New Hope Valley Railway
Double-Headed Thunder

Apex firefighters had an opportunity to partake in a rare event at the New Hope Valley Railway in Bonsal during two weekends in November. On 11/3-4 and 11/10-11, train enthusiasts were treated to a blast from the past as a restored coal-fired steam locomotive hooked up to New Hope Valley Railway's #17 steam locomotive to pull the passenger cars in tandem.

The scenic ride winds through the thick woods of New Hill. With the extreme drought conditions and lack of access to the area for fire apparatus, a coal engine belching hot embers into the air had some potential. So railway organizers teamed up with Apex firefighters to man the "fire train", a skid unit complete with fire hose and forestry rakes mounted on a rail car connected to a 600 gallon water tank pulled by a Whitcomb 45 ton diesel locomotive. Throughout the two-weekend event the fire train tailed the steam locomotives in order to quickly douse any stray coal embers before they could set the parched woods on fire.

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The coal-fired locomotive (left) and New Hope Valley Railway's locomotive worked in tandem	Many buckets of coal had to be loaded into the locomotive for each trip	A back-breaking job for sure!
This Whitcomb 45 ton diesel engine pulled the fire train	The skid unit is similar to the ones on our brush trucks. The fire hose was donated by our department.	NHVR train operator Gene shows firefighter Matt Hoina how to operate the fire pump
Race, anyone?	Apex firefighters rotated personnel on the trains throughout the two weekends	Lt. Bob Pascucci and firefighter Tony Fuller take a turn on the fire train
We also rode the passenger train to provide first responder support.	A double-plume? Actually that is Shearon Harris in the background!	The special event drew a large number of visitors
Firefighter Billy Gilbert rides the fire train	Blowing off some steam	NHVR's #17 locomotive comes into the yard
View from the fire train as we set off on the next trip	Fire train operator Gene maneuvers the diesel engine	The four-mile track ends at New Hill Olive Chapel Road
The locomotives disconnect from the train, travel down the split track and reconnect to the other end so that they can pull the passenger cars back to Bonsal

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Copyright 2007 Sue-Lynn Hinson