Official Valley Railroad Thread (VALE)

[Pat Fahey]

Hi ShadyJay
Thank you , that what I was looking for, Pat

[ebtmikado]

VIDEO:
Massbay RRE Two Rivers Steam Special on the Valley Railroad...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2qe7sIg3Cc

Enjoy,
Lee

[whatelyrailfan]

I DID enjoy the video very much, I shared it on Facebook and expect to get quite a few positive comments! EXCELLENT camera work, great scenery, and some really cool angle shots! BTW, I was riding in coach #7627 "Rhode Island", and why do I always get seated in the coach named after the smallest State? LOL For the life of me though (And this isn't about the video per say), I can't figure out WHY they hooked up the diesel power to the Observation Car!? The diesels were parked on the West leg of the wye, so why didn't the 3025 pull the train south of the crossing on the East leg and uncouple, then the diesels pull up past the switch and back down on the train, pull it up past the switch, back the train down the west leg and onto the main, and then head east?
Peace,
Jonathan

[elecuyer]

I was on the Saturday trip in the observation car. I enjoyed watching all the railfan paparazzi. My favorite was when the engineer of the 3025 snapped a photo of the New Englander observation car from the cab as we left on the east leg of the wye.

According to Dave Brown, the reason they didn't take the west leg of the wye was to give the passengers who rode backwards to ride facing forward. Most of the seats in the P&W excursion fleet are fixed and can not be switched in direction. Moreover, the majority of seats actually face the wrong way and that is not easily addressed (without rewiring the PA system.) They also considered taking the west leg of the wye on arrival at Old Saybrook, so the collectors could log that milage, but decided that having the 3025 coupled to the rear of the observation car for the northbound trip up the Valley would look silly.

In my opinion, the best seats on the train are probably the swivel chairs in the Massachusetts, if you can get them.

[Noel Weaver]

Great job, enjoyed watching and sincere thanks for providing this program.
Noel Weaver

[GP40MC1118]

A friend was asking about Baldwin FEC 148's time on the Valley Railroad back in 1983 or so.

Part of it history: /82 to Springfield,MA for boiler work,Sam Freeman passed away -donate to CT Valley RR Museum at Essex,CT /83
Sold to Doug Brown in Mich fall of /1988-inside till 06 then to Don Shank in Monte Vista,CO until sale to USSC 10/16

The area that needs fine tuning in CT Valley- did the 148 get relettered each time?

Dave

[H.F.Malone]

148 was never lettered or painted while in Conn. It wasn't even completely put together. Tender was blank, cab had the raised "148" numbers.

[H.F.Malone]

And, it was built by Alco-Richmond Works, 1920. Not a Baldwin locomotive.

[GP40MC1118]

Thanks!!

Dave

[shadyjay]

Some pics I've found on the internet confirmed that (not that I ever doubted Mr. Malone). I do recall once seeing the 148 on a spur track just on the VRR side of the property line in Old Saybrook. That must've been in the late 1980s. I never saw her again. A mid 1980s VRR brochure mentioned the 148 as one of the pieces of equipment on display and "under restoration". Unfortunately that never came to be, on the VRR at least.

As a side note, another steam locomotive owned by the RMNE carried the "label scar" of another road. 4-6-2 #1246 lost its "GREEN MOUNTAIN" name on its tender in the early 1980s when it was at Steamtown in Vermont, but while I was painting her at Essex in 1996, you could still see the Green Mountain lettering if you looked at the right angle / in the right light. 1246 was on display, thanks in part to my recommendation and JDC's and Mr. Malone's agreement, following the departure of U25B #2525 that summer. While we couldn't get her wyed, it was still an impressive sight, and even hooked up her headlight for the Christmas season. Ahhhh... memories!

[GP40MC1118]

Any chance of approximate dates the 148 was on Valley property? We think it was sometime
in 1983 leaving sometime in 1988?

Dave

[H.F.Malone]

Arrived in 1984, was stored at SBK by 1990, off property about 1995.

[GP40MC1118]

Thanks again...

Dave

[Brendan]

The friends of the Valley RR are working to get the Landon lumber caboose in Madison CT. Landon Lumber is replacing the office that has been in the caboose with a new building and the caboose has to go. It is an original NE-5 New Haven caboose! number 540 The FVRR is has created a place on their website describing the project and offering a place to donate to the project. With your help we can have an original NH caboose rolling down our line again. This effort is also helping to prevent another NH piece from going to the scrapper. Please check out the web site at friendsvrr.org to see more about the project.

[Jeff Smith]

http://friendsvrr.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://friendsvrr.org/project/new-haven ... d-caboose/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;