ABILENE, Kan. — Santa Fe steam locomotive No. 3415 officially debuted for its 2023 operating season on June 10, heading the regular excursion and dinner trains on the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad. This comes after the railroad’s 104-year-old 4-6-2 was temporarily sidelined right before the Memorial Day weekend due to unforeseen repairs needing to be made [see “Unexpected repairs briefly sideline Abilene & Smoky Valley 4-6-2,” Trains News Wire, May 31, 2023].
While the locomotive eventually pulled the 2 p.m. excursion and 6 p.m. dinner trains on June 3 as part of a test run, last Saturday marked the beginning of the 2023 steam schedule on the A&SV. “No. 3415 ran well on Saturday with no issues,” The railroad’s President and General Manager Ross Boelling said, “pulling 208 riders on three trains, and the 6 p.m. dinner train was sold out at 104 passengers.”
Unfortunately, the Pacific was sidelined again on Sunday due to feedwater issues, according to Boelling. However, the locomotive is expected to operate for the upcoming Father’s Day weekend, which will coincide with the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad 30th anniversary celebration, he said.
For more information and tickets, visit the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad website.
Jay Burns: Yes, not sure anything can but “amble along on Ex-Rock Island RR trackage ….”
Then again, as the old song line goes ….”The Rock Island is ((was?)) a mighty fine line!”
The caption under the photo states, “Santa Fe 4-6-2 No. 3415 ambles along former Rock Island trackage near Abilene, Kansas, in July 2021.” Not sure you can do anything BUT amble along on former Rock Island trackage….