Share Your Experience With The "New River Trains"

Brody,

There is a lot of depth here considering that the 765 pulled the New River Trains for about a decade.  A couple of random items:  ITM coaches were only used one year.  Those trains were 30 and up to 33 cars - troop train length, which the 765 handled unassisted.  Another angle was that the 765 also had to provide steam heat for the whole train, an unbelievable exercise to get all of those cranky, cussed connections put together.  At the 1991 NRHS Convention, the 765 pulled the same sort of 30 car train but also had to pull a nearly dead 220-ton PM 1225.  A crack or leak in the firebox prevented SRI from keeping any more than a light fire to keep the lubrication going on the return from Hinton to Huntington.  The 765 pulled the dead locomotive and 30+ passenger cars at 60+ mph!  What a show.......

Speeds were another subject.  The first time the 765 went to the USF&G charter trip and the New River Train, a 55 mph speed limit was set - just to see how things went.  The following year it was raised to 60 mph.  All went well.  The next year it was raised to 65 mph and it stayed there for a number of years.  The last couple of years, the Road Foreman stated that Amtrak operates their passenger trains at 79 mph on parts of the route and the 765 was pulling a passenger train, therefore the 765 can operate up to 79 mph.  And it did..........though the fall of 1993 when it came due for heavy repairs.

Didn't have a chance to ride, I just listened in ...

It must have been 1991 as the only time l got to ride it....we got back late and rushed for a long drive home.  I wondered what happened to it, as l did not again see the trips offered.  I saw Sandstone Falls from the train in beautiful fall foliage and drove down later to look at the falls, and Hinton again 

1993 was the last year the 765 pulled the New River Train, cosmetically restored as "2765" that year.  The 765 had operated 65,000 miles on the NKP after her last "class" overhaul in 1955 plus about 50,000 miles in her Second Career 1979-1993.  So she was actually about 15,000 miles overdue for heavy "class" repairs.  FWRHS leased and operated MILW 261 for the 1994 New River Trains.   That was the last steam used on the New River Trains.

Why did CSX ban steam anyway? NS did, too after 1994 so that in 1995 and up there was nowhere in the east to ride behind steam on a class 1 railroad. Except when the 614 ran on NJT in NJ and NY, and the 142 ran on Susquehanna's main line from North Bergen, NJ to Baird's Farm, NY. And of course, the RBMN 425 and Steamtown, but those aren't class 1's. Then, NS brought steam back from Sept 2011 through 2016. I think 142 also operated out of Syracuse, NY and ran on NYSW to Binghamton, as well as a special trip to Steamtown.

My one experience with the New River Gorge trains was in 1994, the year that the train was pulled by the Milwaukee #261.  Of course, that was intentional because I happen to be a Milw Rd fan.  That experience was to see the first Milw Rd Steam engine, alive, since I went into the Army in 1956.  (When I got out two years later, all Milw steam was gone.)  So the sights, sounds and experience was really treasured and well remembered.  

That day, Rich Melvin, our engineer, invited both my wife and I up to the cab before the train actually left.   I don't have to tell you how memorable a visit to the cab of a live steam engine really is for any rialfan, and I was in 7th heaven.  My wife, on the other hand, climbed up, took a look around and said: "That's nice, can we go now.?"  (No appreciation for the important things in life!)

Paul Fischer

I rode many New River trips with the 765, both as a passenger and part of the engine crew.

Rich Melvin and Tom Stephens were usually the engineers and both did an admirable job in handling the 765, in my humble opinion.

I rode the cab on many of these trips and on one occasion we were headed back to Huntington, after dark, and Tom was running. We were approaching Charleston and let’s just say that Tom had those mileposts flying by. Tom went to dump some air and Jim Ward, the CSX road foreman on many of these trips, reached over and put his hand over Tom’s and said something to the effect, “she’s okay”. I think we spun that station around a couple of times as we went through Charleston.

Tom was best man when Charlene and I were married and we still see Tom and Liz most every year, late winter, when they come out to Las Vegas. Tom was CMO on 765 for a while and he still enthusiastically talks about those days and it is always fun and interesting to listen to him do so.   

My best, and only, personal experience with the New River Train was back in late October, 2012. I had the opportunity to be mechanical rider on the Washington DC NRHS coach, Franklin Inn, leased to the train group for two weekends. I rode the second of the two weekends, so I took the Cardinal down to Huntington on Friday and rode with the car on the train Saturday and Sunday. Here's the interior of Franklin Inn:

During the layover in Hinton, I had the opportunity to walk the train. Here's the interiors of some of the other cars, especially in the first class section.  Clearly, for those who can afford it (start saving now!) riding in one of the domes is the way to go.

I can post some exterior shots if there is interest.