Field Trip: Visiting railway sites in Florida

Click on each image for a closer look!

Michael Guy is visiting Florida and shares with us these photos and a video.

On his way down, Michael visited the New Hope Valley Railway in North Carolina. One of their locomotive is a Whitcomb switcher built a few years before our 50 ton CLC Whitcomb #1. It is a few feet shorter than ours but clearly shows the family line.

In the second picture above, we find Chuck Hackett and Steve Muscato of the Largo Central (miniature) Railroad bringing out Chuck's new new automatic microprocessor controlled tamping machine out for a demonstration. Tamping machines are used to tamp down the ballast under railway tracks to provide the frames possible support.

Finally, the Ridge Live Steamers in Dundee, Florida have recently completed a very significant extension to their track. Michael shot the entire route from a seat behind Chuck Hackett's miniature of the Union Pacific 4-8-4 #844. View the video below to enjoy the ride.

Posting by Russ Milland; Images and video by Michael Guy