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The Collegeville and Southern Railway, an 18" gauge live steam
railroad near Collegeville PA. The railway will be handicap accessible. This train was originally located in California,
and was moved to Pennyslvania by the original owner before it found its way to our home. We moved it here in late 2003,
and have been building ever since. The railway is privately owned and operated for the enjoyment of our family and friends.
The railroad is entirely scratch built, and consists of a live steam engine, "Diesel" engine (gas), and a dozen or so
cars. We also have about 2000 feet of track.
Construction began in late 2003/early 2004.
The railroad will be located in the backyard of our 3 1/4 acre home site.
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| Our backyard before construction. |
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| First rail at our home, used for rolling stock delivery, and then storage inside the shed. |
All the existing equipment and rail was moved to our home by the end of January 2004.
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| Final rail pulled and ready for removal from the old site. |
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| The Trolley Car, which was once self-propelled. |
| CONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN!! |
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| The shed roof is in place, and the cut into the woods runs back on the left. |
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| The cuts in the grass areas behind the garage and shed, and into the woods. |
Construction of the train shed along the garage was nearly completed in 2004. Grading work was completed as much
as possible in the wet conditions. All the cuts are complete, but the fills are low. Additional fill will be brought
in as available to bring them up to grade. We started laying rail over the Memorial Day Weekend of 2004.
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| The "Diesel" sitting on our first section of track in 2004. |
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| First passenger ride on about 300' of track, July, 2004. |
| Worktrain at our Aug 29, 2004 workday. |
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| It consists of the work car, locomotive, rail and tie car, and welder/generator car. |
| The inner loop was completed in June 2005. |
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| We can now run without backing for the majority of the ride. |
The inner loop was tied back to the main line using a temporary switch at the crossover location, see map below.
We can now run around the loop, including crossing our little bridge, without having to back up (until we return to the
shed).
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| Two bucks and two does inspecting the line, 12/30/05. |
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| One of our Holiday Lights rides Dec. 30, 2005 |
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| Adding fill to the track which was previously raised to grade. |
| Sping 2006 grading reduced max 8% grades to 1 1/2% |
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| Once the dirt is spread and settled, the outer loop will be ready to start trestle construction. |
| Summer 2006 |
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| Running through the woods on the inner loop. |
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| Live Steam Engine, entirely scratch built. |
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| The diesel locomotive and car pulling rail from the old site. |
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| The locomotives sitting at our home, and waiting for spring. Track sections piled around. |
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| The gondola car, which will be used for trackwork, and the box and cattle cars, which need work. |
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| The fills in the lower grass areas of the back yard. |
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| Riding on about 600' of track in one of our two passenger cars after our August 15, 2004 work day. |
| WE HAVE STEAM! |
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| Our son, Kyle, standing in the cab and blowing the whistle at our first steam up, May 11, 2005. |
| Our first bridge, replacing the washed-out culvert |
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| Kyle and his friends crossing the inner loop bridge for the first time. |
| Spring 2006 Trackwork |
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| As noted above, fills were low. Spring 2006 saw raising of our bridge, and the inner loop fills. |
| 2006 saw paint for the locomotive and red car. |
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| Now called Bridge #1, 2006 widened and rebuilt our first bridge. (For the 3rd time!) |
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| Crossing Bridge #2, coming out of the woods. |
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| We finally got the caboose out of storage in Nov. 2006. |
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