Corry Rail & Industrial Legacy Society & Museum
Well I left these two in Alaska. My job was to document only part of the trip. This was in Nome and Council.
We interviewed, photographed, filmed, explored, picked on each other, and they even shared a bed!
Carl and Norm are doing amazing things in Alaska for the history of Corry, Pa. They have worked hard, skipped meals, hiked, visited, and figured out things no one knew. True discovery.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN….
Friends and Followers of Corry RAILS…. a short update to let everyone know what’s going on… Well, last year, along with getting the Climax A re-packed and shipped home to Corry, our plans had been to stay in Alaska a bit longer and to do research on the Climax… So… that couldn’t, and didn’t, happen because of Covid… we got the main objective done… the little Engine made it home!!! AND NOW….. we are back in Alaska to work on the research end of the project.
Norm Thomas and I (Carl W) arrived in Alaska early in the week and have been on the road… One of our first stops was at our sister project, the 557 Restoration Project in Wasilla, for a short visit with Pat Durand and the boys…. WOW!!! is that project looking great! They have it all jacked up to soon be rolling the Wheel Sets under her… the stainless steel snake-pit under the cab is nearly done…. and preparation is taking place for the front work deck for when the new tubes get installed… what a magnificent piece of work…. my hat is off to Pat, the 557 Board and the entire volunteer crew as well as all the vendors to the 557. If you get the chance go to their website and check it out… You will find them at http://557.alaskarails.org/ .
Then it was off to Fairbanks for a few days of research in the University archives and to sneak in a short visit to the Tanana Valley RR. As usual in Alaska, we have met some incredibly friendly and helpful people. Along the way we have made contact with some diverse and unique collections, and spent some time getting to know some of the people and characters involved… invaluable future research sources. We will most certainly continue to build on many of these relationships.
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.
This Summer is moving along way too fast for me. Everyone is busy with postponed activities from the “2020 Covid Year”, so it is difficult scheduling some of our initial baby-steps in moving the A-313 Project forward… but, yet, some of those steps are beginning to take place.
Over this last month, following our successful Open-House “MAY’n” Event, a couple of key steps have taken place. First and foremost, after moving all of the equipment and parts away from one of the walls in our building, the folks from RIDG-U-RAK in North East, PA showed up with a wonderful donation of new racking for our Climax A-313 Project and future endeavors…. a HUGE THANKYOU to “Mr. P” and the RIDG-U-RAK family for their contribution to our project, and their belief in our mission…Thank You!!!.
Another local business has donated a triple-mast Forklift which is now in the mechanic’s shop having some rebuild work and repairs done to it before it moves to its new home at the Corry RAILS Restoration Shop.
Yet another local family has donated a trailer to us which is now getting new decking installed on it. The trailer will come in handy for moving some of the parts around, especially the Boiler, when the time comes.
Last week, one of our Team members, Bill Simonton, made the trek to Corry from his home in Virginia to begin working on CAD drawings of the Main Frame components and to help research and reverse engineer the “How’s and Why’s” of the original build of Climax A-313 back in 1902. Very little exists today as to original engineering for these little engines, so it is important and up to us to figure it out… What was the thought process? What steps were Standard… and which were Optional, or Modifications to Standard? Why did they do it this way and not that way? Things that are pretty rudimentary and look so simple, often times are not. It is yet another learning process.
Once the Frame drawings are done we will have the foundation to build on… and, over time everything else will then begin to fall into place. I met Bill several years ago when we were both members of and volunteering with the Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical Association (MSR&LHA) on their 14 year rebuild project of the Climax No.9 (Shop Number 1551), a 70ton Class C locomotive, at Cass Scenic Railroad in Cass, West “By God” Virginia. Not only did Bill assist with all of the manual labor going into the project, but he took it upon himself to work on, create and produce, a beautiful set of Plan, Elevation and 3-D CAD drawings of the C-1551. We are happy to have Bill on the Team. In the near future we will have Prints of those drawings of the Climax C-1551 for sale, and at some point we will also have similar Prints of our A-313 to sell as well.
This week we had a visitor from Alaska join us for a day or two… Gene Augustine was in town… one of our Alaska Rescue Team members, and long-time volunteer at our Sister Restoration Group, the “557 Restoration Company” in Wasilla, AK. Gene helped us for several days when we were in Alaska last Fall with the repacking of the A-313. A native of Pennsylvania, Gene is originally from Natrona Heights, PA, just north of Pittsburgh. A Biologist by trade, he ended up in Alaska. Gene was back in the area for a surprise 50th Anniversary party for his sister and took the opportunity to come to Corry for a couple of days to catch up on RR stuff with Tom V. and myself, checking out the progress on A-313 and our Shop and visiting the Climax B-1681 in the Corry Museum, as well as visiting with a local college classmate of his, Dr. Karl Streilein. That’s it for right now…. toot-toot… backing out of the station. Carl W.
We are a few steps (and lifts) closer to the work of restoring the Climax A313 Locomotive.
