The name of GSMR's second No. 521 coach.

It's very important to preserve facts about... well, anything, otherwise those facts may end up being very obscure or lost forever. That's why it takes someone or some people to gather as many artifacts they can find to preserve and share history. My research on the Great Smoky Mountains Railway is such an example. I've faced many challenges in doing my research, finding out information on the ex-Bear Creek Junction Scenic Railway Kodak cars are the most difficult, being near impossible to acquire their names and numbers. Probably the second most challenging task was finding out info on the rake of coaches I call the "County" coaches. These are clerestory coaches that are of the same model, from the same railway, and with names after the counties the GSMR runs through.

However, not all of them were named after counties. There were four in total, and there were two variants of them. The first variants were originally Delaware, Lackawanna & Western commuter coaches that are so commonplace at heritage sites throughout the Northeastern corridor (yet despite this there are no HO scale models of them available). Great Smoky Mountains Railway acquired four of them from the Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad (which owns several coaches of this type and still do!). This information I would have never found out had I not acquired a copy of Gleeful Production's Great Smoky Mountains Railway VHS.

As I've mentioned in my first post about GSMR coaches, these ex-DL&W coaches were named after counties that the GSMR ran through and were originally numbered in the 300 series but had to be changed to the 500 series because the GSMR had already acquired coaches in the 300 series prior, sharing too many similar numbers. BM&R's 322 became GSMR's 522 Jackson County, BM&R 323 became GSMR 523 Cherokee County, and BM&R 324 became GSMR 524 Haywood County. The railway also acquired a No. 321 from BM&R and renumbered it to 521. This coach does have a name, but what amount of footage I have of it is impossible to use as a reference:

A couple of weeks ago I saw a listing on eBay for a collection of vintage GSMR photo negatives taken in 1992, one of them depicts No. 521. These negatives were removed from eBay quite early on by the seller but I'm trying to reach out to them to see if I can acquire them or not.

Now, the chairman of the railway at the time, Malcolm MacNeil, had a dislike towards the clerestory coaches, due to these having a higher center of gravity. This is why you don't see many of them today at the GSMR as he sold them off. I can only assume that he thought if he could get a different model of clerestory coaches, it might make a different. This is where the second variants come in. These coaches were built for Canadian National in the 1920s and of a more ubiquitous model than the DL&W commuter coaches. Four CN coaches were acquired by GSMR from, as far as I'm aware, the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad. These coaches had their numbers traded with the DL&W coaches as they're practically the same. The names were changed slightly. No. 522 and No. 523 still retained Jackson County and Cherokee County respectively, but No. 524's name was changed to Swain County.

For a long time I had no idea what the name of No. 521 was, and with good reason. The only available source of info is far from crystal clear:

One day I happened to pick up a brochure I got in 2003 for the Raft & Rail trip, in which the GSMR ran rafting trips in conjunction with the Wildwater Ltd. rafting company. "Wildwater Ltd." It looked like a very possible match (and the only good match available) with the lettering in the above screenshot. It makes sense as well, since the GSMR hosts a lot of rafting packages on their train schedules. So I can officially declare that the second variant Coach No. 521 was named Wildwater Ltd. What I can't determine is that there is a subtitle underneath the Wildwater Ltd. to which I can find no suitable match as of now, so that in itself is a bit of a mystery. What I can tell from the screenshot is that the subtitle seems to comprise of a C_______ of C________.

No. 521 Wildwater Ltd. no longer resides at GSMR, and neither does No. 524 Swain County, but you can still see No. 522 Jackson County and No. 523 Cherokee County at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, albeit their names shortened to Jackson and Cherokee.

GSMR's No. 321 found?

If any of you may recall from my first post on the Great Smoky Mountains Railway (the one on the coaches) I spoke about a coach numbered 321. This was the first Dillsboro coach, a heavyweight clerestory coach built for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. It was originally numbered 2576.

Photo: David Stewart

From RRPicturesarchives.net

Dillsboro is a unique coach with a design that's hard to find in a coach model, both full-sized and in HO scale. It was used on the Clinchfield Steam Specials as No. 110, the Chessie Safety Express as No. 5 and then on the Seaboard System Railroad as No. 321. Dillsboro arrived on the Great Smoky Mountains Railway in late Autumn of 1988 along with No. 320 Sylva, No. 322 Bryson City, and No. 324 Murphy. It was used quite frequently on the GSMR from 1988 to circa 1993. It had even been used on Steam Engine No. 1702's first run on November 1, 1991. It was sold around 1993. The reasons being that the then owner of the railway, Malcolm MacNeil, disliked the clerestory coaches because of their higher center of gravity. Thusly Dillsboro was replaced and it's namesake given to coach No. 6514. Now where the coaches sold by GSMR have gone is a mystery; no one knows for sure which railway they've been given to. No. 321 is no exception. I've painstakingly scoured across the Internet to see what I could find.

