Owosso Train Fest this summer

[douglasm]

I guess we're over here now......

If you remember from our last episode, I mentioned the ex-Southern Pacific "Daylight" 4-8-4 #4449 is scheduled to be in Owosso for Train Fest 2009, along with the ex NKP 2-8-4 #759 from Fort Wayne and the Steam Railroad Institute's ex-Pere Marquette 2-8-4 #1229. It's a fundraiser for 1229's 15 year inspection/rebuild.
http://www.trainfestival2009.com/

Burnsie asked if I knew what the schedules and timeings for the 4449's move from Portland to Owosso were. Well, yes and no. Nothing is cast in stone, and it's not expected that they will be for a couple of weeks, but so far, it looks like this, with the Daylight departing Portland, Ore. on July 3rd:

July 3rd: Portland, Ore. to Spokane (here's where I'll chase it)
July 4th: Spokane to Whitefish, Mont.
July 5th: Whitefish to Havre.
July 6th: Layover in Havre.
July 7th: Havre to Minot, N.D.
July 8th: Minot to Fargo, N.D..
July 9th: Layover in Fargo.
July 10th: Fargo to Minneapolis

No guess as to when it will travel from Minneapolis to Durand/Owosso, but since the trip is being coordinated by the Friends of the 4449 and The Friends of the 261 (the ex MILW 4-8-4) along with the Steam Railroad Institute, and run under the auspisus of Amtrak, it will run on a regular Amtrak route from Chicago to Durand, that is....I think, I may need some correction.....Norfolk Southern from Chicago to Porter, Ind., Amtrak from Porter to Kazoo, NS from Kazoo to Battle Creek, then CN from Battle Creek to Durand, where the connection is made with the Great Lakes Central (ex-TSBY) to Owosso.

Now, I didn't want to retype this whole thing to insert this, but the 4449 is scheduled into Owosso on July 19th, and is scheduled to leave in early October.

A second Owosso/Alma excursion with the Daylight has been added to the schedule. Probably sold out by now. The first one was filled within hours of its announcement. Note too that motels in the Owosso area are fully booked, but Lansing is only a half an hour away.

Sites with information:

http://www.261.com/
May not be much here, but they're doing a lot of the coordination with Amtrak.
http://www.sp4449.com/
The Daylight's website
http://www.trainfestival2009.com/
The Steam Railroad Institute's website for Train Fest.

As more information becomes available, I'll post it for you.

doug

[douglasm]

Now, having just typed all that above, there's a report that July 18th, the 4449 will run from Minneapois to Chicago, and here's the big one.....

July 19th (a Sunday!) will run from Chicago to Durand.

Return? August 1st (a Saturday!) from Durand to Chicago.

Again, THESE ARE NOT CAST IN STONE and are subject to change. I'll keep an eye on it.

doug

[the rock]

Thanks for the updates, Doug. ( I think you mean Pere Marquette's #1225 rather than #1229, but you are so fired up, a couple of typo mistakes are quite understandable !).

This 3 day event in little old Owosso ( the home of Tom Dewey )will probably be bigger than Thunder Over Michigan ( July 19 /20) at Willow Run or the Selfridge Air show (August 22/23) in Mt. Clemens, but is must-seeing for we railroad buffs.

And it sounds like Durand may get a little of the action, too.

[douglasm]

Hey, I haven't seen the 4449 in my neck of the woods for about 4 years now. I wish I didn't have to drive to Lind, WA to see it. It will run through the Columbia Gorge and through the Tri-Cities (Richland-Pasco-Kennewick) to Spokane. That's about 100 miles away, but I'll make the drive. The reason it's going that way is because I live south of Wenatchee, about 100 yards off the BNSF Seattle-Spokane main over Stevens Pass. It's a conspiracy, I tell you......

Couple of years ago, we had a real treat. The 4449 doubleheaded with the Union Pacific's 844 up the coast line between Portland and Seattle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAjl8mlGZHw

[reddog289]

Having never seen any of the "big" steam trains I will have to make it up there for that.

[douglasm]

That's the glory of it, Reddog. Almost any weekend during the summer you can go to the Henry Ford or maybe the Huckleberry Railorad in Flint and see some smaller steamer paddling along......

....in the case of the Huckleberry's ex Rio Grande 4-8-4 #464, it's literally paddling. Go see it if you get the chance......

.....at 15 or 20 miles per hour. I don't know what shape the GLC's tracks are in (40 mph would be a guess) but to see main line steam running main line speeds is a real thrill. Think that those 80" drivers on the 4449 spin 790 times a minute at 60 mph (she's cleared for 79 mph), with all those big heavy rods and cranks going back an forth spinning the drivers. Add the noise, this is a small industrial plant flying down the tracks.

You don't get the chance very often to witness such an occasion......

[Crystal]

We just returned from Day 1 of Train Festival 2009. Oh my gosh! The 4449 is truly beautiful, and to see the 1225 and other steam engines in one place was great.

