Apr 24 2006
Daily Post



HUNDREDS of people lined a North Wales railway line as a special train steamed along the track to commemorate the Queen's 80th birthday.

Restored steam train, 6201 Princess Elizabeth, resplendent in the LMS maroon colour scheme, made a rare visit to the line to Holyhead on Saturday, carrying around 400 rail enthusiasts.

In the days of steam, the 73-year-old locomotive used to haul the Irish Mail and Emerald Isle express trains into the Anglesey port.

She was built at Crewe and named after the seven-year-old Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II.

Waiting for the train to steam over the viaduct at Malltraeth, rail enthusiast John Davis, from Malpas, said: "The class received the nickname 'Lizzie's'"

He added the train was used on express services between London and the North West, and grabbed the headlines in 1936 by running non-stop from London to Glasgow in under six hours.

"That was a record for the time, and to prove it was no fluke, they did it again next day in the reverse direction," said John, 71. After nationalisation in 1948, British Railways renumbered the locomotive 46201.

It was withdrawn in 1962, but preserved and carefully restored. Since then, it has appeared regularly on the main line, hauling special trains.

The locomotive should have been seen in North Wales hauling the Royal Train during the Queen's Golden Jubilee tour, but was out of service for a lengthy overhaul.

For three days, its 226 passengers and crew were cut off as rescuers struggled to dig them out. Help arrived just as hope began to dim.

By Cecilia Rasmussen, Times Staff Writer (LA Times Print Edition)
April 23, 2006



It was late Sunday morning, Jan. 13, 1952, and the Southern Pacific streamliner City of San Francisco was already 22 hours behind schedule. This was wartime; factories in Nevada needed to get munitions to San Francisco and on to Korea. If one train — passenger or freight — got stuck, all were delayed.

The 18-car train bound for Oakland rolled out of Norden, Calif., near Donner Summit, at 11:23 a.m., and into a blizzard. It carried 226 passengers and crew. Winds gusted to 100 mph, whipping the snow into huge drifts. Miles ahead of the train, a snowplow cleared the tracks. But after the plow passed, two snow slides covered the rails again. No one knew. The train reached Yuba Pass about noon and plowed through the first snow slide at 35 mph. But the second slide — 10 to 18 feet high — stopped the train.

Railroad workmen hiked a quarter-mile to a call box to report the incident. Passengers, assured that help had been summoned, settled in to pass the time. Steam generators supplied heat. A card expert gave bridge lessons. A salesman organized a talent show. Dr. Walter Roehll of Middletown, Ohio, took charge and set down rules: no drinking. He needed the gin from the bar to sterilize his only needle.

"We laughed and played games, making bets [on] how long it would take the snow to build up on the outside of the windows," Doris Bugbee Bourgeois, 85, said in a recent phone interview from her home in Folsom. Railroad workers cracked the doors open at the ends of each car for ventilation. Snowdrifts had covered the train.

Railroad historian Robert J. Church describes the incident in "Snowbound Streamliner," published in 2000. Church, a Sacramento dentist who has loved trains since childhood, had heard about the incident decades earlier.

"I was giving a talk at the Sacramento Railroad Museum when an old, stooped-over guy said he was one of the snow pilots who tried to get to that stranded train," Church said in a recent interview. "He kept track of everything in his logbook, which piqued my interest." Church used the log as a source.

Aboard the snowbound train, the jovial mood began to fade early the next day as supplies ran low and the blizzard continued. Water froze in the pipes and toilets backed up. Battery-powered lights ran down. Food was rationed. Steam heat stopped. Soon, there was only darkness. Outside, the blizzard worsened, the wind howled and the temperature hovered near zero. Meanwhile, local residents and skiers at Rainbow and Soda Springs lodges joined with railroad, electric and highway crews to use dog sleds and cross-country skiers to deliver supplies.

