CMSL service Rio Grande to Cape May

chuchubob wrote:

dlagrua wrote:

chuchubob wrote:The Thomas that I said was the last steam engine to run into Cape May was exactly that.

Thomas may have ran from Cold Spring Village to Cape May Court House. I do not believe that it ran into Cape May City.

Look at the last post on page 6. You are a real "doubting Thomas"!

OK, but look at the smokestack of the engine on the swing bridge. It looks like it was not fired and is being pushed by the RDC. Cape May is very fussy about their perception of air pollution. If a steam engine came there once, I can assure you that it won't be coming there again and it hasn't.

On a lighter note:

I accepted my invitation to visit the Cape May Seashore Lines and it's Rio Grande to Cape May service on Friday, August 27th.

It was very good to see equipment crossing the canal bridge and stopped in Cape May station once again.

My Nathan P5 and WABCO AA-2 were in attendance to salute the return of rail service.

A special thanks to Tony for his unequaled hospitality, for buying me an iced tea at the Wawa in Rio Grande at lunch time, and for his willing participation in playing 'dueling horns' along Route 9 between Cold Spring and Rio Grande!

Today is the final day for the CMSL 2010 season. Hopefully the weather will hold so the trains can run. My wife returned home from Cape May yesterday and said that all roads leading to Cape May were packed. If the schedule is not affected by the fear of the hurricane , I believe that it will be a busy day for the line.
For those that miss it we've heard rerports that the Tuckahoe- Richland service will probably resume in Oct. Now lets pray that the hurricane passes without any effect to the area orto the CMSL ROW.

I managed to get down to the Cape just in time to see the final trip of the day departing for Cape May. Fortunately the storm turned out to be a non-issue and based on the cars in the lot, they still had some riders that day. By the time I passed through Rio Grande again around 6:00, things had sadly returned to quiet. Although this year's schedule was somewhat truncated, I'm thrilled to have been able to ride and hope it was a successful run for CMSL and want to publicly say "Thank You" to Tony and his crews for bringing train service back to Cape May. Hope to be able to ride one of the Fall trips this year and can't wait for 2011.

dlagrua wrote: OK, but look at the smokestack of the engine on the swing bridge. It looks like it was not fired and is being pushed by the RDC. Cape May is very fussy about their perception of air pollution. If a steam engine came there once, I can assure you that it won't be coming there again and it hasn't.

I don't have to look at the clean stack and speculate as to what powered the train. I rode the train from Cold Spring into Cape May and back to the swing bridge, where with permission from the management I was allowed to disembark to photograph the most recent steam locomotive to operate into Cape May. Thomas was the only locomotive on the train. Thomas was the real steam engine and it provided the only motive power for the train.
The RDC was not designed to power a trailer, let alone a locomotive and several coaches. Mr. Macrie loves the Budd Cars way too much to mistreat them in that manner.

chuchubob wrote:

dlagrua wrote: OK, but look at the smokestack of the engine on the swing bridge. It looks like it was not fired and is being pushed by the RDC. Cape May is very fussy about their perception of air pollution. If a steam engine came there once, I can assure you that it won't be coming there again and it hasn't.

I don't have to look at the clean stack and speculate as to what powered the train. I rode the train from Cold Spring into Cape May and back to the swing bridge, where with permission from the management I was allowed to disembark to photograph the most recent steam locomotive to operate into Cape May. Thomas was the only locomotive on the train. Thomas was the real steam engine and it provided the only motive power for the train.
The RDC was not designed to power a trailer, let alone a locomotive and several coaches. Mr. Macrie loves the Budd Cars way too much to mistreat them in that manner.

We'll can't say for sure what happened when Thomas made its way into Cape May but the smoke stack in the pic wasn't putting out any smoke. Look at it. The point is that if a steam engine were to pull into Cape May now, I would not think that it would be warmly welcomed. The City of Cape may is super fussy about air pollution.
Getting back on subject it was great seeing the train ride into Cape May station again.

There was no uproar from the citizens of Cape May when the minimally polluting real steam engine( former BEDT #15) steamed into and out of Cape May City unannounced. Few people were aware of the happening.

but the smoke stack in the pic wasn't putting out any smoke.

It's called efficient operation of a steam locomotive. Too much smoke means burning more fuel than needed.

I suppose diagrua won't believe me, but this is a real narrow gauge steam locomotive that was working, accelerating its train out of the main station.

Excuse me Bob, but does the engineer always stand on top of the tender to operate the loco? Maybe you have another picture with the train pulling out of the station.

Later!
Mr. Ed

Mr. Ed wrote:Excuse me Bob, but does the engineer always stand on top of the tender to operate the loco? Maybe you have another picture with the train pulling out of the station.

Later!
Mr. Ed

Ha, but a careful examination of the photo indicates that the crewman is using the spigot to fill the tender with water. So all is well.

Ken W2KB wrote:

Mr. Ed wrote:Excuse me Bob, but does the engineer always stand on top of the tender to operate the loco? Maybe you have another picture with the train pulling out of the station.

Later!
Mr. Ed

Ha, but a careful examination of the photo indicates that the crewman is using the spigot to fill the tender with water. So all is well.

In my haste to upload the photo in an internet cafe prior to losing internet access for 53 hours, I forgot that the train stopped for water when I snapped the photo.

Speaking as one who has fired both coal and oil burning steam, I can state that with careful firing, almost smokeless operation is possible. Of course, it is much easier to do with an oil burner.

A bit of history- Back in the mid 1970s, myself and several associates approached the City of Cape May with a proposal to operate a steam powered tourist train between Cape May and Wildwood Junction. We had the use of an oil-fired steam locomotive, and had a line on several historically correct coaches. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, we could not get a letter of support from the city, which made getting financing for this project impossible.

Going back to the choice of locomotive fuels, neither coal nor oil is the correct answer. The fuel is a minor issue; steam locomotives burn MONEY, cubic yards of it! With coal you need a place for coal storage, a front-end loader (and operator), and on the other end of the iron horse, a place and way to get rid of the ashes. With oil, most of this goes away, but you still have some pretty hefty boiler and machinery maintenance costs, especially with the new standards that require a complete boiler overhaul every 15 years. Need I say more?

I think we should all be thankful that Tony is operating anything at all; the Budd cars are pretty unique in their own right. If Tony and his company hadn't stepped in when they did, it is highly likely that there would have been another bike path between Tuck and the Cape.

Regardless of all of the debate, the point that I am making is that you can bet that the City of Cape May will not allow a steam locomotive anywhere near the city at the present time and at any time in the future. We are part time residents of Cape May and we know how town politics operate there. They are very fussy about any real or perceived air pollution and I believe that even the historic Budd Cars are running bio-diesel because of this. Let's feel fortunate that the CMSL ran this year and has plans to be back in 2011.

dlagrua wrote:Regardless of all of the debate, the point that I am making is that you can bet that the City of Cape May will not allow a steam locomotive anywhere near the city at the present time and at any time in the future. We are part time residents of Cape May and we know how town politics operate there. They are very fussy about any real or perceived air pollution and I believe that even the historic Budd Cars are running bio-diesel because of this. Let's feel fortunate that the CMSL ran this year and has plans to be back in 2011.

I'm sure the lines of automobiles in and out of town just warm the cockles of their hearts. Are the NJT busses that serve Cape May also required to burn bio-diesel as they contribute significantly more emissions than the train based solely on frequency of service? How about the methane from the horses pulling the handsome cabs?

Time to put this debate to rest.