I highly recommend attending this weekend if you can!

http://www.trainfestival2009.com

[FlyingJ]

Couple of years ago, we had a real treat. The 4449 doubleheaded with the Union Pacific's 844 up the coast line between Portland and Seattle.

I saw the Daylight over in Montclair years& years ago-it wasn't hauling the Freedom Train here back in '75, that was the Reading/Chessie T-1, so this is a truly historic 1st visit)easily one of the most famous steam locos ever & a good cause

[Crystal]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106939044

[douglasm]

For those of you who may have missed it, here's a You Tube video of the 4449 blasting through Bancroft, MI, coming into Durand, then turning on the Durand Y......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhThdnOb_eE

Those Milwaukee Road cars sure match up well with the Daylight's paint scheme. I'd have loved to ride in the skytop observation......

[1KielsonDrive]

Douglasm, thanks for the post. Fascinating! If I get the time, I'll make a trip to see her. This summer is turning out to be too busy, Wonderful and fun but too busy. Anyway, thanks again for starting this. I love trains (and almost everything else).

[Philbo]

As a railroad buff and not to threadjack, which was more powerfull the U.P "
Big Boy" or the P.R.R " Allegheny" ? Sorry I"ll miss the events. :confused:

[FlyingJ]

Those Milwaukee Road cars sure match up well with the Daylight's paint scheme. I'd have loved to ride in the skytop observation......

There was a complete one perched on the deck of that boat that did Detroit River dinnercruises...

[reddog289]

Thanks for the utube link Doug . I won't be able to make it up there but I will hear what I missed from my Uncle in Chicago. I had forgotten about the observation cars on the ferry that was once a floating resturant.

[ASR89]

Happy F40PH Friday everybody!

[48202]

TV report on the train festival:

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=6929612

[Crystal]

Giving this thread a little bump to encourage readers to attend this great event. I don't think the 4449 will be back for a long time.

[reddog289]

I myself am pretty bummed that I won't get there, Yet I hope that I will get up to Owosso to see the 1225 one day.Maybe if I had my trains up and running in the basement I would have made more an effort to get up there.

[douglasm]

To answer a number of questions at once....
Philbo.....
Comparing the C&O (not Pennsy, they didn't have one) 2-6-6-6 with the UP's 4-8-8-4 is a little like comparing apples and oranges. The Allegheny was designed to lug coal drags over the mountains, being designed to hall 5,000+ tons at 45 mph, and could develop 7.500 hp at the drawbar. The Big Boy could only do about 6,300 but it wasn't designed to drag coal.

The Big Boy's purpose was to haul freight traffic fast. Although they were designed to pull freights unassisted over the Wahsatch Mountains, they were also built to run at 80 mph, and spent a considerable amount of time pulling time freights in the plains states.

Any discussion of the "most powerful" steam locomotives probably should take into consideration the Pennsy Class Q2 4-4-6-4 Duplex Drive locos of the mid 40's and the DM&IR 2-8-8-4 Yellowstones used on the ore drags in Minnesota and Michigan.

Now, as to the skytop observations used as "dining rooms" on the Lansdowne, after the boat sank (again) in Buffalo, it was scrapped, but the shells of the observations were saved, and are now at the Milwaukee Road Preservation Society site in Montevideo, MN. This website has some of the details:
http://rypn.sunserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25120&p=127313

AND, there's a terrific picture of the 4449 blasting through Carland, MI on the way to Alma during one of the excursions.....

http://www.altamontpress.com/discussion/read.php?1,29958,29958#msg-29958

[Novine]

Even the steam engines are on Twitter now.

http://twitter.com/nickelplate765

http://twitter.com/sp4449

[catch22]

Here's SP 4449 at the head of the all-day excursion trip on Friday at Alma, being admired by a cast of several hundred, including me.

2476

[FlyingJ]

I don't think the 4449 will be back for a long time.

I noted Crystal, it's never been to Michigan BEFORE(the Wiki entry is wrong, the Reading T-1,#1, ex #2101-hauled the AFT here & to Chicago, where #4449 took over)
...but the comment from the festival organizer that they could only get it out there because of reduced rail traffic thanks to the crap economy was a downer. I felt bad looking @ the J-Class #611 in the weeds behind the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke some years before, to have a loco this historic running out here on the main lines is unique & worth it

