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McCloud River Railroad : Passenger Operations: Excursion Photos
Steam Locomotive #18: Memorial Day 2001 |
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Despite many anticipations of double headed steam excursions with the #18 and #25, the President's Day event in 2001 proved to be a one shot event as the newly restored #18 powered all steam excursions during its remaining stay on the railroad. The railroad had the #18 hot again for Memorial Day weekend 2001 with several trips planned, including an all day run to Burney and returen on Saturday, 26 May. The outbound trip proceeded without a hitch, but immediately after turning the train on the Berry wye a drop plug in the firebox failed. Fortunately for everybody the boiler did not subsequently explode, but all the water in the boiler turned instantly to steam and existed out the firebox. The railroad had to drive the engineer back to McCLoud to get one of the diesels, which arrived near dusk for an extremely late diesel powered trip back to McCloud, arriving well after dark. The railroad bought pizzas and did what it could to keep the passengers entertained while waiting for the diesel to arrive. The shop crews borrowed a plug from the #25 and had the #18 back in operation to haul a special run of the dinner train the next day. All photos by Roger Titus. |
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Steam escaping from the cab.
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