America's Newest Steam Engine

On our way home from Gettysburg we visited the Northern Central Railroad in New Freedom Pa. The Steam Into History organization has a large section of the original tracks of this road. Originally laid as a double track railroad in the 1850's, only one track still exists while the rest of the road bed is used as a bike/walking trail. There is no fence or guard rails between the trains and the bikers. I asked the engineer about this and was told that on rare occasions someone gets close but not normally. Sometimes folks will even race the train. At a 10 mile an hour speed limit, the train seldom wins. The star of this railroad is one of the newest steam locomotives built in the US. The York 17

This locomotive is less than two years old. Built by the Kloke Locomotive Works in Elgin Il., it was their second locomotive. For the train buffs, rail fans, and techies it is an "American 4-4-0" design, oil fired boiler, and weighs in at just 88,000 pounds (a mere 44 tons), a real light weight as locomotives go. The rest of the specs are:

Cylinders	16" x 24"
Driving Wheels	60"
Boiler	50" outside diameter
Boiler Pressure	160 lbs
Flues	156, 2" diameter
Engine & Tender Length	45'
Engine & Tender Weight	88,000 lbs
Tender Tank Capacity	2,000 gallons

To get a closer look at this beauty as it was being built click here http://www.leviathan63.com/projectYork.html

On our visit we took a ride and were both educated, entertained, and met some characters on board.

So why is this such a historic railroad and train????? In 1863 the Civil War was still raging. The Battle of Gettysburg had been fought in this area just a few month earlier. A memorial ceremony was being planned on the Gettysburg battle field to honor those that had given their lives for this cause. President Abraham Lincoln had been invited to say a few words. Amazingly he was not the main speaker, but his words, known as the Gettysburg Address, have lived on in history.
To travel to and from Washington DC to Gettysburg he took a train very similar to this one, and traveled on these same tracks. Unfortunately a short time later Lincoln would again ride these rails, but this time would be to his final resting place in Illinois.

And while you're there, after you stop at the Pizza place for lunch, walk down to the New Freedom Station and visit the Railroad Museum. You won't be sorry.

Grenville