“The 1309 project has been a huge project that’s eating us out of house and home,” Garner told Trains News Wire. “However unfortunate it may be, that’s the gospel truth.”
The price tag now is $1.8 million.
Speaking on local radio station WCBC’s morning talk show on July 26, Garner said, “I’m going to say you will see steam by the end of September, but that hinges on the outcome of these tests.”
Boiler work has been completed, and the next step is a mandatory hydrostatic test in the next two or three weeks.
However, restoration has been set back again after contractors found corrosion pits on the locomotive’s axles. They will have to be turned on a lathe, which means wheel boxes and crank pins will have to be rebuilt as well.
Because of the delay, Western Maryland Scenic and Trains Magazine announced earlier that photo charters scheduled for November have been postponed until 2018.
The railroad purchased No. 1309 from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in the summer of 2014. Garner became superintendent two years later. When asked if he had been superintendent in 2014, would he have bought the locomotive?
“No,” Garner said. No. “1309 is a magnificent locomotive, however I think it is ‘way too much of a locomotive for us. I think I would have restored 734. It’s much more appropriate for us.”
Garner said former Lake Superior & Ishpeming 2-8-0 No. 734, has been “the star of the show” since operations began in 1988. No. 734 was taken out of service in April 2016 for its federally mandated 1,472-day inspection. Restoration will cost $1.2 million.
Garner also said that Western Maryland Scenic has been rebuilding its passenger car fleet to make them comply with Federal Railroad Administration regulations. Six cars have been restored, others are on the repair-in-place track waiting disposition. The railroad received a $250,000-grant from the state of Maryland for passenger car restoration. Garner said car repairs costs range from $300,000 to $600,000.
“WMSR does not have the funds to do heavy rebuilds on passenger cars,” Garner told WCBC. “The days of 14-car trains, 1,000 passengers a train, those days are over for now. We know we can do better, and as time and money permit, we’ll acquire additional equipment and bring more riders to Allegany County.” Cumberland is the county seat of Allegany County.
Garner told News Wire that ridership was up 42 percent from 2016, but slightly less than the number of riders in 2015. Revenue from ticket-buying customers is critical to continued work on No. 1309. Right now trains are carrying 150 to 200 passengers per trip. Total capacity of the train is 350.
“We’re hanging in there, but with the additional costs of restoring the locomotive, insurance costs, and maintenance on equipment,” Garner said. “We have done a boatload of right-of-way maintenance.”
On the talk show, Garner said the railroad is taking the time to make sure the restoration is done right, not something that will have to be re-done later.
“We have done our best to make sure this locomotive is better than new,” Garner said. “This is going to be a huge draw to Allegany County. Our team wants to make sure we put our best foot forward, that we’re representing Allegany County and the state of Maryland to people as far away as Japan and Australia.
“It’s all about making sure we do it the right way, so were going to do it right the first time,” Garner said.
CORRECTION: The radio station’s call letters are WCBC. They were incorrectly reported in an earlier version of this story. Aug. 2, 2017, 9:16 a.m.
Interesting but this seems to be a completely different conclusion than what was published in the 1309 story in the recent “Big Steam is Back” Trains special. That story argued that the 1309 made economic sense because it would be able to pull the trains w/o the diesel helper that the 2-8-0 required on most trips, and do so easily day after day. Also potentially would be easier on the track by spreading the weight among 12 drivers instead of 8. Also, while subjective, the size and uniqueness potentially could draw greater crowds as well as pull in more state money, and possibly even be able to travel outside the WMSR. I’m no expert, and not saying one side is necessarily right or wrong, but at the very least these seem like valid arguments to consider.
Cost overruns are nothing new.Have they contacted the UP in Cheyenne & see how they are getting it done with 4014?Outside help might be needed here
Yes, apropos Mr. Wilson’s comment below, it sounds like the WMSR bit off more than they could chew in terms of the C& O #1309 restoration project. $1.8M probably isn’t a surprise in terms of the cost of this restoration effort and hopefully it will not exceed that amount (?).
Cue Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos for a big contribution?
