Good afternoon folks,

After reading through all of the comments, and trying to figure out what "part" might be broken on the 26, and then thinking about the overall horrible Administration in Washington DC at the moment; I had a revelation that the issue with #26 is probably not mechanical. In the current environment, there is a political problem with a "part" of an active steam locomotive in a National Park with this Administration.

What is that "part" you ask? .... I think the decision to suspend the running of #26 has more to do with the highly political nature of fuel that #26 uses, and NOT something actually wrong with the 26. In a word (or three) - Coal is bad.

I personally believe it is just that simple. It is far more politically expedient to falsely claim #26 has a mechanical problem than to publicly admit the decision to silence #26 is yet another part of this Administration's ever increasing war on coal and fossil fuels.

Now before everyone screams - "Well then, what about the Golden Spike operations?", I would remind everyone that neither replica at Promontory Point burns coal. Shutting down the coal burner in Scranton would not draw the media's attention. However, shutting down the replicas (which can burn a politically "woke" bio-fuel) at the Golden Spike location would likely raise some eyebrows and draw some questions.

I agree with many of the commenters who suggested Steamtown might be significantly enhanced by bringing in a private designated operator to run the park, or at least certain critical portions thereof. However, I have serious doubts that will happen because a successful operator becomes yet another example of why the government should NOT be involved in certain areas.

Those are just my comments. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Steamtown bashing.

A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

Odd argument seeing UP 119 at Promontory Summit IS a coal burner but okay whatever you want to say...

The Jupiter doesn't burn coal! Oh no! Using the historically correct fuel - WOOD - instead of our sacred cow, COAL, is the end of the world! How dare the National Park Service actually equip the replica to burn what it was burning on May 10th 1869!

BTW as already mentioned UP 119 does burn coal and I have shoveled a few scoops in myself.

From Wikipedia:

"Occam's razor, Ockham's razor, or Ocham's razor (Latin: novacula Occami), or the principle of parsimony or law of parsimony (Latin: lex parsimoniae) is the problem-solving principle that "entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity", sometimes inaccurately paraphrased as "the simplest explanation is usually the best one." The idea is frequently attributed to English Franciscan friar William of Ockham (c.  1287–1347), a scholastic philosopher and theologian, although he never used these words. This philosophical razor advocates that when presented with competing hypotheses about the same prediction, one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions, and that this is not meant to be a way of choosing between hypotheses that make different predictions."

(Footnotes omitted for clarity)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

No Josh what you were burning was Uncle Joe's biofuel briquettes painted black to LOOK like coal in 119. Its actually Solyent Green; if you remove the paint, and they manufacture it by the truckload in Scranton!

The simplest answer - they already weren't running trains because of COVID, generally speaking COVID cases are on the rise, and there's only 3 months left in the year. Going from "temporarily suspended for 2021" to "canceled for 2021" isn't a big leap.

Aren't we still waiting on this announcement that #26 is broken? Yet nobody knows what's broken? Seems weird.

A strange defense after making the wide-swinging and wholly inaccurate assumption that Golden Spike National Historic Park uses "politically correct" biofuels.

The court of RYPN vs. Steamtown would like to review the following evidence. If Chewbacca is a Wookie why does he live on Endor (and burn biofuels in UP 119)? https://youtu.be/34Em8BkZYnI

Ok, let’s get off the spur and back on the main. Where is the most appropriate venue to lodge our complaints? What are we specifically asking to be remedied? Whether or not the park management is using covid as a shield doesn’t matter, we should still see gains elsewhere. How are those funds being reallocated? Where do we want them allocated?

"After reading through all of the comments, and trying to figure out what "part" might be broken on the 26, and then thinking about the overall horrible Administration in Washington DC at the moment; I had a revelation that the issue with #26 is probably not mechanical. In the current environment, there is a political problem with a "part" of an active steam locomotive in a National Park with this Administration."

There is a component issue on the 26. I believe it is a pump. It is not, or should not be a problem, given that there have been no regular operations since the end of 2019 with a relatively recently restored engine. Do I suspect "other reasons" as the principal reason? Absolutely. National politics? No.

What is that "part" you ask? .... I think the decision to suspend the running of #26 has more to do with the highly political nature of fuel that #26 uses, and NOT something actually wrong with the 26. In a word (or three) - Coal is bad.

When former Superintendent Conway did the podcast in 2016 with Train-o-mania, President Obama was in office. He expressed a desire to end the use of coal. Although Oct 26 was the waning months of his second term, it was widely assumed that Secretary Clinton would be his successor and she also quoted as saying she'd put "coal out of business" the prior spring that required ab apology. Yet at this point then Superintendent Conway was publicly defining an operating goal of four operable steam locomotives. I think we can infer that since an upwardly mobile Superintendent made that statement, there was no following of the political winds.

