Ted
In late May the Ford's Colony Model Railroad Club (Williamsburg, VA) visited the WMSR and had a shop tour and briefing by General Superintendent Mike Gresham. Our timing was fortuitous as only 2 weeks before our trip to Cumberland the agreement between the WMSR and the B&O Railroad Museum for the loan of 1309 was made. According to Mike "H9" 734 will haul the heavy Fri/Sat/Sun trains assisted by GP30 501 while 1309 is being overhauled. To stretch out 734's availability diesels (usually WM GP30 501) will be used to haul weekday trains. When 1309 is ready (expected in 2016) 734 will go in the shops for it's required boiler work. One operational saving the railroad looks forward to is that they won't need to operate two locomotives on heavy trains when the 2-6-6-2 is on the point. How they'll operate weekday trains when two steam locomotives are available wasn't addressed.
Concurrent with rebuilding 1309 the WMSR is restoring WM business car 204 for service on the line. I'd like to see our club return to the WMSR in the 2016 time frame to ride "business class" in 204 while being hauled up the mountain by 1309.
Steam rail fanning is looking up for those in our region. Our 2015 club trip hopefully will include visiting the O. Winston Link Museum and riding 611 out of Roanoke.
Ed Rappe
