Doyle McCormack will speak as part of the “Legends of Steam” series in Bellevue, Ohio.
Justin Franz
BELLEVUE, Ohio — Doyle McCormack, whose list of rail restoration projects includes the revival of Southern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 4449, will share his experiences on the Nickel Plate Road during an event at the Mad River & NKP Museum in Bellevue on May 16. The event is part of the “Legends of Steam” speaker series sponsored by the American Steam Railroad Preservation Association, which is currently restoring Reading locomotive No. 2100 in Cleveland.
McCormack’s father used to work on the Nickel Plate Road, where he followed his footsteps into a lifelong career with railroading. Doyle has spent most of his life helping with steam restorations, with No. 4449 being the best known. The restored Daylight locomotive pulled the American Freedom Train across the country in 1975-76 and has remained active since.
“Through the tens of thousands of miles, he has traveled with the Daylight engine,” said ASR president Steven Harvey. “Doyle has shown what can be done with a steam locomotive, even when it’s decades since the last one ran in regular service.”
McCormack will tell of his experiences with steam locomotives during the presentation, and even of the streamlined diesel he resurrected from a Mexico scrapyard and returned to its former full glory.
The event will start at 3:00 p.m. with admission to the museum and caboose rides. A catered dinner will begin at 5:30 with the presentation following and then a Q&A. Guests will be able to look inside the cab Nickel Plate Road locomotive 757, one of the railroad’s Berkshire locomotives that the museum has recently acquired.
Tickets are $99 per person, and more information about the event can be found at FireUp2100.org.
American Steam Railroad Preservation Association is a non-profit dedicated to preserving experiences from railroading’s golden age by saving historic railway equipment.
Really? Who wrote this? It couldn’t have been Trains Magazine. “…[A]nd even of the streamlined diesel he resurrected from a Mexico scrapyard and returned to its former full glory.” It’s called an Alco PA-1 (well, technically a PA4), and Doyle is restoring it into Nickel Plate Road colors. That’s kind of important info to a NKP museum, don’t you think?
Sheesh. The way this copy reads out, it’s like they’re talking about how Doyle restored an Airstream camper or an art deco toaster or something.
Ran into Doyle McCormack a few years back in Portland working on his NKP project. A nice guy who just wanted to chat on everything.