Rescuers went without sleep or food, using bulldozers and Sno-Cats around the clock as they tried to clear a road to the train and plow the tracks. Their heroics drew the eyes of the nation via a relatively recent medium: television. Passengers heard a radio broadcast mentioning that a train was stranded "somewhere in the Sierra," Church wrote. "Then the radio went dead."

By early Monday evening, passengers began burning any wood they could find — floorboards, luggage racks and ladders — to keep warm. A morphine addict in severe withdrawal became "somewhat of a problem," Church said. Roehll, the doctor, locked the addict in a compartment. Roehll moved other nervous or hysterical passengers into two Pullman cars heated by portable propane-fueled generators. After midnight, a railroad worker went through the Pullmans to check on the passengers. He walked out on wobbly legs; another worker went to help and realized the passengers were being poisoned by carbon monoxide.

"They got everyone out in the nick of time to breathe fresh air," Church said.

The first casualty came a few hundred yards from the train. A rescuer, Southern Pacific engineer Rolland "Rolly" Raymond, was driving a rotary snowplow on the tracks. He had nearly reached the train when a snow slide buried him. Others saw it happen but couldn't save him; it took days to find his body.

San Francisco Chronicle reporter and future columnist Art Hoppe followed the train tracks four miles on foot to the snowbound train, along with photographer Ken McLaughlin. They had been working on a story about highway crews fighting the winter snows when they heard about the accident.

"When they finally got to the train and inside the baggage car," Church wrote, "Art exclaimed that he could use a stiff drink. 'Why do you think that camera bag is so heavy?' McLaughlin asked, producing a bottle of booze."

After a few nips to warm up, McLaughlin shot photos while Hoppe interviewed passengers. Then they walked five more miles to Nyack Lodge and called the Chronicle with the story late Tuesday afternoon.

Hoppe stayed at the lodge while McLaughlin hiked back to the train to help others. "He did not sleep and went without breakfast to help stretch the meager supplies," Church wrote.

On the train, cold passengers used sheets and curtains as insulation, wrapping their legs and feet. One young woman from Florida was poorly dressed for the cold. Soldiers headed for Alaska gave her warm clothing. That passenger was Bourgeois. "I didn't realize how serious the situation was until the third day," she said.

By early Wednesday, the blizzard had abated but passengers had begun to lose hope. Some recalled the snowbound Donner party, some of whom had, more than a century earlier, resorted to cannibalism.

Yet calm largely prevailed.

"Only once did I see a nervous stir, when an elderly woman suddenly rose in her seat, crying, 'They can't keep us any longer!' " McLaughlin wrote.

Hoppe returned to the train later that morning. He watched as "up and down, up and down, over a thousand-foot path by the tracks, strode 30 Mexican section-men [railroad workers]. They were literally tramping out a rescue path with their feet to the highway."

That afternoon, passengers and workers cheered when the first snowplow arrived, after clearing the road to Nyack Lodge. Nearly all the passengers and crew walked to automobiles waiting to take them to the lodge.

"We were treated like royalty at the lodge, anything we wanted," Bourgeois said. A few hours later, they boarded a train bound for Oakland.

Meanwhile, freight trains continued to back up behind the snowbound train as workers kept trying to dig it out. It was finally freed on Jan. 20, seven days after it was stranded.

That same day, former World War II pilot and Pacific Gas and Electric worker Pershing Jay Gold, 33, died of a heart attack. He had been working nonstop to restore power to residents, repair railroad switches and deliver food to the train. For his "unselfish assistance," Southern Pacific gave his widow a check for $5,000, about $38,000 in today's dollars.

All the rescued passengers received letters from Southern Pacific, thanking them for their "fortitude and cooperation." Female passengers received roses too. "Not a single passenger filed a lawsuit," Church said.

But they didn't try to repeat the adventure. Bourgeois was typical: "The next time I went home to Florida … we went the southwest route through the desert."

East Japan Railway Company is to test-drive the world's first fuel cell-powered train in July this year, the company has announced.

