Well, this year the folks in Cumberland have decided to limit the fest to one day, and it will be July 12. I think they expect to make a little more money by making it one day. There was talk of canceling, but that didn't happen, thank goodness.
The good thing about this is that many folks could check out Cumberland on the 12th, then go out to Altoona on the 13th. I don't know why the folks at Cumberland schedule their fest every year the same time as Altoona. I think it hurts 'em a little.
We will have an antique car display, and as usual, the locomotive pull. This year, Mary Jacobson, at 53yrs of age, and still a woman's strength competitor, and a cancer survivor will attempt to pull 734 alone (Hope she does it!)

For more info, go to www.canalplace.org

Ed

I, too, think that scheduling the Cumberland and Altoona Railfests for the same weekend hurts both, although I think that with the appeal of the Curve excursions, Cumberland probably gets hurt a little more.

Andy

We have been to Cumberland in the past years and had a great time! We will see you there this weekend!!

...keep the rails polished...

Brian Tusin and I were there on July 5th. (8) cars and a helper. Slight delay for a small gasket in the brake controller on 734 but a beautiful day for all. Lots of people.

quote:

Originally posted by NCT: ...keep the rails polished...

Yes, that's the way Ed starts each morning in Cumberland. Down at the depot by sunrise every morning with a can of Brasso and toothbrush in hand !!!

We got home Sunday morning after a great time in Cumberland. We ran into Farmer Bill and his wife Saturday afternoon Did anyone else go?

...keep the rails polished...

I did. Got there about 8:30 AM. The antique cars were arriving, the local O Gaugers setting up shop, I wandered around and got up to the train pull area.
Took a few photos, Miss Maryland was there, lovely young woman.
After the train pull, I walked down to ground level, the fella that brought the glider was telling another man about gliding, and how much he liked it.
Turned out the man the glider owner was talking to was a pro photographer. He had
a Nikon, I noticed, but what got my attention was that he was using a hand strap (more like a device) so that your DSLR is never dangling on a long shoulder strap. Always wanted one of those. He was amazed that I did not notice the camera was a nice, new D3! Sure was fun talking to him.
After that, and checking out the various food providers, I made the trip over to the now completed model train exhibit. There were reps from MTH there, Rich Foster being one of them. Busy fella, that Rich. Answered my questions, though. I bugged his sidekick (sorry, forgot the name) about why not enough B&O steam, namely a Q4 Mikado with Vandy tender, and a Railking scale sized model of "Old Maude", the B&O's first Mallet, an 0-6-6-0. And how desperate our road needed a Mallet, that particular one, to be exact. We also stated it needed to have an operating coupler on the front, so we can doublehead one of our switchers with it.
The boys had one of the new SW1 switchers, a Western Maryland Russian Decapod, and a very good looking large scale J3a Hudson (wow, this baby captures the handsome look of the J3a's, puts lust in your heart)
Had some HO stuff, too, the Espee 4449, K4 and the Triplex.

I think we made so many images this weekend, it's gonna take a few days to process all the stuff.

Anyway, after spending a fairly long time at the O Gauge exhibit, I went up trackside to talk to some of my WMSRR friends who were running the locomotive and caboose rides. Chatted with them awhile, talked a length about Western Maryland 25's restoration. Can't wait, she's gonna be nifty.

After they left for the short ride, I met Pat Stakem, who has authored some interesting paperbacks about railroading and mining in the area, mostly some good stuff about the Western Maryland.
Pat has a part interest in the 25, and says she's in good operating condition, as it was a working locomotive before coming up here to Cumberland.

Any way, all in all good time. No rain, nice and clear, but when I left at 3:30, it was a little over 90 degrees.

Sorry I did not meet any of the OGR gang.

Ed

My wife & I took a cab ride in that WM diesel of which Ed has taken so many wonderful pictures. The engineer looked to be about sixteen & then we were really shocked to hear he normally runs Amtrak trains from Pittsburg and has been doing it for eight years already.

It was nice to see Watson and Laura, and we were hoping to catch up with some other folks. We also enjoyed several vintage Studebakers, among others, in the parking lot in front of the beautifully restored station. It really was too hot to do much walking though we did manage to cover a couple of miles in city streets and around the canal area. My wife commented that there sure are a lot of law offices and not enough interesting places to eat or drink. For such a large gathering going on, hardly anything was open along the pedestrian mall.

Here's 734 Nicely decorated for the train pull:

Still working on the rest of the photos, and do a little work on the roof of my house. Not supposed to get any rain for three or four days, something unusual for us this year!

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by Ed Mullan:
Here's 734 Nicely decorated for the train pull.

Ed - How functional were those two new appliances mounted on the front end of 734 above ???

Well, Lights, they lit the place up a little..and as you can see they are practicing the Miss America wave! They are very nice kids, and I enjoyed chatting with them both. The young gal on the right is Miss Allegany Teen, and will be in her junior year at a local high school this coming year.


Ed