CUMBERLAND, Md. — Western Maryland Scenic Railroad has launched a fundraising campaign to return both its steam locomotives — 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 and 2-8-0 No. 734 — to operation, with No. 1309 newly sidelined after the discovery it needs its pistons and rods replaced.
The former Cheaspeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 has been the heritage railroad’s steam power for the last two years after a multi-year, $1 million-plus rebuild at Western Maryland Scenic’s Ridgeley, W.Va., shops. The pistons were not part of that rebuild, but the railroad says it discovered that replacement was needed during operation in December. “Although this was already in the works, the timeframe has become sooner than expected,” the railroad says on the donation page on its website.
Compound Mallet No. 1309 was one of 10 identical Class H-6 locomotives ordered by the C&O in 1948 and delivered by Baldwin in 1949. They were the last Mallets produced by that builder. Though this was very late in the steam era, C&O was looking for quick, relatively inexpensive replacements for their aging articulated locomotives serving the southern West Virginia coalfields out of the Peach Creek Yard in the Logan district. After less than 10 years of service, C&O retired No. 1309 in 1957 and donated the locomotive to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore. Western Maryland Scenic purchased the locomotive in 2014.
No. 734 had previously been sidelined for its 1,472-day inspection and complete rebuild. The locomotive began life as Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad No. 34, one of three burly Class SC-1 Consolidations delivered by Baldwin in 1916. LS&I retired its steam locomotives in 1963,and sold all three SC-1s to Marquette & Huron Mountain Railroad, which operated them in tourist service until 1987. It was then sold to the Illinois Railroad Museum, which sold the locomotive to Western Maryland Scenic in 1991. There, it was restored to resemble a Western Maryland Class H Consolidation. It emerged from its rebuild in 1993 with the No. 734, matching an older-design Western Maryland Railway Class H-7 locomotive, while the huge 12-wheel tender (from a New York Central Railroad “Mohawk” 4-8-2, purchased from CSX after serving in work-train service) and piston-valve cylinders more closely resembled the Western Maryland Class H-9 consolidations. Many consider the H-9 locomotives the very apex of 2-8-0 development.
More information on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is available at its website.
The WMSR really missed the boat on leasing the 611. It would’ve been perfect for them, if for nothing else then as a backup.
Sadly by the time they got their act together enough to take them seriously I think it was headed to Virginia.
The obvious question is: what’s the condition of the pistons on the 1308? I’m guessing the answer: about the same/not worth the transplant, we’ll be back in the same spot in two more years.