So what I able to find anything?

Well I do have somewhat of a lead; it may not be much but it's the best I've got. There is a coach located at the North Alabama Railroad Museum that has been rusting away on a siding. The museum claims it to be L&N No. 2573. Whilst they got the railway of origin right, I'm inclined to think that this is actually coach No. 2576, or in case: GSMR No. 321.

Photo: Dave Mullison

From RRPicturesarchives.net

Now when comparing this image with the one farther up, you might think to youself: "What? How can that be the same coach? The window arrangements are different." That's true: the window arrangements are different but only because you're seeing one side of the 321. Now look at these screenshots from a video on the GSMR:

These screenshots show the other side of the Dillsboro and if you count the number of windows carefully you'll find that it has the same number as well as the same arrangement as the coach at the North Alabama Railroad Museum. And maybe the NARM coach might have the same arrangement on the other side as the one on the Dillsboro in the first image. "But!" I hear you cry, "The windows on both cars look different. Dillsboro looks like it has framed windows, the NARM coach doesn't." That's also true but I believe the frames on the coach can be easily removable, they're only stuck on for decoration to make it look fancy. The 320, 322, and 324 also appeared to have frames on their windows once upon a time. Now let me give you the big hint as to why I believe the coach at the NARM is actually No. 321: the doors. Have a look at this photograph of the 321 as it appeared on the Clinchfield.

Now compared it with the images above of the 321 on the GSMR and the coach at the NARM. On the Clinchfield the 110 has full doors, on the GSMR the 321 looks like its doors have been cut in half, to let the passengers experience the mountain air, and at the NARM the coach looks like it has whole doors, but wait! There's a seem running across the door at the halfway point. Let me post these images down again for clarification:

Could it be that the coach on the North Alabama Railroad Museum is actually the original 321 Dillsboro? It seems very likely given the evidence. I don't know what the museum has to say about it themselves; I doubt if they even know where this coach has been through. Perhaps one day I'll journey down there to see for myself or someone else might be able to find out for me. But until then here's hoping that it is the 321 and here's imagining it reunited with it's fellow coaches on the GSMR. 

Model Railroading - Indian Valley Railway's No. 2716 Conversion - Intro

The Indian Valley Railway is a primary sub-focus in the Magic Railroad Adventures. Not all the adventures focus on the railway, but they revolve around the railway as it runs through the little valley railroad town of Shining Time. Though heavily based on the original Indian Valley Railroad of California, the Great Smoky Mountains Railway, Grand Canyon Railway, Western Maryland Scenic Railway and the Strasburg Railroad (to name a few) the IVR of the Magic Railroad Adventures has a wide roster of locomotives that are based on many real-life locomotives that we are so familiar with. One such engine is the Van Sweringen K-4 class 2-8-4 "Kanawha" type locomotive No. 2716.

Photo: Ron Flanny

Part of a fleet of locomotives most common of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, the 2716 is arguably most recognizable in it's Southern Railroad guise as part of the Steam Program in 1981-83. Though it's involvement was short-lived it none-the-less gained a wide-spread fame amongst railroader fans, giving an impression as to what a Southern Railroad Berkshire locomotive would have looked like. So there's no question about my decision to feature this engine in the MRA in it's Southern Railroad guise. 

Shining Time Station is well-known for featuring footage of real engines (like the Grand Canyon's 18, Chessie System's 2101, Norfolk & Western's 611, and most famously Union Pacific's 8444) and shooting real locomotives (such as South Simcoe's 136 and Strasburg's 475). The Magic Railroad Adventures follows that tradition by featuring HO scale replicas of these famous locomotives. Key Model Imports once released an accurate representation of Southern 2716, but that was a long while ago and finding such a model would be very costly indeed. 

However Bachmann Trains has released HO models of the Van Sweringen Berkshires in three forms; the Nickel Plate Road form, the Pere Marquette form, and the C&O form. I was fortunate enough to find a C&O Berkshire, unlettered, on eBay for a decent amount. 

 Over time this engine will take on the appearance of the actual SOU 2716. I will keep everyone updated on the progress that will commence. Next time: the pilot.