"I personally believe it is just that simple. It is far more politically expedient to falsely claim #26 has a mechanical problem than to publicly admit the decision to silence #26 is yet another part of this Administration's ever increasing war on coal and fossil fuels.'

Let's just say I am aware of other reasons to cancel this year. Regardless of the nature or extent of the issue with the 26, it should be ready to go since its been idle for almost two years.

Some things I cannot say without betraying confidences.

I will tell you that yes, Steamtown Management in the past, falsely attributed mechanical issues as the cause of aborted operations. Specifically, mechanical issues with then operable road locomotive were given as the cause of an inability to run, but the "give away" was that it was fired up, and kept on the "Gangway" track just west of the "diamond" on the north side of the roundhouse-because the operating agreement with the DL/then Lackawanna County Railroad Authority was not negotiated and executed in a timely manner.

It is a fact that NKP 514 is also a newly refurbished engine and could pull the shuttle-at least until the cold weather is a problem and would require some coaches to use the gas heaters located at the ends (they take off the chill, but aren't going to make the car toast warm)

It is a fact that the Chief of Maintenance and former Acting Superintendent, Jessica Weinman transferred out. There has been a significant, if not total exodus of volunteers from the shop. It has been nearly two years since a train has operated and volunteers are not pining to return to service for what essentially will be a two month operating season without the promise of a road trip to provide the highlight autumn leaf excursions.

There are still COVID restrictions in place and I'm not sure how that works in an enclosed coach. COVID and the absence of operations have visitation significantly reduced- 44K through Aug. I'd be shocked if they hit 55K for the year and visitation drives shuttle ridership.

https://irma.nps.gov/STATS/SSRSReports/ ... ?Park=STEA

I'm pretty sure the real story is that it is too late to start for this year, given a variety of other issues.

BTW, the website still says "temporarily suspended"


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Interesting statistic. As a contributor to a handful or two of those threads, my apologies if I have contributed to RYPN "slowly drifting into irrelevancy". I wish my posts could be as vibrant and on point as all of your posts evidently have been.

What I do not understand about this particular thread is the connection being made between COVID and the operation of Baldwin 26 at STEA. Baldwin 26 was built as a shop switcher so why not operate it as it was designed by having yard switching demonstrations a few times a day, weather permitting? This would be a great interpretive use of the locomotive, some of the beautiful rolling stock, and the yard itself. It would also be a great opportunity to teach the public about the interactions between crew members using the whistle and hand signals as well as the defined responsibilities of each participant. All in the great outdoors with adequate social distancing, if necessary.

Not having a "dog in the fight" over Steamtown and 26 other than being a taxpayer...........

I cite Rebirth of the Jupiter and the 119 by Robert R. Dowty, published by the Southwest Parks & Monuments Assn in 1994 and sold at the Golden Spike NHS (and purchased by me last week):

To summarize several paragraphs on pages 45-46:
The replicas of Jupiter and 119 were built in 1978-79 to burn diesel fuel. "As diesel prices skyrocketed," they were converted to burn waste oil donated from Hill AFB, the Department of Defense Depot in nearby Ogden, and "various implement dealers and local service stations."
Railfans, operating personnel, and historians disliked the inauthenticity and the harsh oil fires, and by 1990 "obtaining and storing waste oil had become difficult." Quality control problems, "along with regulations and fees concerning on-site oil storage, finally prompted the decision to convert the locomotives."

It should be noted that both central Utah and northeastern Pennsylvania are/were "coal country," with mining still active but sharply declining due to both market forces and political efforts to reduce fossil-fuel use.

The odds that a politically-charged/forced decision towards a "green" public image being used by a Government agency charged with preservation of both history and the environment to promote a greater agenda would be admitted as such are slim to none, however. They are not--to cite another obvious example of changing fuels in part to satisfy public perception--Xanterra and the Grand Canyon Railway, a private company.

My wife and I (and a certain free-range chicken that "jes' keeps sending more pictures....") went to Golden Spike NHS last week--on a Tuesday, arguably the lightest day of the week for attendance at any venue. Jupiter was said to be down for a boiler wash, but 119 sat there, hot, simmering with apparently Utah-grade coal, for hours, with my never seeing anyone tend to the fire (got there after the noon spectacle if it was held, and left before the loco was put away)............... attendance while we were there may have hit double digits, including Choo-Choo........... but the 119 was under steam, presumably burning another day of flue time.........