The Occasional Express

Another big donation for the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation was announced today. The RJ Corman Railroad Group, a premier railroad company founded in 1973 by the late RJ Corman, and owner of 14 short lines, according to their website, announced the donation of the RJ Corman's steam locomotive, affectionately called "Old Smokey." Ed Quinn, President and CEO of RJ Corman Railroad Group, released a statement on the company's website to announce the donation.  "Old Smokey" was built in 1986, and is a part of the world famous Chinese QJ class of 2-10-2 "Santa Fe" type, and worked until 2005. 3 QJ steam locomotives were exported to the United States by the Railroad Development Corporation, according to Mr. Quinn's announcement, including Old Smokey. In 2007, the late RJ Corman purchased her for nostalgic reasons, and was quoted as saying "How do you know where you're going if you don't know where you've been?"  The ...

Welcome back to Shunting Ideas Around, the editorial series of The Occasional Express. Today, I want to reflect on what is (arguably) one of the most historic moments in US Rail Preservation in the 21st Century, but... not for good reasons. The ITM's Fall from a well established museum to a state of disarray and in flux (at least in the public's eyes) did not happen over night. This' a topic I've been meaning to cover for a while, but haven't yet (this' actually my third attempt to write an editorial on this topic). The ITM situation is very complicated. Allow me to try and offer my thoughts. (Disclaimer: This article may appear similar to an article published by Trains Magazine , any similarities are unintentional). If you want to, you can go back and read the article The Future of the ITM , but in a quick summary: In 2016 after 7 whistle blower volunteers were fired by the ITM (against ITM's own policy), they lost their track-age rights with the Hoo...