ABILENE, Kan. — Steam locomotive No. 3415 turned in another weekend of successful operations on the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad. This comes after headlining the railroad’s 30th anniversary during Father’s Day weekend, which followed multiple sidelines to the locomotive due to unforeseen repairs in late May and issues with the injector in early June.
“No. 3415 performed admirably all weekend during four trips,” President and General Manager Ross Boelling said. “When you see the foreman with a relaxed smile at the end of the last weekend run, you know she ran well!”
With the summer season in full steam on the A&SV, the former Santa Fe 4-6-2 is scheduled to operate every weekend until the end of July. Steam-powered trips will resume Labor Day weekend after a month off in August. The locomotive will then be taken out of service at the end of the year for its federally mandated 1,472-day inspection. Routine maintenance and lubrication are scheduled in preparation for the upcoming Fourth of July weekend, according to Boelling.
For more information and tickets, visit the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad website.
Santa Fe 3415 is a preserved class 3400 4-6-2 “Pacific” type steam locomotive built in 1919 by Baldwin for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Retired in 1954, it sat in Eisenhower Park in Abilene, Kansas, until 1996. At that point, it was put on display in the Abilene and Smoky Valley yard. Restoration began in 2005 and was completed in early 2009. No. 3415 was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 16, 2012.
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