The train will use a hydrogen tank and two fuel cells, generating power via a chemical reaction between the hydrogen and the oxygen. This power will be enough to propel the train along, reaching a top speed of 100 km per hour. The only by-product of the reaction will be water, the company said. This will help to reduce environmental pollution compared to existing electric and diesel trains.

Fuel cell-powered trains will also help to improve the scenery when electric-power lines are dropped from Japan's network of railroads. If this summer's test run is successful, the new train will be put into trial operation in April 2007. The railway company is currently developing a system capable of long-distance travel.

A nostalgic weekend of steam is lined up for Norfolk at the end of April.

Steam trains will haul a special express from Norwich to London Liverpool Street, via Lowestoft, and there will also be a series of shuttle services operating on the Bittern Line from Norwich to Cromer and Sheringham.

In addition another one-day steam tour on board “The Fenman” from Norwich to Lincoln and onwards to Doncaster will also run.

The event, hosted by the King's Lynn-based Railway Touring Company, takes place on April 29, 30 and May 1.

The steam weekend begins with the recreation of “The Easterling”, a classic steam journey from Norwich to London Liverpool Street via the original East Suffolk route on Saturday, April 29, and hauled by a former LNER type B1 4-6-0 61264.

Throughout the 1950s The Easterling ran non-stop from London's Liverpool Street to Beccles before branching off to Lowestoft or Yarmouth, bringing holidaymakers to Norfolk.

Steaming out of Norwich at 8.30am it will call at Reedham (approximately 8.45am), Hadiscoe (8.55am), Lowestoft (9.10-9.20am) and Beccles (9.33am).

Passengers travel on Premier Dining tickets (£149 each) can tuck into a full English breakfast en route and a four-course dinner, silver served at their seats, on the way back.

The train journeys along the East Suffolk line passing the towns of Saxmundham and Woodbridge before joining the mainline at Ipswich.

At Colchester, the B1 Class locomotive takes water before arriving at Liverpool Street at around 12.15pm giving passengers four hours to look around the capital.

At 4.45pm The Easterling departs Liverpool Street for a fast run over Brentwood Bank to Colchester, pausing for water before continuing along the mainline through Diss to Norwich, arriving before 8pm. From Norwich the train continues to Lowestoft.

Nigel Dobbing, managing director of The Railway Touring Company which is a specialist UK and overseas tour operator, said: “Steam travel brings the nostalgia of yesteryear to the present, prompting poignant memories for many and creating new ones for younger passengers”.

The steam shuttles on the Bittern Line on April 30 depart from Norwich at 10.15am, 1pm and 5pm and are hauled by the same locomotive.

Passengers will travel from Norwich to Cromer and Sheringham via Wroxham and North Walsham, before returning to Norwich from Cromer with a Class 31 diesel. Seats for the trip, which takes around two-and-a-half hours, are limited.

The journey to Lincoln and Doncaster on May 1 departs Norwich Station at 8.30am hours and heads to Lincoln via Wymondham, Ely and King's Lynn, with the return diesel hauled.

For more information call the Railway Touring Company on 01553 661500.

Just in from BBC News ...


A spark from a locomotive engine was the cause of a major fire on the North York Moors. It took fire crews about six hours to extinguish the blaze between Pickering and Goathland, which covered seven acres of moorland close to the tracks. The railway line had to be closed so crews could move equipment nearer the fire in a bid to stop it spreading. Manager of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Philip Benham said they did what they could to prevent fires. He praised the firefighters involved for their good humour in dealing with the situation.

"It is a problem that we do experience from time to time," he said. "The locomotives do have devices on them that are designed to minimise and prevent sparks being thrown out and normally this works reasonably well. "But obviously there's always a risk with a steam engine if the conditions are very dry."