I mean train running, not training run!!
I recall in the mid or late ’90s Ross Rowland ran the great steam excursions on NJ Transit, with the training running at 90 mph or so – it was amazing. Port Jervis, NY went so far as to restore a turntable to host the train on an ongoing basis, but interest waned and the excursions ended. I hope the same is not true for the museum.
Matt: I totally agree. I thought from the beginning that they were in over their heads.
“‘No,’ he said. No.” Mr. Garner may have just won a fan in me. While it will be epic to have such a huge monstrosity running on a regular schedule, it also may well be the most irresponsible and asinine thing that any tourist railroad ever did…especially one that was already struggling to survive at the outset (remember the time they wanted to pull up the tracks and turn it into a rail trail?!). When I first heard the news of #1309, it wasn’t really “Oh wow, can’t wait to see it.” It was more like “Surely they’re joking. They are biting off far more than they can chew.” The restoration has been incredibly expensive, but I suspect fuel and residual maintenance of the locomotive will also cost far greater than #734…as well as the constant upkeep on the railroad itself so that it doesn’t constantly spread/break the rails. I hope all of these droves of people that they are expecting to show up are able to make the trip…YEAR AFTER YEAR. There’s no question it will be uber-popular at first, but what about in 3-4 years once the “new” wears off? Will enough MORE people than they are currently getting keep coming to pay the extravagant bills in the long term? This is really the kind of thing that only railfans care about, but in this industry (as I’ve pointed out elsewhere in regard to other tourist operations, this is the “entertainment” industry in disguise…NOT the railroad industry!), the focus should be on what the general non-train loving public cares about. All they see is a train. Not a big train, not a little train, not a steam train, not a diesel train. Just a train. My prediction is even after #1309 returns to operating condition, she will most likely be spending a lot of time on siding…especially with the reduced number of passenger cars and lack of need for a big powerful locomotive on top of it all.
I would love to see an article on what goes into rebuilding a steam locomotive from beginning to end and what’s it cost are per item. This locomotive would be perfect for such an article.
I’m grateful for the WMSR decision to buy and rebuild 1309. I look forward to traveling to Cumberland from my home in Atlanta, GA to ride behind this unusual, articulated locomotive and probably would not have traveled that far away to ride behind a Consolidation . Please keep the faith regarding the decision to rebuild and operate a different locomotive. I for one believe the WMSR will be well rewarded for this decision.
USD1.8m for 1309 does not appear to be too far out compared with USD1.2m for overhauling 734. Steam locos eat money and will do so even more in the future as safety authorities have problems getting their collective heads around their operation.
In the end whether it is a new build like “Tornado” or restoring a Nineteenth Century “tea kettle” there is no profit to be made, finance has to be in place with no promise of any return and the job needs to be done for the love of it.
It cost overruns always run you down. I hope that it will be worth it.
Linn Moedinger of the Strasburg Railroad said doing a steam locomotive restoration correctly is “…always going to cost more than you think.” He should know.
And people wonder why trips behind restored steam cost so much…
AMAZON SMILE
No doubt resorting a steam locomotive is a huge task, I think the 1.8 million dollar price tag is actually optimistic. I hope they are successful.
Michael, there are/were two VHS tapes out there that go through steam locomotive rebuilding. One is short, maybe a half hour or so, and shows the Durango and Silverton restoring 482, after the trade with the C&TS for 497. The other program is longer, maybe around two hours, and shows the initial rebuild of the 261. Gary Bensman, who is working on 1309, also was part of that project. Also, a few years back Trains had an article on the costs of a rebuild. Can’t remember what issue it was. The costs they cited were conservative at best. Most projects I know of cost more, some lots more.
Note: In the beginning of operations in the 80’s, the locomotives used were the late Jack Showalter’s CP 4-6-2’s, #1286 and #1238 if I recall correctly. I rode back to the yard with Jack and Sally on a visit one time. The 734 ( originally LS&I 34) was obtained from IRM in a trade, sometime in the 90’s. I have pictures, and what might be an original brochure.