Since its return to Corry last fall, the A313 has been patiently resting in the container that brought it back from Alaska. Travel by ship and truck proved to have maintained the integrity of the many pieces and parts that were lovingly packed by our team. (You can see the story of the trip to Alaska to prepare shipment in earlier posts and on the RAILS Facebook page, and a video can be seen here)
On March 27, 2021, members of the Corry RAILS Board and some friends and consulting experts gathered at the Restoration Building to bring the A313 out of storage. We were glad to see that all had made the trip well. In about 6 hours, the fully packed shipping container was empty and the building was brimming with pieces, parts and anticipation.
RAILS thanks those who were able to help. We will certainly be needing more assistance in the future…. knowledge…planning…mechanical and technical skills…physical work and financial support.
Carl (kneeling) Connie, Grady, Steve, Rob, Norm, Ron, Tom (behind the boiler)
Currently, we are planning for a welcome home event to be held in mid May. There will be various vendors and groups participating and a chance to check out pieces of history from 1902 Corry and Climax Manufacturing. We hope you will plan to join us. More information will be available here and on the Facebook page when things are finalized.
In the meantime, here is a short video of the March 27th unloading.
WELCOME to “Rescue Team 313” and Hello to all Friends and Fans of Corry RAILS, Climax, and Geared & Articulated Steam Locomotives.
It has been 4 months since Climax A-313 arrived back home in Corry, Pa. and our Videographer, Donnie Rosie and his team, have been busy working on a short video of the rescue trip and Climax A-313’s return to Corry after 118 years in Alaska.
Three years to the month from the Corry RAILS group making the decision to pursue bringing the last complete Climax “A” home, and to complete its restoration, the Rescue Team left for the “Land of the Midnight Sun” (the third trip to Alaska by Corry RAILS) to finalize the purchase, reload and ship A-313 on her 4000 mile journey back to her birthplace and new home in Corry.
The Team left Corry on August 23rd, 2020, and arrived back home on September 2nd – Mission Accomplished!! On October 16th, 2020 the Container bearing all the parts arrived at our new Corry RAILS Restoration Shop in Corry.
On our 2020 trip, we had originally planned to spend time doing more research, taping interviews, and shooting footage for our planned two-part Documentary on Climax A-313, however COVID restrictions prevented most of that from happening. Our plans are still moving forward for this Documentary and we are hopeful that a fourth trip to Alaska will occur later in 2021 as the A-313 Project moves fully into Phase II.
Here is a short 15-minute video of our trip and the arrival home in Corry, Pa. Please enjoy the film… Your comments and questions are always appreciated. Stay tuned for more updates as they happen… liking the Facebook page will assure you of getting notices of future postings.
Hi all…. the next to the last magic hour of Phase I has happened….
About 5:15 this afternoon A-313 entered Pennsylvania under the guidance of Howard Blystone, driver for Barnhart Transportation…
There were some issues at the beginning… I was told that the Container was a “Standard” Container…. it is a “Hi-Cube” Container… so the trailer should have been a drop-deck trailer… so they ended up having to get “over-height” Permits for each state… some of them he had to take some back roads to avoid bridges. The truck was loaded Tuesday afternoon and that is when the height problem was discovered… some older tractors may have been able to lower the airbags and lower the height by the 4″ necessary… not the newer rig… Barnhart got all of the paperwork done for the permits on Wednesday, but Howard looked at his logbook and if he had left right then he would have been limited to 7 or 8 hours a day… by waiting till Thursday morning he started into a new cycle, not being so limited.
So he left Thursday morning… that evening he was in Bozeman, MT. By Saturday night he was in Gary, Indiana. He was on the road at 6 this morning but couldn’t go on either the Indiana or Ohio Turnpikes and finally got on I-271 down by Lodi, Ohio about 3:30 this afternoon.
Bottom line is that the Container is now in Barnhart’s yard… and yes, there are Permit fees we will be picking up… and maybe some driver time as well. So… now we begin coordinating Barnhart and Rog’s and a NON-RAIN day… probably this week… maybe next… for getting it put into the Restoration Shop. I think I sent a note out that Rog’s Crane Service is donating the lift-off and placement… another Seabee contact comes through.
Carl
The Climax A-313 Rescue and Restoration by Corry RAILS (Railroad and Industrial Legacy Society) is in the news. You can read the article here: https://www.goerie.com/news/20200912/climax-steam-locomotive-is-on-its-way-home-to-corry?fbclid=IwAR2u_1gRXji5Y-sgMBvf469QEe-iNWe7ZhcIYquTzlj0YBp-3-PSv55Nswk
A-313 is now off-loaded in Seattle… She was last in Seattle… ummmmm… Nov. 1979, almost 41 years ago. Here’s how she looked back then…
The A313 has spent a lot of its life waiting…and there will be a bit more waiting in Seattle. A truck from Barnhart Transportation (North East PA) will be picking up the locomotive’s shipping container to make the overland trip. We aren’t exactly sure when that will happen, but we will be sure to let everyone know.
