New Hope Railroad No. 40

New Hope & Ivyland Railroad No. 40 is a 10-34-E class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type coal-fired steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA on December 2, 1925 for the Lancaster & Chester Railroad in Lancaster, SC. In 1947, it was sold to the 3.7 mile shortline, the Cliffside Railroad Company, in Southwestern North Carolina. After retirement in 1962, it was sold to Steam Trains Incorporated, which was later known as the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad, and later, the New Hope Railroad. As of today, it continues to operate excursion trains at the New Hope Railroad in New Hope, PA.
==History==
New Hope & Ivyland Railroad No. 40 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA on December 2, 1925 as a 10-34-E class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type, originally for the Lancaster & Chester Railroad in Lancaster, SC. During its career on the Lancaster & Chester, it was primarily used to pull textile trains. In 1947, it was retired and sold to the 3.7 mile shortline, the Cliffside Railroad Company, in Southwestern North Carolina were it was rebuild and used to pull textile trains, waste product trains, and scrap metal trains. Despite it being refurbished by the Cliffside, it made its final run on July 20, 1962 was officially retired from regular service once again.
After its retirement, it was sold to Steam Trains Incorporated, a company aimed at preserving railroading history by the use of steam locomotives and vintage passenger cars. At first, the company planned to use the former Reading Company branchline between Bridgeport, NJ and East Falls, PA. However, the Reading, which would later be succeeded by Conrail, and later, Norfolk Southern, had other services for that line. Fortunately, the Reading had another branchline that they haven't used since 1954, which is a branchline running from the electrified Warminster Station in Warminster, PA to New Hope, PA, also known as the New Hope Branch. Steam Trains Incorporated settled their company HQ in New Hope, PA, renaming their company to the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad, and the Reading sent the locomotive to the Reading Shops in St. Clair, PA along with a retired set of 1920s-style steel passenger cars that they haven't used in several years, as well as a former Canadian National 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" type steam locomotive, No. 1533. This was the first time the locomotive had been back in the Philadelphia area since being built by Baldwin in 1925.
The locomotive was restored to operating condition by July 1966 and, alongside 1533, began operated excursion trains on the line on August 6, 1966. Unfortunately, it wasn't that popular with New Hope & Ivyland crews at the time. It was sidelined as a backup locomotive as 1533 was found to be much easier to operate compared to 40. By the summer of 1967, it saw limited service when 1533 was taken out of service for repairs. Also, the railroad's third steamer, former U.S. Army Transportation Corps 0-6-0 "Switcher" type No. 9 (which is now restored back to operating condition by the SMS Rail Lines in Bridgeport, NJ), was also sidelined at the time. In 1974, it was rebuilt by the New Hope & Ivyland's new owners, the McHugh Brothers, and eventually returned to service on October 18, 1974. The McHugh Brothers service was the freight carrier for the New Hope & Ivyland at the time, having an interesting collection of Baldwin and ALCO-built diesel locomotives. In the late 1970s, in addition to the locomotive being taken out of service temporarily for repairs, the New Hope & Ivyland's passenger operations would be taken over by the newly-formed New Hope Railroad. From 1981 to 1986, it was the New Hope Railroad's main steam-powered workhorse, pulling a majority of trains, even officially replacing 1533, which was in need of a major overhaul, but the railroad never had the funds. Unfortunately, when the group leadership changed in 1986, it was once again taken out of service for repairs, while various diesel engines took its place hauling excursion trains for the next four years.
In 1990, the New Hope Railroad came under new ownership and the locomotive was restored back to operating condition by shop forces from the Strasburg Railroad in Strasburg, PA, officially returning to operation in June 1991. It has since become the only operational steamer on the New Hope Railroad, as well as the icon of New Hope, PA. It would later have to be taken out of service temporarily again in 2011 for boiler work, but eventually returned to service. In 2014, it was taken out of service temporarily once again for its Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection and overhaul, but eventually returned to service on November 24, 2017. In May 2019, the New Hope Railroad, the Pennsylvania Northeastern, which is a subsidiary of the railroad, and the Borough of North Wales, pitched to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) the idea of having the locomotive run excursions on their mainline in North Wales, PA to celebrate the town's 150th anniversary. SEPTA's general manager at the time, Jeffrey D. Knueppel, approved the idea, so long as a Positive Train Control (PTC)-equipped locomotive was on one end of the train. On May 18, 2019, it operated excursions from North Wales Station in North Wales, PA to Gwynedd Valley, PA. This was one of the locomotive's first excursion trips off of New Hope Railroad trackage, as well as the first time a steam locomotive has ran under SEPTA's electrified rails since 1991 when former Reading 4-8-4 No. 2102 (which is now owned and operated by the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad in Port Clinton, PA) operated excursions in Landsdale and Norristown, among the other former Reading lines. With SEPTA SE15B No. 80 on one end of the train and 40 on the other end, crowds of people flocked to the railroad crossings and stations to see this amazing feat. Fortunately, taking on water was not that much of a problem, as the North Penn Fire Department used their fire hoses from their fire trucks to fill up the locomotive's water tank when needed.
After the excursions were completed, it took the whole excursion train from North Wales, PA to Landsdale, PA for storage until being moved back to New Hope, PA overnight. The locomotive made a tremendous effort climbing Pennbrook Hill, which is one of SEPTA's steepest gradients. Following this, there were plans to bring the locomotive back for Landsdale Founders Day 2019 to operate excursions from Landsdale, PA to Souderton, PA, followed by additional excursion runs from Landsdale, PA to West Point, PA, on the Stoney Creek branchline, which is owned by CSX Transportation. Unfortunately, not long after the North Wales 150th anniversary excursions, the locomotive's main bearing broke due to it not being oiled correctly. It was forced to miss out on Landsdale Founders Day for repairs while Pennsylvania Northeastern GP9RM No. 7010 and SD40-2W No. 5342, nicknamed Tigger, operated the excursions instead. However, it eventually returned to service for the New Hope Railroad's 2019 Santa's North Pole Express and will likely continue to operate excursions on the railroad for decades to come to show future generations what it was like to experience steam train travel up close.
Category:Built in 1925
Category:Baldwin locomotives
Category:2-8-0 steam locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:United States
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:Restored locomotives
Category:Excursion locomotives
Category:New Hope Railroad
Category:Preserved steam locomotives
Category:2-8-0 locomotives
Category:Baldwin Class 10-34-E