The Summer is still moving way too fast. Bill Simonton continues working on the frame drawings.
In the past month we have had several more visitors. On July 10th Robert and Carol Murdock stopped by. They were up in Corry from down in Virginia. Carol is a GGGranddaughter of Charles Darwin Scott and they were in town to see our Climax A-313 project as well as to check out the Class B, Sn. 1681 at the local Museum and paying respects at Scott’s gravesite at the cemetery in Spartansburg. It was good meeting them and they left us with a very nice donation.
On the 15th Bob Casler, the son of Walt Casler, the premier authority on the Climax Locomotive (1905-1997), paid us a visit for a couple of hours to take a look at Project A-313. Bob and Elaine are in the process of moving west and out of the ice-belt and brought by a few items to donate to Corry RAILS. It was good seeing Bob again and a big thank you for the nice donations.
Yesterday, on the 20th, we had a surprise guest Elaine Bens came by for a couple of hours. Elaine’s family is originally from the Western New York area and she was here visiting her Brother Phil from up in Gerry, NY. Currently, Elaine is on vacation from Roaring Camp in Felton, California… near Santa Cruz…. where she is Director of Operations for the railroad based theme park located in the coastal redwoods. Check them out at www.roaringcamp.com . Roaring Camp is back open and operating following the Covid shut downs and feature their Heisler “Sonora” and their Shay “Dixiana”, along with some other locomotives. They also have a Climax B which was purchased back in 1972 from Carroll Park & Western Railway in Bloomsburg, PA where it ran in the Carroll Park theme park. originally Sn. 1692 ran in West Virginia at the Elk River Coal & Lumber Co… then the Clinchfield Coal Co. until 1958. The engine was partially disassembled to convert it to 36″ gauge back in the ’70s and is still apart… although a new non-profit has recently been formed to resurrect the restoration efforts. Arrangements were made for her to be able to visit the Corry Historical Society and view Climax 1681 also a Class B engine. It was nice meeting Elaine.
Things are getting finalized for a return trip to Alaska to do some more research on A-313… search for some more parts and to work on our interviews and “B” roll for our future documentary. More on that later.