Valley railroad in Essex Ct adds another steam locomotive

WOW! That engine is a LOT larger than anything they already have. That 1352 was originally a fairly large 2-8-0, and the Frisco completely rebuilt her into a good sized 2-8-2.

She is not in very good shape, but given capabilities of the Valley Railroad personnel, lots of money and time will produce a nice large 2-8-2 for their operation.

Congratulations to the Valley Railroad folks.

I don't know much about the Valley Railroad, but don't they already have a couple 2-8-2s?  I wouldn't have expected that they'd be in that much need of power.

I am from Old Lyme and passed though Essex every day to and from work.  We took many guests to Essex Valley Rail Road.  It was a great time for all, and to watch the train going and coming from many vantage points was a step back in time, especially if we were on the river, and when the leaves were changing...it was awesome  

On a side note, back in the day I drove an El Camino but also burned coal at home.  Essex Valley RR was the place to go to ensure I had enough weight in the back to get through the snow (a few hundred pounds of coal in 50 Lb bags), and later, burn it to keep the house nice and cozy.  Great memories.  

Essex Junction is also home for Witch Hazel - love that water tower!

We wish you tremendous success with Old 1352.  We'll be back to see her in action.

Chuck 242

@Hot Water posted:

WOW! That engine is a LOT larger than anything they already have. That 1352 was originally a fairly large 2-8-0, and the Frisco completely rebuilt her into a good sized 2-8-2.

She is not in very good shape, but given capabilities of the Valley Railroad personnel, lots of money and time will produce a nice large 2-8-2 for their operation.

Congratulations to the Valley Railroad folks.

They have something big planned for it.  It is way to large for their current needs, so something is up.  It will take years to restore anyways, and I don’t think it would even fit in their engine stall.  

I’ll post more, when information is available.

I saw on youtube that they created a new crossing through the marina north of Goodspeed's (Haddam) where the rails were previously covered by dirt. It was a video of a railbike ride from Goodspeed's station to the north to the current end of operable track. They want to restore all the way to Pratt and Whitney which is the northern end of VRR ownership, Providence and Worcester (G&W?) takes over north of that point. But, could they make a deal to at least run into Middletown? I never rode this railroad or the boat ride, but I learned a lot about it over the years and that they slowly restored track north of Chester to extend their rides farther north, especially for their diesel powered dinner trains. I have a VRR 1983 brochure somewhere I got at the Red caboose Motel near Strasburg around 1983 when I was 9. I have a virtual version of this railroad in Trainz Railroad Simulator for PC. It is made by N3V in Australia, Auran formerly made Trainz but went under several years ago and N3V bought it. They keep updating it with newer versions.