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  • Rail City in Sandy Creek

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #44890  by cjvrr
 
The M&NJ owner Pierre Rasmussen died in June of this year. The M&NJ is the outright owner of #11.

It is in hundreds of pieces, taken apart in a failed attempt by the owner to restore it to running condition and save money on diesel fuel. Due to a loss of a major customer and the loss of revenue the cost of restoring the engine became prohibitive and work stopped. The engine is in one enginehouse the tender in another. Both are out of the weather.

Down to only two customers the M&NJ continued operation until 2002 when it lost its southernmost customer, Balchem. The line receeded back to serve only Genpak, within the Middletown, NY limits. Genpak receives a few covered hoppers of plastic pellets a week.

The M&NJ is still in operation. Mr. Rasmussen's widow is currently working with a lawyer to determine the future of the line. His son runs the trains. They are very friendly to railfans and if you stop by on a day they are operating are more than happy to shoot the breeze and take you along on the train. They now have a full time bookeeper, and the station (headquarters) has had a though cleaning with all the old paperwork going to the M&NJ historical society.
 #45295  by Schooltrain
 
rchm2004 wrote: STRUCTURES - Most have gone the way of the track. But the "Moffett Tunnel" is still standing. The Firebarn was given to Nelson Husted out of appreciation of his support of Rail City. Nelson died a few years back and the building was passed on to a local resident who has done nothing to restore or protect the vintage equipment still inside. Of course, the Deer River Station has been restored and is the site of the Rail City Historical Museum.
Two questions:

1. What was the "Moffett Tunnell?" Are there any pictures available of it?

2. What kind of vintage equipment was inside the fire barn and is it actually on site or was it moved off site?

I know that's really four questions, but who's counting? :-D

Thanks
 #45625  by rchm2004
 
The Moffett Tunnel was a run-through storage shed for No. 11. It was often referred to as the "Moffett Tunnel" during the years of operation of Rail City.

The Fire Equipment consists of an old Hook and Ladder Truck and many old peices of equipment. I don't have the list on hand but it is very old. Over the years many individuals locally and from across the country have tried to buy the equipment to no avail - the owner won't sell. As an earlier message noted - the property is heavily posted and the owner of the Firebarn doesn't tolerate visitors.

 #46600  by BEDT16RMLI
 
Litte 0-4-0 number 1 from New Mexico is now at the Railroad Museum of Long Island, in Riverhead NY.
Pictures on website.
rmli.org

 #60919  by jayrmli
 
As a follow-up to BEDT16's post, the locomotive is at RMLI, but you probably wouldn't recognize it from it's days at Rail City.

For those who have the old TRAINS article, there is a picture of the locomotive at Rail City, complete with a balloon-type stack.

When Rail City was closed, the locomotive sat on the property for quite a few years, until a person by the name of John Degen from Southampton happened upon the engine. John is a collector of large machinery (not just trains), and subsequently purchased the locomotive, restored it (not to its original appearance however), placed it on a trailer equipped with rollers, and used to bring it to parades on Long Island, where the engine could be steamed up and ran in place on the trailer.

The locomotive was donated to the Railroad Museum of Long Island in 2000.

Jay
 #1506472  by n2qhvRMLI
 
Gentle Readers,

It has been fifteen years since this thread has seen life, I think a little news on the Defiance Coal Company No. 1, aka the "Kit Carson," and now known as the "Roy Dunwell" is desirable :-)

I am pleased to inform all that the No. 1 has undergone a 1472 day, (or fifteen year - whichever comes first), FRA inspection and overhaul at the Strasburg Rail Road Company. The boiler was stripped down, it's vessel surveyed for proper thickness, a pair of cracks in its belly were repaired to ASME standards, all new tubes and a dry pipe to the steam turret were installed, a couple of leaking rivets were replaced in the front flue sheet, a new water sight glass was piped and installed, all pressure piping replaced with schedule 80 pipe and new 300 psi steam valves all around.

The No. 1 has been certified by the Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance Company and the Railroad Museum of Long Island is beginning the process of registration, inspection and permitting of the No. 1 to operate on its specially modified heavy equipment trailer. The No. 1 will be an educational ambassador and attention getter for the restoration of LIRR Steam Locomotive #39.

Here is a short July 27, 1918 video of our "Train the Trainer" session at the Strasburg Rail Road Company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSRFPI3c0vs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Following is a video of No. 1 being returned to its tractor-trailer at the Riverhead Museum site on Friday, April 12, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOqoUdv0p8I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Railroad Museum of Long Island is looking forward to operating the "Roy Dunwell" beginning this year. As this locomotive was purchased by Dr. Gorman from the Defiance Coal Company at Mentmore, NM in 1953, moved to Sandy Creek, NY where it was placed to announce the entry to Rail City, I will return periodically to this thread to update you on the locomotive's movements.

Thank you,
Don Fisher, President

Railroad Museum of Long Island
 #1506656  by BR&P
 
That's excellent news, Don! Congrats on the progress and it's so great to see a happy outcome. With increasing regulations and ever-higher insurance costs, stories like this are too few and far between. Good luck with further efforts and please DO keep us in the loop! :-D