Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad

History

1990-1999

1966 -- 1979
1980's
1990's
2000's
2010's

1991 An Armstrong turntable is constructed from scratch on the railroad property. The frame was a old kiln top, the wheels off a car from Teldyne Corp, The circle of rail for the table to ride on was bend up at the B&W by figuring the circumference out, cutting the rail to length and bending. The turntable made access to the engine house easier and allows the equipment to be turned. The Vulcan was taken for a test run only to discover that the engine needed to be rebuild.
1992 Car #80 came into service this year. This car is classified as a "Boxcar-Dynamite Car Wagon".
The pictures below show the crew building the water tower.
1993 A year of traveling to obtain more cars and locomotives. The first mission was to the other side of Chicago to pick up a diesel electric locomotive built by the late Ed Ducay. In November the crew traveled to Colebrook NH, to dismantle the Mowhawk Valley railroad. This resulted in a gain of two flat cars, a caboose, and a Shay. Other tasks inlcude the completion of the overhaul on Engine #3, building a hand car, and tests on knuckle couplers.
1995 The engine house is expanded again. A 12X55 foot expansion on the side and a 10X45 foot expansion on the end. Now the B&W has a 5-track engine house with some room to work. A 25-ton wheel press is constructed in house. And with the larger work area the B&W is ready for almost any thing. The rebuilding of the Shay from the ground up is started. The railroad took 3-foot arch bar trucks and modified them to 2 foot to be used under the Shay. The only thing reused on the Shay was the boiler and frame.
1997 A grant from the Stackpole Hall Foundation allows the railroad to replace the original engine house with a new 3-track 25X45 building, and build a new 2 track 25X50 building. Three 30”gage Plymouth locomotives were acquired from H&K salvage in Pittsburgh. One was moved into the shops to be rebuilt and regaged to two foot.
1998 A small Teramite backhoe is purchased. The whole crew wonders how we ever survived without one this long. The Teramite proved to be beneficial for our latest endeavor, track expansion. The fall sees Otto being raised into the air to remove the wheels and running gear. Several years of asking and she is finally getting the major rebuild she’s been praying for.
1999 Rebuilding of Otto In the spring of 1999 we started the process of giving our 1939 Henschel Locomotive a major overhaul. This included: (1) Removal of all of the running gear, (2) Wheels were removed and "Turned" and the wear on the crank pins was repaired, (3) Journal Re-Machined, (4) repairs to smoke box, (5) repainting of the engine itself. By the winter of 1999, all of the machine work has been done. In Spring 2000, we are scheduling to have Otto back together and ready for testing. (See photo gallery for pictures)
Acquisition of Ties In October of 1998, a large derailment on the Buffalo and Pittsburgh R.R. occurred at Portland Mills, PA. In April of 1999, the B&W was given permission to acquire any ties with in the area of the derailment. We were able to obtain over 900 ties suitable for relaying, including over 30 new ties. With a good a crew, we were able to do this in one Saturday. Throughout the year, these ties were sorted, cut, and stored. (see photo gallery for pictures)
Hopper Car In the fall of 1999 we started to build a special type of hopper car. We designed this car to be able to dump ballast on the field, middle, or gage side of track. (or any combination). (See photo gallery for pictures)