ABOVE: Progress was evident inside the compact confines of Valley Railroad’s single stall engine shop in Essex, Conn. By this time, No. 3025 was now wearing some insulation around the boiler. The engine’s trailing truck had also been brought inside the shop for additional work on May 18, 2011. RIGHT: Valley Railroad’s Chief Mechanical Officer J. David Conrad works on some piping inside the cab of 3025 on November 2, 2011. BOTTOM: On November 14, 2011, Valley Railroad master mechanic Bill Wolf checks the bearing lube level in 3025’s trailing truck. This is in preparation for the completed locomotive to be rolled out of the shop for the first time.


took out the line’s signature Kinzua Viaduct in 2003, and all remaining op- erations ceased in 2006. An arsonist struck the enginehouse in 2008, severe- ly damaging the stored equipment, in- cluding the SY. The railroad’s assets were put up for auction that summer. Conrad, along with Locomotive Fore- man Wayne Hebert and Kjell Benner, made their way to Kane, Penn., to at- tend the auction. At the end of the day, the Valley team walked away with the K&K’s fire damaged Chinese Mikado. According to Conrad, the worst the


2-8-2 suffered beyond the damage to the cab was scorched paint off of the up- per boiler jacket and tender, something rather cosmetic. Mechanically, the Mikado came away essentially un- harmed. With plans to construct a new cab, the Valley Railroad decided to make the locomotive look more like a New Haven class J-1 2-8-2. After some input from employees and volunteers, a


30 MARCH 2012 • RAILFAN.COM


design was drawn up incorporating a new cab that included distinctive arched windows, as well as other New Haven features such as a rebuilt tender and “golden glow” headlight. Another question was what number


would she wear? The Mikados on the New Haven roster numbered from 3000 to 3024, so the next number in the se- ries was used, with the rebuilt locomo- tive emerging as No. 3025. In November of 2008, the Valley crew


began preparing 3025 for her trip to the Nutmeg State which included disman- tling as much of the unit as possible to reduce weight and height to adhere to restrictive roadway clearances. Parts removed were large and small, from the cab and smoke stack, to the air com-


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