RNRH Newsletter - Roanoke Chapter NRHS

Southern Appalachia Railway Museum a fewmonths back acquired former SR E8A #6913. The locomotive was purchased from aprivate collector up in Binghamton, N.Y. Themuseum hopes to restore the unit to operatingcondition. Restoration will include thereplacement of all glass and some body panels,small engine parts, and copper itemsthat have been stolen. A great deal of theelectrical wiring will need to be restored too.The color scheme of green, cream and goldwill be returned. 6913 was built and deliveredto the Southern in December 1953. Ithelped the Southern serve the South for 26years before it was sold to New JerseyTransit.Another E8A that has been brought backto the spotlight is Erie Railroad No. 833. Thelocomotive was purchased from BennettLevin's Juniata Terminal by the New York &Greenwood Lake Railway, a shortline. Thisunit was built in 1951. Restoration was performedby Star Trak Inc. The locomotive wasrepainted into its original Erie passengerscheme at the shop of the Black River &Western Railroad shop in Ringoes.Earlier this year I informed you readersthat July 1, 2007 would mark forty yearssince the Atlantic Coast Line and theSeaboard Air Line merged to form theSeaboard Coast Line Railroad. To commemoratethat forty-year event, the ACL-SALHistorical Society held a four day conferencethat included tours, talks, slide presentationsand a banquet from Thursday June 28thru Sunday July 1.For me and nine other guys, the conferencestarted in the cold of January as wewere the planning committee. Our effortspaid off as compliments rolled off thetongues of attendees by the carload. Theweather cooperated, and everything wentprecisely as planned. We had a total of 103attend the banquet which featured TRAINSmagazine columnist Don Phillips andWilliam E. Griffin, Jr., a former RF&Pemployee and the author for a number ofquality railroad books of railroads that haveserved Virginia and the South. Mr. Griffinpresented a slide show entitled "TheSeaboard Air Line from Richmond toNorlina." Now for those of you trying to figureout where the heck is Norlina, here isyour answer. Norlina is located in TheTarheel State about 68 miles southwest oftoday's CSX Collier Yard at Petersburg. Alongwith the offerings of the conference, it waslike a church homecoming and schoolreunion combined as people, both railroaders,and railfans, some who have not beenseen or around in years could come togetherand socialize in memories of the past.Just over a month later up in Altoona, PA Iattended the 2007 Altoona Railfest. Thisevent was normally held during the firstweekend of October. In order to operateexcursion trains from Altoona west toGallitzin, Norfolk Southern selected July astheir less busy month in terms of freighttraffic. The miners were on vacation so Iwas told as very few loaded, or empty coaltrains were observed during my three-dayvisit.Railfest 2007 was kicked off with threebands and a surprisingly good fireworksshow Friday night July 6th at TheRailroaders Memorial Museum. Of course,the main feature for me and hundreds offans were the three round-trip excursiontrains to Gallitzin and back Saturday andSunday. Featured motive power wereBennett Levin's twin E8As painted in PRRtuscan red paint scheme pulling a 12 cartrain consisting of some vintage passengercars, some MARC commuter cars, and a fewAmtrak Amfleets. I rode the first runSaturday morning and photographed theremaining runs at various locations. The3