25 September 2008
Train Ride Offers Glimpse of Past
The historic steam locomotive OC 1293 makes it way down the
tracks through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park towards Peninsula in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The former Canadian Pacific
4-6-2 was built in 1948 and is powered by coal.
Cuyahoga Falls Ohio USA - Parma resident Anne McGinty
sidled up next to husband Tony McGinty's in front of the Ohio Central Railroad System's antique steam locomotive No. 1293.
She let her mind stroll blissfully down memory lane while daughter Maureen McGinty of Bath Township snapped away with a digital camera.
It was kind of like a second honeymoon Wednesday evening and the 80-year-old was lost deep in peaceful thoughts as she
prepared to ride a train powered by steam for the first time since she and Tony rode from Cleveland to Washington, D.C., on their
wedding night 56 years ago.
Suddenly, Anne McGinty got more than she ever bargained for. She disappeared in a cloud of exhaust steam when the engine's pistons
pumped and cleared condensation out of their cylinders.
"It was like a shower," she said. "It definitely scared me more than anything else. It was like the old funhouse at
Euclid Beach, except I certainly didn't expect anything."
Anne McGinty survived the scare and the moisture and climbed aboard for a four-mile, 45-minute ride from Howe
Meadow in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad's Steam Festival is stationed, past Peninsula
and back.
The McGintys were among 93 passengers on the second run at 6:30 p.m. There were 120 on the first run at 4 p.m., nearly filling the
three passenger cars Ohio Central sent with the locomotive.
There will be two public runs again today and then a steam locomotive excursion will be staged through the Cuyahoga Valley National
Park at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The weekend runs will depart from the Rockside Station in Independence.
The Steam Festival runs from 3 to 8 p.m. today.
Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad Operations Director Larry Blanchard said he was pleased with the turnout for the first day of the new
event.
"The first day is expected to be a little slow," Blanchard said, "but the word will get out and we expect to be very
busy on the weekend."
As usual, Blanchard said, there also were hundreds of people lining the CVSR route through the national park to get a glimpse of
history.
The creation of the Steam Festival this year, however, gives patrons a chance to participate in several activities, including eating
ribs and burgers, and to get a close-up view of a true piece of Americana.
"We have the Steam Festival so people can get really close to the train while it's stationed here between rides," Blanchard
said, "and to talk to other people who are really interested in trains. It's a great mix."
Jerry Blanchard, one of Coshocton County-based Ohio Central's three engineers who have federal certification to operate a
steam-powered locomotive, said interest in steam locomotives will never die.
"They are expensive to maintain and run, but they are well worth it because they are so important to our country's history,"
said Ballard, who has spent 38 of his 68 years running steam-powered locomotives.
"The steam locomotive played a big role in building our country and the kids read about them... It also gives kids a chance to
appreciate and be a part of their grandparents' and even great-grandparents' past. The steam locomotive is a great bonding
tool for generations."
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