Monday morning tourist railroad and railfan news in brief:
— The Placerville & Sacramento Valley Railroad has received an operating steam locomotive for excursions on a portion of the former Southern Pacific Placerville branch in Northern California. Santa Cruz Portland Cement No. 2, an oil-burning 0-4-0 built by H.K. Porter in 1909, was purchased by Efstathios Pappas in 2006. Since its restoration, it has operated at the Niles Canyon Railway, Roaring Camp Railroads, and Northwest Railway Museum. It arrived Friday at Folsom, Calif., thanks to Jerry Bernau, president of Bernau Development Corp., who donated the cost of transporting the locomotive from its former home in Washington state. Visit the Placerville & Sacramento Valley website for more information.
— The Santa Fe Southern Railway has new owners who aim to restore excursions on the 18-mile short line between Santa Fe and Lamy, N.M. — and one of them will be will known to fans of “Game of Thrones.” George R.R. Martin, who wrote the books adapted into the HBO series, on which he was co-executive producer, has joined movie-theater owner Bill Banowsky and arts philanthropist Catherine Oppenheimer to purchase the railroad, the Albuquerque Journal reports. Their goal is to resume excursions by 2022.
— This year’s North Platte (Neb.) Rail Days will be held virtually Aug. 7-9, the North Platte Telegraph reports. Kirsten Parker, executive director of the Golden Spike Tower & Visitor Center at Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard, told the newspaper that events will include online versions of the Bailey Yard tour, usually conducted by bus, and an Operation Lifesaver train ride. The visitor center remains closed because of the coronavirus.
Whoops! I’ll read more carefully next time! Shame on me!
Great news on the Santa Fe Southern, so you’ll still be able to get to Santa Fe by train after the Rail Runner runs out of money!
With steam locomotives popping up like mushrooms after the rain, it’s surprising that none are seen in Florida, the nation’s third most-populous state.
One of our most memorable scenic train rides was on the Santa Fe Southern in 2008 when we rode from Santa Fe to Lamy where a BBQ dinner was waiting for us. We had a wonderful meal dining in the small park beside the station. Good luck to the new owners and here’s hoping they can re-institute the BBQ excursion.
Mr. Antoniazzi, The Santa Fe Southern Railway is a diesel operation, no steam on the property to the best of my knowledge.
So George R. R. Martin’s a steam freak! Who’d a thunk it?It’s fun when steam fans come out of the closet, isn’t it?
Mr. Antoniazzi – The name of the steam operation in Lake County, Florida was the “Orange Blossom Cannonball”. It shut down operation in January, 2017.
FEC 148 is operating as US Sugar 148 alive and fully restored in the sunshine state.
Mr. Hill, there WAS one operating in the northern part of Florida until a year or two ago, I don’t remember the name of the line, maybe someone else does, but they lost the lease on the trackage and had to vacate the property.And there IS the live-steam railroad at Disney World!