Monday, August 24, 2009

The little engines that can....

The Walkersville Southern, near Frederick, Maryland has three locomotives. All are two axle industrial switching locomotives.

Davenport #2 built 1939 weighing 25 tons, diesel mechanical with four gears forward and four reverse. Originally owned by the Port of Richmond, Virginia. A dependable work horse.

#2 crossing Monocacy River bridge southbound in 2008
#2 and 101 in late 2008 in front of Walkersville engine house.

#101 an EMD Model 40. Diesel Electric, 40 tons, 300 hp, one of only two know to be operational in the U.S. Built 1942 for the US Army as #7954. Later worked for Porter Construction and West Penn Power. More recently owned by Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum, sold to Walkersville Southern in 2007.

#101 southbound at old Rotorex plant near Retreat Road.

Below is the most recent acquisition. 25 ton Davenport, diesel mechanical with automatic transmission. Unit number yet to be determined, but lets call it #3 for now. Shown as it arrived in Walkersville in October 2007. Locomotive now has hood and old engine removed and is awaiting installation of new diesel engine and cab components.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

RF&P 923 in Walkersville, MD 8-15-09. This particular car was originally painted blue. The RF&P had some red cabs, so the railroad and the Chesapeake Railway Association decided to paint this one red to have more appeal to the passengers. Inside 923 below, room for 20 passengers.

The Walkersville Southern Railroad is located in Walkersville in central Frederick County a few miles north of Frederick, MD. They along with the Chesapeake Railway Association restored this caboose and put it in service earlier this year. The caboose is used on all regular excursion trains and is available for birthday parties for an extra fee. If no party is scheduled, the train crew will allow ticketed passengers ride in the caboose for the entire trip.

The railroad also has a Wabash, NKP and PRR caboose on the property.




Saturday, August 15, 2009

A small train.... ...on the Walkersville Southern, southbound at Fountain Rock Road. Davenport #2 & privately owned PRR cabin. Nice track. Click the RR link on the right side of this page for train schedules.



A much larger train ready to go south...... OK, the picture above plus the videos below are not in Maryland, shoot me. They are on the Gettysburg & Northern in nearby PA. Above the daily freight has just switched the NS interchange in Mt Holly Springs, PA. I was the engineer this day and got off the train to snap this photo as the lighting seemed good. Yes the second unit is a F9.

Northbound train.
G&N train north of Biglerville PA. 15 loaded cars behind a lone GP16. I should have put the F9 or another GP in the consist this day- but it was still fun!

Here's a very short movie I shot with a cheap point and shoot digital CAMERA. This was my first attempt at editing and assembling a video. Starts at the rear door of PREX F9, 1755 on G&N RR. This was taken the same day as the photo above in Mt Holly Springs. Consist: F9 & GP16.