's Monson Railroad. It ran on the six mile long pike from Monson Junction to its namesake town until the railroad's demise in 1943, the last common carrier 2 ft gauge railroad in operation in the US. Following the road's abandonment, #3 operated at the original Edaville Railroad for nearly 50 years, and was part of the original collection of equipment that migrated to the then new Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum in Portland following Edaville Railroad's closure. #3 has been a frequent visitor to other 2 ft gauge recreational railroads in New England when not in Portland and returned to the reestablished Edaville Railroad a few years ago where it continues to operate.

To learn more check out these links:

edaville.com/about-us/

mainenarrowgauge.org/collection-roster/

Here she is leading a four car freight consisting of three flat cars and a hopper out of the man made tunnel where the first series of photo runbys were held. For a small locomotive weighing in at about only 17 tons, she sure puts on quite a good show! The cars (three of them at least) recently arrived from South Africa where they once operated on the now closed Avontuur Railway, which at 177 miles was the longest two foot gauge railway ever built. If anyone has more history of these specific cars I'd love to learn more about them.

Carver, Massachusetts
Sunday December 2, 2024

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