Being from the east, I can provide some background on the railroads cited in the article.
Genessee & Wyoming Industries operates some *long* freight trains over decent grades in western NY state. They haul unit trains of salt over the Genessee & Wyoming Railroad, which is named for two counties in western NY, as well as on the Rochester & Southern Railroad. Similarly, the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad runs long trains of mixed freight between its namesake cities. Back when I lived in Buffalo, they typically were usually using four SD45s to power trains going south. (The length of those B&P trains were probably 1/2 the length of the *entire* line at the loop.)
For a while, the B&P was part of the route used by the New York, Susquehanna & Western to get their stack trains from Chicago into New Jersey. Those stack trains got a lot of coverage in the railfan press during the 1980s, because they broke Conrail's monopoly on the New York City market.
The Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern consists of two independent stub lines. They used to be one continuous line, but Conrail abandoned the middle segment. The line that I'm more familiar with goes from Utica, NY north, through Boonville, to a terminus whose name I forget. Just before the line enters Boonville, the Adirondack Scenic's line branches off and goes on to Lake Placid. Lake Placid is where the "Miracle on Ice" happened during the 1980 Olympics.
Since it goes through the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, the line between Utica and Lake Placid has grades, but I don't remember how steep they are. During the late 1960s, the New York Central ran some tractive-effort tests on the line, the purpose of which was the compare EMD's GP40, GE's U30B, and Alco's C430 locomotives.
The MA&N also has trackage rights over the former New York Central mainline between Utica and Rome. CSX and Amtrak operate many fast and frequent trains over it, so it's not a line you screw around on.
I suspect that he probably has more steam experience than other posters are giving him credit for. Milwaukee Road #261 operated over the B&P twice (but possibly this happened after he went east to the MA&N) while the New York, Susquehanna & Western's #142 has operated over the MA&N and Adirondack Scenic. #142 used to be based in the NYSW's Utica shop, which is very close --only 5 minutes or so by car, or a couple crossover moves via train-- from the MA&N yard in Utica.
The G&W system used mostly EMD diesels, but the MA&N was all-Alco. I think the MA&N's Alcos are very similar, mechanically at least, to the Alcos that were built for the WP&Y. Does anybody know if any former WP&Y Alcos are available somewhere?
My thoughts? While most posters have been focused on the screwed-up website and flyer the CHS put out, Railstar may have just hired someone that is probably over-qualified for the job.
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Chris Webster
[www.speakeasy.org]