Baureihe 23 During WWII the German railway network and the locomotives that ran on it were a prime military target. After the hostilities ended major reconstruction was necessary. Rather than build all new trains it was decided to take current designs and to update them. Efforts focused on reducing maintenance costs and making them more energy efficient. One of the first locomotive types to be designed were the class or baureihe (sometimes called builder’s number) 23 2-6-2 of which there were 105 made. An additional 113 modified models were made for the East German Railways. As a replacement for the famous Prussian P8 and designed for mixed traffic this locomotive would prove to be a workhouse for the post-war Deutsche Bundesbahn. The 2-6-2 axle arrangement was not often used, but here was selected to enable the locomotive to work well in both directions. In the United States, in 1900 the Brooks Locomotive Company created locomotives of this arrangement for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad for use on the Midwestern prairies. The type was thus nicknamed the Prairie in North America. The shape of the locomotive’s tender allowed the engineer to see while going in reverse. Power figures for this locomotive show that it could produce an estimated 1,785 h.p. and travel at a top speed of 68 mph.

Negotiations are ongoing for financial control of one of the best-known names worldwide in model railroading.

London-based investment group Kingsbridge Capital Advisors Limited is seeking to acquire long-time model railroad and toy manufacturer Märklin. According to Dr. Ion Florescu, Kingsbridge’s chief financial officer, it’s a name what still has a lot of clout and profitability, despite slumping revenues the last few years.

“Märklin has about 95 percent brand awareness in Germany,” he said. “That’s higher than Coca-Cola.” He added the name is known over much of the rest of Europe too, and believes there are a lot of other markets ripe for growth, including North America and Asia. Märklin is represented in the U.S. by its subsidiary, Märklin Inc., of New Berlin, Wis.

One point Florescu stresses, however: “We’re not thinking of liquidating. We are not a raider of brands or assets.” He says the investment group thinks there’s profit to be made in a three- to five-year ownership window, a typical term for companies like Kingsbridge.

Florescu characterizes the Göppingen-Germany based Märklin as undermanaged and undermarketed. “Some problems Märklin is facing, we think we can solve,” he says.

The family-owned train and toy manufacturer has undergone a several restructuring efforts over the past decade, cut its workforce and moved much of its production to plants in Sonneberg in the former East Germany, and Hungary, both of which have lower labor costs than in Göppingen. While many of Marklin’s competitors have outsourced production and assembly to Asia, Märklin’s products are still largely still hand-assembled in Germany, accounting for their premium price. However, their high level of quality and collectibility has engendered a fan base unlike any other in the model railroad world.

While some of Märklin’s parts and some products are sourced from Asia, Florescu says Kingsbridge has no intent to move all production offshore. Further, he intimated workforce reductions aren’t in the plans, either. “There’s a certain limit to cost-cutting,” he says.

The keys to making Märklin more profitable are optimization of sourcing, “streamlining some cost elements,” and doing more to realize the value of the brand. These moves will help stabilize the company’s revenue decline and get it back into a pattern of growth, he says.

He adds Märklin is “clearly in a position to expand.” He cites challenges faced by its competitors like the United Kingdom’s Hornby and Austria-based Roco, which have seen increases in material costs and bankruptcy, respectively, in 2005. He also says there are indicators showing the toy market is relatively healthy, despite serious economic problems in Europe and the state of the worldwide economy.

The deal is far from done, though. According to the newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung, Kingsbridge has acquired about 10 million of Märklin’s 55-million Euro debt, and would be open to acquiring the remainder. The firm is also in discussions with the banks that own much of Märklin’s debt. The financial institutions, in Florescu’s words, are “looking for a more aggressive solution” to the company’s management over the last three years. He was also quick to note that Kingsbridge is not proposing a debt-equity swap.

Acquiring the firm itself could prove more challenging, however. Märklin’s equity shares are held by more than 20 members of three different families, and insiders report that a unanimous decision is required before a sale could occur.

While Kingsbridge believes it can increase the company’s revenue, making money for its investors is its primary goal. “It doesn’t make sense making revenue if its not profitable,” Florescu says. – Hal Miller, Editor, Model Retailer