We finished the rally having 57 rigs and 107 people and we have to say "see ya down the road" or at the next rally to all our friends.
At noon Greg Reed posted on Facebook that there were still 11 rigs left at the Fairgrounds. Many of them took advantage of a Father's Day offer for a train ride.
The following is a facebook post by Jim Staudacher about the train and the ride.
Coldwater Michigan is
the current home of the Little River Railroad. For Father’s Day, the scenic
railroad has a train excursion from Coldwater to Quincy Michigan. Tickets are
free for fathers accompanied by another family member. The train was pulled by a
1911 Baldwin steam locomotive.
The original Little River Railroad of Townsend Tennessee ordered the custom built locomotive as a small passenger type locomotive which would run on standard gauge track. Number 100 was completed in November of 1911 as a Pacific type (4-6-2) locomotive with four pilot wheels, six drivers, and two trailing wheels. It was the smallest Pacific-type locomotive ever built for standard gauge. This unique engine served as a passenger and logging engine until 1940 when it was sold to the Smokey Mountain Railway. It saw service there until 1955 when it was abandoned in Shook’s gap Tennessee. The story is that it crossed a trestle or bridge which could not safely carry the load and they could not bring it back across. The engine was bought and restored in 1972 and has been in service since pulling excursions on the track at Coldwater.
The train ride took about 1 ¾ hours and top speed reached was about 25mph. At Quincy Michigan, the locomotive decoupled from the train and moved to the back end on a siding track. Then it pulled the train backwards back to Coldwater. There is nothing to compare with the sound of a steam locomotive huffing and puffing along the track and the sound of a steam whistle wailing at each crossing. All along the track were large Tamarak Trees which were reportedly planted every 100 feet at the request of Mrs, Cornelius Vanderbilt (wife of the railroad magnate) to beautify the Scenery.
The original Little River Railroad of Townsend Tennessee ordered the custom built locomotive as a small passenger type locomotive which would run on standard gauge track. Number 100 was completed in November of 1911 as a Pacific type (4-6-2) locomotive with four pilot wheels, six drivers, and two trailing wheels. It was the smallest Pacific-type locomotive ever built for standard gauge. This unique engine served as a passenger and logging engine until 1940 when it was sold to the Smokey Mountain Railway. It saw service there until 1955 when it was abandoned in Shook’s gap Tennessee. The story is that it crossed a trestle or bridge which could not safely carry the load and they could not bring it back across. The engine was bought and restored in 1972 and has been in service since pulling excursions on the track at Coldwater.
The train ride took about 1 ¾ hours and top speed reached was about 25mph. At Quincy Michigan, the locomotive decoupled from the train and moved to the back end on a siding track. Then it pulled the train backwards back to Coldwater. There is nothing to compare with the sound of a steam locomotive huffing and puffing along the track and the sound of a steam whistle wailing at each crossing. All along the track were large Tamarak Trees which were reportedly planted every 100 feet at the request of Mrs, Cornelius Vanderbilt (wife of the railroad magnate) to beautify the Scenery.
Next Chapter 6 Rally will be July 16-19 at the Gratiot County Fairgrounds in Alma Michigan.
No comments:
Post a Comment