Gene said: >Erie Railroad Turntable - Port Jervis, most recent locomotive that was turned on it weighed 440 >tons.
And I shot a videotape of it being turned. It was a Northern, C&O 614. Number 614 had its last bolt tightened to roll out of the Lima shops in January, 1948. In 1979, #614 was sold to railroad enthusiast and entrepreneur Ross E. Rowland, Jr., who oversaw a crew of 15 mechanics and some 100 volunteers to completely rebuild her: a project that took 18 months to complete at a cost of $1.5 million. During the rehabilitation process, her fuel capacity was doubled from 25 to 50 tons - carried in the traditional tender behind the locomotive. An auxiliary tender was added to attend to her thirst, doubling her water-carrying capacity from 25,000 to 50,000 gallons. All modifications made to #614 were aimed at enabling her to pull a 25-car, half-mile-long passenger train all day without having to stop for any type of service. When I rode behind her she was indeed pulling 25 cars. Locomotive #614 is 16 feet tall, 112 feet long and weighs-in at 434 tons. She develops approximately 5,000 horsepower and, at her peak, is capable of running at 120 miles per hour. On the ride from Hoboken to Port Jervis, she hit 80. #614 was accorded the singular honor of being the only steam engine ever leased by Amtrak in its 25-year history. For a portion of its run through West Virginia, she pulled The Cardinal, on schedule and at speeds approaching 80 miles per hour. 614's most recent assignment has been powering a series of excursions from Hoboken, NJ to Port Jervis, NY over NJ Transit's Mainline and Conrail's Southern Tier Mainline. These 180 mile round-trip "Iron Horse Rambles" have carried nearly 17,000 people some of whom have come from as far as New Zealand, Australia and Japan for the chance to ride behind this magnificently restored engine. As Iron Horse CEO, Ross Rowland states "the Port Jervis excursions are the only place in the free world where one can ride behind steam (with no diesels anywhere in the consist) at speeds up to 79 M.P.H. and be afforded open-air space to really soak in the sound and fury of this magnificent example of the steam locomotive builder's art running at speed." Chris Zizzo S-Trains list sponsor: http://www.americanflyertrains.com All the Flyer you desire...books and accessories too! To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list send a note to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
