Strasburg has become familiar territory, but the Yellow Book contract has come to an end and it's anybody's guess if I'll ever get to the States again, and if so, whether Strasburg would be on my itinerary. So goodbye Strasburg, both the railway and the Rail Road Museum.

Nothing much has changed with the Museum stock over the last 5 years. There's been the odd addition and occasional disappearance as exhibits have been returned and loaned out. Overall there seem to be more engines stored outside than there used to be, I'm not sure if that's wishful thinking or because they move the stock around regularly to stop it seizing up or even new exhibits being added to the collection. The building (which is pretty modern anyway) is getting a brand new foyer and last time I was there - November 2006 - there was a lot of building work going on. I did learn that comings and goings normally take place by road despite the proximity of Amtrak at Paradise. God knows why.

The Strasburg Railroad seems much the same, and appears to be doing fairly well. Since my first visit and my comments about not being able to see the workshops and engine sheds, I've found that they do a 'workshop tour' at 12:00 each day. There's an awful lot more going on than appeared at first sight. The workshops are quite large and equipped to carry out the maintenance and rebuild of all but the largest jobs (and by American standards, the largest jobs are huge). They seem to certified for the production of steam boilers - something that only a very few preservation groups have. They recently got a contract to build 7 new 'Thomas the Tank Engines'. A bit of a cheat really, as they don't have boilers or any steam running gear, they're designed to be pushed. On the other hand, they look reasonably authentic and not like some other American attempts at building a 'Thomas' I've seen.

Over the years a number of different engines have been in steam but numbers 475 and 31 always seem to be around. Several engines have been through the shops, usually nothing major but if it's East Coast and steam troubles then it's usually Strasburg that fixes it. Re-tubing seems to be a speciality (not too much trouble as most Baldwin goods engines don't have superheaters).

Another area where the Strasburg works stand out is their approach to their carriage stock. Most of it is original and much is from the now defunct Reading Railroad. Most cars are rebuilds and no expense is spared. When they rebuild a car, they use the original materials unless better authentic materials are available, so the yard is stocked with copious quantities of cedar and teak. They reckon to get a minimum of 50 years life out of a rebuild, and with careful maintenance, maybe a hundred.

So farewell Strasburg. I don't suppose I'll get to visit again. You've always welcomed me when I've had a spare weekend working for Pindar/Yellow Book. Look after the engines the way you do at present and you'll still be running a hundred years from now. Good luck

Created: 01/02/07