An Interesting Day on the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo Railroad

Описание: Today, some interesting events took place on the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo Railroad. One of these events is very rare, and most likely won't happen again! Here’s the full breakdown:

As part of continued training of our new driver, C.P. Huntington 199 was finally able to make its first run of the season today, pulling the red train. This marks my first time since last year seeing 199 in action, and the first time since 2018 seeing 199 pull a train. This is also the first time I have seen it pull five cars instead of four, which is quite a surprise considering its overall power rating. Nothing has really changed, except that the green flags that first arrived with 382 were finally replaced with the standard American flags. You will notice deer antlers placed above the headlamp; these have been periodically used since at least the early 2010s, or possibly earlier. The antlers became permanent in 2019, thus making 199 the only locomotive on the zoo with a headlight decoration. In general, despite being a spare unit since 2015, it still gets the job done after over 30 years! Its days are numbered, however, as rumor has it that brand new engine will be ordered in the coming years, eventually putting an end to 199's career. This means that 306 will take its spot as the spare engine. Fortunately, since I'm working for the summer, I will probably see 199 plenty of times, and I'm definitely planning to ride behind it for the first time this year, whether it is working on the blue train or the red train (maybe both if I'm lucky).

Secondly, we have the most interesting catch of the day: C.P. Huntington 382 and the blue train! This particular clip was shot right after that train was put into service, which was why 199 and the red train were on the siding. 199 would be put back into service right after this clip was taken. Due to a mechanical issue with 306 that occurred in the afternoon, it was decided to put 382 on the blue train for this day. This is extremely rare, as usually it should be 199 pulling the blue train instead of 382, which is always with red. Well, since 199 was already on the red train, 382 was placed onto the blue train instead. This was sadly short lived, as further mechanical issues forced the blue train to be taken out of service for the rest of the day, which sucks because I kinda wanted to experience riding behind 382 on a blue train since this wouldn’t happen again soon. Oh well, at least it was fun while it lasted.

Overall, it was a great day for railfanning. Hopefully the issues with the blue train will be fixed soon, but I hope you enjoy these three videos. More to come soon!

On a side note, for anyone wondering why the red train only has plexiglass on the first car, it's because the plexiglass on the other four cars broke due to a manufacturing defect. The new ones were ordered not too long ago, so they will be installed once they arrive. Until then, the older red cars require passengers to sit in every other row.