Valley Railroad 3025 is a China Railways SY class steam locomotive that was built in 1989 by the Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works for the Knox and Kane Railroad, where it spent its life until that railroad's demise. It was purchased by the Valley Railroad Company in 2008 and has since been rebuilt as a masquerade of a New Haven J-1 "Mikado" locomotive and re-numbered 3025.[2]

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Valley Railroad 3025
#3025 at Deep River, September 24, 2021.
Type and origin References: [1] Power type Steam Builder Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works Serial number SY1658M Model SY Build date July 1989
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-8-2  • UIC 1’D1’ Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver dia. 53.94 in (1,370 mm) Wheelbase:  • Drivers 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m) Length 70 ft 10 in (21.59 m) Adhesive weight 154,323 lb (70,000 kg; 70.00 t) Loco weight 194,007 lb (88,000 kg; 88.00 t) Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 20,000 lb (9,072 kg; 9.072 t) Water cap. 6,600 US gal (25,000 l; 5,500 imp gal) Firebox:  • Firegrate area 49.514 sq ft (4.6000 m2) Boiler pressure 198.7 lbf/in2 (1.37 MPa) Heating surface 2,312 sq ft (214.8 m2)  • Tubes and flues 1,851 sq ft (172.0 m2)  • Firebox 187.2 sq ft (17.39 m2) Superheater: ​  • Heating area 461 sq ft (42.8 m2) Cylinders Two Cylinder size 20.87 in × 27.95 in (530 mm × 710 mm) Valve gear Walschaerts
Performance figures Maximum speed 50 mph (80.47 km/h) Tractive effort 38,147 lbf (169.7 kN) Factor of adh. 4.05
Career Operators Knox and Kane Railroad, Connecticut Valley Railroad Class SY Numbers KKRR 1658 KKRR 58 NH 3025 CVRR 3025 Retired 2006 Restored November 25, 2011 Current owner Connecticut Valley Railroad Disposition Operational, based in Essex, Connecticut

History

Knox and Kane Railroad 1658, as it was then known, was one of three China Railways SY class steam locomotives that were built by the Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works in 1989 exclusively for tourist operations in the United States. Sloan Cornel, the founder of the Knox and Kane Railroad, purchased the locomotive at an undisclosed cost, and it arrived in Pennsylvania in the beginning of 1990.[2]

The locomotive ran for the Knox and Kane between 1990 and spring of 2006, when the railroad ceased all operations.[2] In storage in an engine house in Kane, locomotive 58 and other rolling stock was subjected to an early morning arson attack on March 16, 2008. The locomotive was severely damaged, more so than its housemate, the 2-8-0 No. 38, which had thicker boiler skin. Its cab was lined with wood, which was completely destroyed.

On October 10, the locomotive was purchased at a liquidation auction by the Valley Railroad.[3] The new owners planned to restore the locomotive to operating condition, and simultaneously transform its appearance to that of a New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad locomotive, to be numbered 3025.[4] Restoration was completed in 2011, and the locomotive entered revenue service on November 25, 2011, pulling the North Pole Express. It has since become one of the railroad's regular road locomotives, and took locomotive No. 40's title as the railroad's largest locomotive.[2]

Gallery

• 
  Valley Railroad 3025 operating as Knox and Kane No. 58 in July 1990
• 
  No. 3025 being parked near the Kinzua Bridge as Knox and Kane No. 58 in October 2001
• 
  3025 operating on the Connecticut Valley Railroad in 2011, after being restored.
• 
  Firebox doors of 3025
• 
  3025 at Goodspeed Station during the Lee Carlson Memorial Photo Charter on April 24, 2021.
• 
  3025 at Tate’s Cut in Deep River on September 24, 2021
• 
  VALE 3025 about to depart from Essex on December 17th, 2021

References