Hi, Rollie, Your note brought back many happy memories. From the mid 50s to the mid 60s my family traveled first from Brooklyn with two boys, then from Oradell, NJ, with the two boys and a girl and finally with three boys and a girl, ten years in all, to a great resort in the Northeast corner of Vermont, on Lake Champlain, still named the Tyler Place in Swanton, VT. I always managed to divert our trip so we went through Bellows Falls for a stop at Blount's Steamtown. I introduced my crew to steam railroading on those great short fan trips and it honestly got me started in serious model railroading, S scale of course. Thanks for reminding me. Wally Collins
----- Original Message ----- From: "Rollain Mercier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "C&P Porter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "raisinone" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 12:24 PM Subject: Re: [S-Scale Modeling] Re: Zephyrs, Flying Yankee, etc.... > > and he notes - > > Nelson Blount lived in Dublin, NH, not far from Keene, a college town on > the Cheshire Branch which ran from the Fitchburg Division main line at > South Ashburnham, Ma. to Bellows Falls, Vt. Blount's original Steamtown > was > to be located there in the B&M repair shops and roundhouse. His first > locomotive was No. 15, a Rahway Valley 2-8-0 and he began acquiring > Canadian locos a couple of Eastern Gas & Fuel 0-8-0s to name a few. There > was some passenger and freight equipment too, all of which he stored in > the > B&M yard at Walpole, NH across the river from Bellows Falls. > > The tourist train ran from Walpole to Keene where it was turned and > headed > back to Walpole. He had big plans for the Keene facility but got nowhere > with the stupid NH government on acquiring the property. It had shops for > repair and refurbishing as well as an enginehouse, turntable and a good > sized yard for storage. It would have been a boon to the community but it > never happened, so he moved everything to Riverside, just north of Bellows > Falls and started Steamtown there using a short section of the Vermont > Railroad (nee Rutland) for tourist trains. > > Blount was a millionaire, having made his and his partner Richardson' a > fortune in seafood (the company still operates today as Blount > Seafood). He also got religion and turned his farm into a Christian > boarding school. He also traveled around New England preaching and flew > back and forth to Steamtown where he could be found at the throttle of one > of the various operating locos. That was his downfall as fate dealt him > and > the Steamtown Foundation a heavy blow when he was killed when his plane > struck a tree in Marlborough, NH in 1967 on a flight back from Steamtown. > Luckily, his partner Richardson took over the operation and kept it going > until it moved to Scranton. > > Blount never intended to open Steamtown at Edaville, though there was some > standard gauge equipment there (notably a B&M Mogul and a few steel sided > open end cars among other items). I met him through a mutual friend while > the operation was still in Keene and he offered me a cab ride in No., 15 > but I had the wife and kids with me so I had to pass. A year or so later I > met him again at Walpole and did ride in the cab (I was alone) and it was > great, except that the track was so bad I had to hang on for dear life! > Luckily I did get him to sign he book, "Along The Iron Trail" that he and > Richardson wrote back in the 30s. (Later I had Richardson sign it too). > > He had, at that time, given up on the Keene idea and started construction > at Riverside. (A fact he pointed out rather vociferously). A couple of > years later he was killed in the plane crash. It's too bad the Keene deal > fell through as Steamtown would probably still be there. Today the shops > and enginehouse are businesses, the branch and all trackage are gone. And > of course, so is Steamtown. > > I have some photos of the "Flying Yankee" in service as "The Businessman" > and later as a planter at Edaville. I never thought it would be in > condition to run again but hopefully we'll see it this summer. It's funny > when you think of it. Had Blount lived and the Keene deal went through, it > might have been moved there. He did mention that possibility as well as > refurbishing the B&M Mogul for excursion runs. But fate has a way of > taking > a hand in destiny. Without Blount, Edaville failed, the 6000 was sold, > resold and is now near completion and will become the only operating > articulated streamliner in the world owned and operated by the State Of > New > Hampshire. It took 40 years for them to wake up to the fact that trains > are > an attraction. > > Adversity does make for some strange bedfellows... > > Raleigh > > > > > > > At 11:00 AM 3/25/2005, C&P Porter wrote: >>Thanks to Jim & Rollie for their input. I actually shot a slide of "The >>New >>England Zepher" (my name for it) at Edaville in June, 1966. A side note, >>true or not, the story I got was the difficulty of moving standard gauge >>equipment led Nelson Blount to find a different place for such and thus, >>Steamtown. Rollie probably can straighten out that story and fill in the >>details. >> >>Have a Happy Easter, everyone. >>Chuck Porter >>----- Original Message ----- >>From: "Rollain Mercier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>To: "raisinone" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> >>Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 11:51 PM >>Subject: Re: [S-Scale Modeling] Re: Zephyrs, Flying Yankee, etc.... >> >> >> > >> > and he notes - >> > >> > There is an excellent website on the "Pioneer Zephyr" with history, >> > drawings, cars that were added, etc. here: >> > >> > http://www.prototrains.com/pioneer/pioneer.html >> > >> > At the same time Burlington ordered it's train, the Boston & >> > Maine/Maine >> > Central ordered a copy for service between Boston and Bangor Maine. It >> > was >> > dubbed "The Flying Yankee" in 1935 although that name train operated >> > for >> > many years previous with steam power and again after the train was >> > moved >>to >> > the Boston-Littleton, NH run and renamed "The Mountaineer". It ran on >> > that >> > route for a few years and then was switched to the Boston to White >> > River >> > Jct. (via Keene, NH) route and renamed "The Cheshire". >> > >> > After the War, it moved again to the Boston - Troy, NY run and again >> > renamed "The Minute Man", which was formerly a Boston to Chicago train >> > connecting with the New York Central at Albany. The name changed again >> > in >> > the 50s as it returned to the Boston - Portland run as "The >> > Businessman". >> > It spent its final months in commuter service between Boston & >> > Lawrence, >> > Ma.was retired in 1957, a victim of another Budd product, the RDC. >> > >> > I rode in the train back in the 50s as far as Lawrence on a photo >> > jaunt. >>It >> > was threadbare and showing its age, (albeit helped by McGinniss's >> > policy >>on >> > skipping maintenance and the arrival of strings of Budd RDCs). It >> > languished at Edaville for 40 years and when they folded in the 90s it >> > was >> > sold to a resort in Glen, NH, near North Conway. When they found out >> > how >> > much it would cost to restore it, they donated it to the State of New >> > Hampshire who is having it rebuilt at a shop in Claremont, NH with >> > private >> > subscriptions. (I understand it's already topped the 2.5 Million Dollar >> > mark with another 1.5 Megabucks needed to finish the job. Who says >> > brass >> > prices are high!) >> > >> > So with five different names to choose from, the "Flying Yankee" was >> > actually one of the shortest lived, yet it persists. Interesting that >> > railroaders used to call it the 6000, its road number. Interesting also >> > is >> > the fact that, like it's Burlington counterpart, it was also involved >> > in a >> > collision, though not as extensive as the Zephyr's. Interesting again >> > is >> > the name "Flying Yankee' was also used by the B&M/MeC's airline back in >>the >> > early 30's, (before the streamliner arrived), and anyone interested in >> > ships will find it as a medium Clipper built in 1852 at Franklin, >> > Maine. >>It >> > was wrecked a couple of times and renamed twice. Guess misfortune goes >>with >> > the name >> > >> > If the State ever gets off it duff and finishes the 6000's restoration >> > by >> > the planned festival this summer in Lincoln, NH I may get to ride in it >> > again, (not holding my breath though...) >> > >> > Raleigh >> > >> > >> > >> > At 10:57 PM 3/24/2005, raisinone wrote: >> > >> > >> > >--- In [email protected], "Edward Loizeaux" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> > >wrote: >> > > > > Hi Wally (and others)... >> > > > >> > > > It appears that there are several different "Zephyrs" or >> > > > "Zephyrlike >> > > > trains" and it is unclear, at the present, as to who is referring >> > > > to >> > > > what. Here is my interpretation: >> > > > >> > >Ed, et al: >> > > >> > >The Pioneer Zephyr made a wide circuit in its 1934 promotional tour. >> > >Actually more of a 'zig-zag' which included a good bit of NYC and PRR >> > >trackage. One of the Morningsun books (I believe) has a photo of the >> > >3 unit set under Pennsy wires near Trenton and Heimburger's book on >> > >pre-War streamliners has an extensive list of station's visited. >> > > >> > >"Zephyr" was simply a name the CB&Q applied to their fleet of trains, >> > >similar to CRI&P's "Rockets", UP's "Cities" and the Milwaukee >> > >Road's "Hiawatha's". The Twin City and Mark Twain Zephyr's were also >> > >shovel nose articulared Budd train sets. Most of the other named >> > >Zephyrs were non-articulared, although the original Denver Zephyr had >> > >a shovel nosed locomotive, all the cars were independently coupled. >> > > >> > >The three advertised shovel nose S scale models should be in our >> > >hands by the end of April. The sample has been cruising our local >> > >club layout several times. The painted, LED lit car interiors are >> > >really pretty nifty, but then again I'm hardly a neutral observer... >> > > >> > >Jim >> > >River Raisin >> > >http://www.riverraisinmodels.com >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > >The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, >> > >to >> > >reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all >>e-mail >> > >software, but it works on some of the most common ones. For those of >> > >you >> > >on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list. >> > > >> > >Change your membership, change your message settings, use our >> > >CALENDAR, >> > >view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO >> > >http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ >> > >Yahoo! Groups Links >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, to >>reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all e-mail >>software, but it works on some of the most common ones. For those of you >>on >>DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list. >> > >> > Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, >>view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO >> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ >> > Yahoo! Groups Links >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > _____________________________________________________ >> > This message scanned for viruses by CoreComm >> > > > > > > The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, to > reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all e-mail > software, but it works on some of the most common ones. For those of you > on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list. > > Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, > view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, to reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all e-mail software, but it works on some of the most common ones. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list. Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
