Staunton Virginia USA - The cranes raised them up onto railway cars that will transport them back home.
 
For years, steam locomotives 1238 and 1286 lived at C&O Flats on the western edge of downtown Staunton.
 
They were the pride and joy of Jack Showalter, steam locomotive preservationist, who always loved the dream of seeing them running the rails, pulling cars filled with passengers.
 
Some years the dream was a reality while other years the locomotives were left idle.
 
With the coming of Buckingham Branch Railroad to C&O Flats, the locomotives seemed to disappear from view.
 
"We've been storing them on the Shenandoah Valley Railroad hoping we'd have an opportunity to operate them again, and it just never came to pass," said Sally Kammauff, daughter of Showalter, who died in November.
 
"So they've been in Verona since 2004," she added.
 
That is until recently.
 
This week, the locomotives and their tenders have been seen again at Shenandoah Valley Railroad's location over on Commerce Road in Staunton.
 
"Steam locomotives are both very tough and very fragile at the same time," said Kammauff.
 
"So to protect the locomotives and to speed their passage, they've been craned onto flatcars and are now being tied down to protect the load from shifting while in transit."
 
That's right ... The trains are being prepped to go home.
 
"They're going back to Canada," said Kammauff. "My father and I would..."
 
Her voice trailed off a moment as if thinking about her father.
 
"In discussions, we decided that when it was time for us to pass them along, if we had the chance, we would like to see them returned to Canada," she said finally.
 
"The 1238 was built in Montreal in 1946," she explained.
 
"The 1286 was built in Kingston Locomotive Works (in Ontario) in 1948."
 
"And they're sister locomotives," she added.
 
"They're both G5 class, and they're both built for the Canadian Pacific Railway."
 
And it seems Canada never forgot.
 
"Since we bought them in 1974, every summer we would have visitors from Canada who would come and kind of mope around," said Kammauff.
 
"You know, pine after them in other words because they loved them so much."
 
"And they'd come and spend a week or even longer, watching them run and wishing that they were back in Canada," she continued.
 
"So that's where we got that from."
 
And so very soon, the locomotives will depart Staunton one final time on a long railway trek north.
 
They will ride the rails once more, not under their own steam, but instead as passengers headed home to Canada.

Mike Tripp.

       

http://www·okthepk·ca/