http://www.themetrains.com/html/aft_roster.htm
June 20, 1975
Portland, OR
Locomotive #4449 departs Portland for Chicago via Sacramento , Denver and Omaha (over much of the path of the original Transcontinental Railroad) to meet the AFT.
June 21 - July 6, 1975
Detroit, MI
15
Longest stop for the AFT -- 2 weeks! Hank Aaron visits the train. The AFT welcomes its 1,000,000th visitor on June 29.
June 22, 1975
Sacramento, CA
4449 on display with SP Bicentennial diesel #9389 and steam locomotive CP Huntington.
June 28, 1975
Denver, CO
Locomotive 4449 displays in Denver
June 30, 1975
Close to Dorchester, NE.
Traveling east, locomotive 4449 just clips the rear corner of a stalled dump truck. Some creased sheet metal skirting, but little other damage.
July 2, 1975
La Grange, IL
Locomotive 4449 arrives at GM's EMD plant to wait for the AFT.
July 8-9, 1975
Grand Rapids, MI
16
July 11-12, 1975
Kalamazoo, MI
17
July 14-16, 1975
South Bend, IN
18
July 18-21, 1975
Peoria, IL
19
July 23-26, 1975
Springfield, IL
20
July 28 - August 3, 1975
Chicago, IL
21
Displayed on Navy Pier. Locomotive #1 (#2101) spotted nearby at the Merchandise Mart.
August 4, 1975
Proviso Yards
Locomotive #4449 takes over from #1 in a nose-to-nose ceremony.

[Novine]

Anyone know the return itinerary for the 4449 and 765?

[douglasm]

The schedule has changed a little bit. The 4449 will leave Owosso (scheduled to depart Durand about noon) for Chicago on Friday, July 31. She'll spend Saturday on display somewhere in Chicago.....she doesn't fit the trainshed at Union Station...

Sunday, Aug. 2nd, Chicago to Milwaukee, Monday the 3rd, Milwaukee to Minneapolis, and will remain in Minneapolis until October 13th, when she heads back to Portland. Schedules and ticketing information here:

http://www.trainfestival2009.com/4449-schedule.php

I didn't see it going out, I had to work, but there's a pretty good chance I'll be on the platform at Ritzville, WA Tuesday, October 20th watching it go by. Any SDF people on the platform with me get a free cup of coffee on me at Michael J's if you chase to Connell.......

Can't help you on the 765. Sorry.

[douglasm]

Can tell you this, though. The place to be would be between Clare and Farwell on U.S. 10 Oct. 3rd. The 765 will doublehead (maybe) with 1225 on a run between Alma and Cadillac that Monday, departing Alma at 9am, arriving in Cadillac at 12:30. Return leaves Cadillac at 3, arriving back in Alma at 7pm. IF IT"S STILL THERE, I'd love to see a picture of the train and the sign advertising the Ann Arbor Railroad ferry service. It's was on hwy 10 west of Clare.

BTW, is there a problem with 1225? I understand she's been a no show the past couple of days.....

[the rock]

I was up in Owosso today for 7 hours and enjoyed the whole Steamfest thoroughly. Unfortunately the PM #1225 had mechanical trouble and could not pull an excursion, but will sit as a static display again tomorrow.
The SC #4449 out of Portland was a site to behold. If there is a better looking locomotive around today, I welcome suggestions.

And, oh yes, the B-25 Mitchell ( Yankee Warrior) out of the Yankee Air Museum, was circling around and keeping us all safe.

Other than an occasional thundershower, it was a great way to spend a day.

[Crystal]

Mr. The Rock, our family felt the same way about the 4449. It is truly a beautiful engine.

On Thursday we chatted with at least four people who were learning to work their brand new cameras that day. They had bought new cameras specifically to photograph the 4449. It was kind of cute watching them pore over owner's manuals and look up error messages.

[Sandhouse]

Tickets are still available for the move of SP 4449 and the Milwaukee Road cars from Durand to Chicago, Minneapolis, and beyond. The Friday schedule from Durand to Chicago makes a very workable excursion for anyone who can get Friday off: just leave your car at Durand and return on Saturday afternoon's Amtrak train after a day in Chicago. The Milwaukee Road observation car is a great way to experience the Grand Trunk Western, and probably worth the extra fare. See www.trainfestival2009.com (http://www.trainfestival2009.com)

If the trip from Chicago was any indication, the schedule is likely to be a bit vague, as last-minute changes may be needed to accommodate the steam locomotive and this extra train, so make travel arrangements accordingly.

[Gingellgirl]

Photos from Trainfest. The Daylight is my favorite train hands down. What a thrill it was to see it. Detroit in Legos was fabulous. Gistok, that's your group, isn't it?
Highlight of the day was seeing the B-25 at the airport, and then the B-17 flew over and the B-25 joined it for a pass around the town. Fantastic!

[Novine]

Sandhouse,

Do you have a direct link for the tickets for the 4449 westbound? I know a train fan who be up for that trip.

[Crystal]

http://www.sp4449.com/

[douglasm]

The 4449 trip drew a lot of attention. There are some really good pictures at www.altamontpress.com (http://www.altamontpress.com) Hit the Discussion Board link.

Yes, the 4449 is a beautiful locomotive, and the folks in Portland who take care of her should be very proud. The only problem I have is I'm still a midwestern kid at heart, and deep down inside I just can't shake the feeling that real steam engines don't wear skirts......