This is very true. Lets hope it lasts!

This year has been a good one for us Southern Railway fans.

2010 - Southern Railway 154 returns to steam for the first time since 1953. Built in 1890 it is the oldest operating Southern Railway steam locomotives and the oldest operating Schenectady built locomotive.

2011 - Southern Railway 630 returns to steam at TVRM for the first time since 86' I believe. Capping off a near 10 year, major overhaul. Thus kicking off more importantly Norfolk Southern 21st Century Steam.

2014 - Southern Railway 4501 returns to steam after a major overhaul, running for the first time since 1998. Joining 21st Century Steam for one year in 2015.

2018 - Southern Railway 1643 (Moorehead and Northfork 12) returns to steam at the Age of Steam Roundhouse for the first time since 1963.

In the diesel world we've seen the restoration of Southern Railway E8's 6901, and 6914. Southern Railway SD40 3170 (currently out of service), Southern Railway GP38-2 5000, and Southern Railway 2879 or Tennessee Alabama and Georgia 80.

The current restoration of the Michigan Central Station in Detroit rates high on my list. This historic station was slated and approved for demolition in 2009. Plans were halted and now Ford is paying the cost for the restoration which is expected at $350,000,000.

The NS 21st Century Steam Program was very significant. It provided the platform for the return to the mainline of SOU 630, J 611 in 2015, and the 765 starting in 2012. Horseshoe Curve trips, the old Letchworth Bridge, Aught One near Williamson, St. Charles bridge on the Wabash were outstanding. A side note in Williamson WV- my son and I walked through the steam era Lubritorium at night and walked around inside the split roundhouse at night. There was the sound of one live steam locomotive nearby Wow! It was great while it lasted.

In 1970 I rode the NKP 759 around Horseshoe Curve as a 19 year old paying passenger. In 2013, I worked with Rich Melvin to organize the Memorial Day weekend excursions and we planned it to replicate the 1970 excursions as closely as possible. A side benefit of the August 2012 employee deadhead upgrade through Altoona was that I could put my PRR East Altoona Roundhouse whistle on the NKP 765 and blow it many times. You can hear that whistle on YouTube, saluting the thousands of PRR railroaders who once worked in the Altoona area.

From southern Wi. Sadly Mid continent loses the Polson #2 to foolishness and cost the museum a pile of money to do that. The good, the Polson #2 is running fine in Oregon and seems to have found a good home.

The sad, AT&N #401 {Formally Woodward Iron #41} left Wi was bought at auction by Age of Steam. The much better now, she resides inside a warm roundhouse cosmetically restored and looking good. Bravo AOS.

After a number of bad starts CN&W #1385 finally got it's new boiler made and hydro tested in house by mfg. Now sitting on frame in contractors shop back in Wi. Almost all work has been contracted out with MC doing very little of this work. With all contracted work comes the costs. But she is much closer to the finish line. This is huge step forward for this engine. Back in 2010 things did not look all that rosey for this locomotive. Regards, John.

I put my spin on the so called "good and bad". But what has seemed or looked bad has worked out well for these three locomotives. Regards, John.

The demise of the Bluewater Chapter. I remember when they were one of the 1000# gorillas of the NRHS. How the mighty hath fallen.

The continued death of the "High Short Hood" diesels, either by natural attrition or modification.

I would offer homage to:

May 10, 2010: The unveiling of the fully restored 1910 McKeen Motor Car, former V&T No. 22 at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City. The car was subsequently listed as a National Historic Landmark on October 12, 2012, after being listed on the National Register in 2005.

May 23, 2015: The return to service of the 1875 Baldwin narrow-gauge 2-6-0, the Glenbrook, built for the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company and a part of the collection of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, Carson City. The locomotive was listed on the National Register in 1981.

Peter Barton,
Retired Administrator
Nevada Division of Museums & History

I'll add in the saving and then moving of NKP #624 by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society in 2017 - where it's currently at a secret facility, a potential operational restoration is ongoing but that too is a secret and we pretty much won't know anything about it until the Fort Wayne group, or the people doing it, choose to provide an update...

