Well, hello old friend....it's been a while! Just east of the Central Pennsylvania town of Hollidaysburg, the Everett Railroad's 12PM Santa's Express train whistles for the West Loop Road crossing as she heads down to Brooke's Mill with every last seat occupied. On point today is Steam Locomotive #11, a 2-6-0 Mogul type, built by the American Locomotive Works in 1920, which was restored to operation in 2015, after a long absence from the rails.
On the first weekend of December, 2016, I hopped a Southwest flight to BWI and drove the three hours to the Altoona suburb of Hollidaysburg for a reunion of sorts. Back in the mid-1960s, when I was a young lad, my mom & dad took me to see my very first steam engine at a museum called "Rail City" in Sandy Creek, NY. I didn't know it back then, but the engine we saw and rode behind that day was the former Bath & Hammondsport #11, a 2-6-0 Mogul. I still have some 8mm film footage shot by my dad that day, of the little engine pulling a converted interurban combine around the 1-mile loop. I've never been back to Sandy Creek since that day, and "Rail City" only lasted a few more years before it closed its doors and all of the rolling stock was sold off. Bath & Hammondsport #11 then languished for the next 4 decades, never operating again, until she was purchased by Alan Maples for eventual use on his Everett Railroad operation. Slowly but surely, over a period of several years, the Everett folks restored the little Mogul. Most of the heavy work was done at the facilities of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, but the final assembly work was done in Claysburg, PA in the Everett's own shops. They got her running again in the latter part of 2015 and it was then that I started making plans to see the old girl again. I chose the first week in December because the railroad would be running their Christmas Trains and there would be plenty of opportunities to see and photograph "my first" steam engine. Although mother nature didn't provide me much sun that weekend, I was very fortunate to meet and talk with some very nice folks at the Everett Railroad and spend some quality time photographing the engine. It was great to see her looking so good after all these years.