Re: Omaha Zoo Railroad.

119 after a good powerwashing. Sadly, she only gets this clean about 3x a year. She changed alot since Crown Metal built her in 68. She tops out at 200 psi, but if you start at the bottom of the grade that steam gauge goes down real quick. She steams well when the fuel filter is clean, and like any great lady she will tell you when she is happy. You always find out real quick when she is not in the mood.

Here is the 0-6-2T Austrian built by Kraus in 1890. She tops out at 175 psi and has pistons the size of trash cans Henry says. Everyone at the zoo calls here the Austrian. I call her the Arnold after that other Austrian, mainly because the shop foreman once told me "This engine gets around the zoo on shear brute force and ignorance alone". I figured the name Arnold was very appropriate after that. She runs well, even low on steam she will still make it up the hill thanks to those pistons. The Austrian has changed hands so many times we are still working on her history, shes been owned by the Italians, Austrians, Germans, Soviets, Romanians. Originally built for coal both engines now burn diesel sprayed via the usual oil fuel system.

The other engine is our 1954-65 Plymouth switcher. She was used at a tie plant in Missouri until the 80s I was told and then sold to a private owner who painted her blue and put a big plastic face on the front and named her Vergie after his wife. I can honestly say that face scared children. Luckily we started converting into something a bit more useful looking. The faux Chinese Red scheme and C&NW horns on the roof really made her a new engine. Sadly, we have still never gotten her to work reliably. By the time she runs right almost everything on her will have been replaced.

Me in the engineers seat. After 6 years that seat is really the most comfortable place for me anymore. You can see the controls which are pretty standard for a Crown Product. Kevin Bush told me last year he's pretty sure the throttle is a blow down valve off of a larger engine. I'd have to agree.

Me firing the 119 last year. As you can see at least with the hat I look a little period. I've been wearing that hat since college which was 2005 so its been run through the ringer working on this railroad. I was luckily able to find a new one to wear a couple weeks ago.