I'm going to be selfish and nominate what the Alexander Chapter-NRHS has done with the formation of the SE Narrow Gauge & Shortline Museum--

Our group has finally established a collection in the southern US that has managed to rescue most of what little regional narrow gauge equipment was left in the "wild", including-

-Two boxcars of the Chester & Lenoir narrow gauge- one restored.
-Restoration of 1 of 2 remaining ET&WNC boxcars and both ET motorcars
-Acquisition and restoration of WVM Baggage car 1
-Acquisition and restoration of West Side Lumber log car
-Acquisition of 3 Lawndale Railway boxcars
-Acquisition of WVM office car Holly

Along with standard gauge-

-Acquisition of Wooden Southern Railway Cupola caboose X2715, one of only 3 left
-Acquisition of Wooden Clinchfield caboose #1023
-Acquisition and restoration of original NS caboose 376
-Acquisition and cosmetic restoration of 2-6-0 Virginia Carolina #50
-Acquisition of Alexander RR #6, a restored and operational Alco S3.

Matt Bumgarner

In the LAST decade (2009), the Ironhorse Railroad Park acquired Soo Line 2-8-0 #2425 from the City of Enderlin, North Dakota and moved it to IRP's site in Chisago City, Minnesota. The folks in Enderlin were probably glad to see the Consolidation go. That move brought about a couple of moves in THIS decade. The 2425 (sans tender) was sold to the Mineral Range Railroad in Ishpeming, Michigan which allowed MRR to sell their Chicago and North Western 4-6-0 number 175 to the Steam Railroad Institute in Owosso, Michigan. The reported plans are for both the 2425 and 175 to be restored to operation by their respective new owners.

Les

Downtown Heritage Trolley Lines are in a pattern of demise over this decade.
I count 9 closures and 3 upstarts in this time frame, and several with mixed results. I believe these occurred due to increasing congestion, lack of financial subsidy, successful implementation of light rail, and competing interests (i.e. Real Estate, Other organizations/agendas). I welcome any corrections or updates to the list below:

Charlotte, NC - Heritage trolley is shut down after operations are fully taken over by modern light rail equipment in 2010.

Seattle, WA - George Benson Waterfront Streetcar closed in 2011 with equipment stored, some sold to serve in St. Louis.

Vancouver, BC - Downtown Historic Railway with vintage BCE interurban cars ceased to exist in 2011 after a big show at the 2010 winter Olympics event.

Savanna GA - River Street streetcar line (with an expensive bio-diesel retrofit Melbourne tram) Opened in 2013 and closed in 2015.

Portland, OR - Several heritage cars built to Council Crest carbody style with PCC trucks by Gomaco were retired in 2014 and transferred to the Oregon Electric Railway Museum's Lake Oswego trolley route and to St. Louis . No heritage streetcars currently ply the tracks of the downtown light railway system, and some of the heritage route tracks sit disused in various parts of town.

Tuscon, AZ - After the successful implementation of a modern streetcar line, the heritage line was shut down in 2014.

San Pedro, CA - Waterfront Red Car trolley line (operating with replicated Pacific Electric Interurban cars) closed in 2015

Whitehorse, YT - Narrow gauge Lisbon car stopped operating in 2018 on White Pass and Yukon Track was suspended indefinitely due to tearing up the railroad in the downtown area and budget cutbacks.

El Paso, TX - A revival of the El Paso PCC streetcars occurs in late 2018. Service with original and similar heritage PCC trolleys begin.

St. Louis, MO - The Loop Trolley began in 2018 on a heritage line and had very low ridership numbers, and was discontinued in 2019. This has to be the shortest lived line and most expensive per rider carried. Cars rebuilt from other cities were used.

Fort Wayne, IN - In late 2019 the city planning department ended support for an urban heritage trolley line at the city's riverfront after several years of promotion and inclusion within plans. It appears that a heritage trolley line was killed before any tracks were laid and wire was strung.

Issaquah, WA - Trolley operations with a re-gauged Lisbon car continue, but have been curtailed to Front Street, less than half the route originally operated Gilman Avenue. A Milan interurban car on Brill 27-type trucks was sold to the Oregon trolley group, but subsequently burned heavily at their site.

Boston, MA - A type 5 streetcar still sits in the downtown subway, not used since the early 1990s on streetcar tracks to Watertown and elsewhere. The Ashmont-Mattapan line continues to operate with PCCs.