The Roster

A railroad is nothing without its locomotives. The Tuscarora Railroad, like many small narrow gauge lines, relies on relatively small locomotives. Fortunately the grades are mild and the trains short. In addition to the TRR's fleet of locomotives, the railroad frequently sees locomotives from the connecting East Broad Top as well as the Tuscarora Valley railroads.

Tuscarora Railroad #1


Tuscarora Railroad #1, named "Allison" (after the superintendent's wife) was the first locomotive on the railroad. It came from the Tuscarora Valley, where it had been sitting unused for quite some time. Originally built by Porter as a 2-4-0, the TRR shipped the locomotive to the EBT's shops at Orbisonia for what would essentially be a complete rebuild. (So much for the "bargain" the TRR thought it was getting.) TRR #1's first duty was to pull the construction trains, but the reality was that #1 wasn't good for much more than that. She was definitely something of a lightweight. With the arrival of TRR #2, the "Allison" went back to a life of relative calm, running on the occasional VIP tour, which means the super's wife wanted to take it for a spin. Her hand was more often on the throttle than anyone else's. (Employees of the railroad often quipped that she was really the one running the railroad, also.)

Tuscarora Railroad #2


Tuscarora Railroad #2 came to the TRR from the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina, where she was their #2. At twice the size of the diminutive #1, she quickly gained favor as being a locomotive that could actually pull its own shadow. She served as the railroad's primary power until 1908, when TRR #3 arrived. She then took over #1's duties with the daily passenger train. She is currently undergoing an extensive rebuild, so has been out of the mix for a while.

Tuscarora Railroad #3


Tuscarora Railroad #3 was the "big purchase" of the TRR. They finally were making enough money to where they could spend the big bucks on a brand new locomotive. With 20,000 pounds tractive effort, big #3 proved more than ample for the relatively short trains on the TRR. This would be the TRR's only foray into the new locomotive department. It hit the bottom line harder than management had hoped, and they really didn't need all that power. The EBT and TVRR were starting to have surplus locomotives, and the TRR found it very easy to enter into agreements with these roads for use of their older locos when needed.

Tuscarora Timber Co. #4


Heisler #4 belongs to the Tuscarora Timber Company on paper, but the TTCo. is a subsidiary of the TRR. When the TRR's management brought this Heisler over from one of their other logging operations, they just continued the numbering sequence to avoid confusion. The orginal idea was to use it to run extensive logging lines up and down the valley, but those plans never really panned out. As such, TTCo. #4 spends much of its time working with TRR #3 pulling general freight. Crews like her sure-footedness, but bemoan her lack of speed. She's favored in the winter for her enclosed cab, where crews don't mind spending the extra time.

In addition to the TRR's 4 locomotives, locomotives from the East Broad Top and Tuscarora Valley railroads can also be found occasionally wandering the TRR's rails.

East Broad Top #1 (Edward Roberts)

EBT #1 is no stranger to Shade Gap. The first locomotive on the East Broad Top, she spent most of her life shifting ore and coal cars for the Rockhill iron furnace. With the demise of the furnaces in 1908, EBT #1 got something of a new lease on life hauling the EBT's presidential coach, the "Orbisonia"--that is until the EBT acquired their 2-6-2 #11. Old number one was relegated back to a quiet corner, until 1911 when it went to the TVRR under a lease agreement. Oddly, though the TVRR was leasing the loco from the EBT, it never left EBT rails, instead serving on the TRR when needed. It's a small locomotive, though a good bit more powerful than TRR #1.

Tuscarora Valley #2


Tuscarora Valley #2 doesn't get down to the TRR too often, but like TRR #1, it does for special occasions. It was built by relatively unknown builder T.H. Paul. It's also a bit of a lightweight, so its usual purpose is inspection trains and the like, though there have been the occasional times when it's doubleheaded with TRR #1 just for the fun of doing it. It's definitely got some get-up-and-go, provided the train is short. Crews refer to it as "the toy."

Tuscarora Valley #5


Tuscarora Valley #5 is a Baldwin product from 1877. The TVRR is her third owner. Most often, you'll find #5 on the front of the daily passenger run. The TRR's passenger traffic is handled by the TVRR, since it's the quickest connection to the Pennsylvania RR at Port Royal. Passenger traffic between Blacklog and Neelyton is almost non-existent, but the railroad still runs one train per day to handle mail and milk. The Breyer's creamery at Port Royal is a ready customer for the dairy farmers along the line.

The TRR crews are currently awaiting the return of TRR #2 to service, and have also been told that EBT #3, a c. 1873 Baldwin 2-8-0 is getting a thorough once-over before being assigned to the TRR through a leased agreement similar to that of EBT #1. Most likely, what will happen in that case is that the EBT will crew #3, handling the freight traffic between Neelyton and Blacklog, leaving the TRR crews to spend their day running between Blairs Mills and Burnt Cabins instead of having to detour west to Blacklog as part of their day--something that chews up about 3 hours of their time on busy days.


The links under each photo take you either to my web site or to my builder's logs on MyLargeScale.com, where you can read a more in-depth description of how each locomotive was built.