Ardenwood Farm Railroad Fair -- September 1, 2012

Today we went to the 12th annual Labor Day Railfair at Ardenwood Farm.  It was cool and overcast all day. There were no horse-powered train rides this year.  One steam locomotives operated, Anne Marie, an 1890 Porter which was there for the fourth straight year. Anne Marie pulled a three car train: the covered car usually pulled by horses, and two flats.  Anne Marie was putting out a lot of coal smoke, as shown in the photo.  Later in the day they made some adjustments that reduced the smoke.  They also switched the train around so that the covered car was in the middle.  The smoke had trapped the smoke when the locomotive was hooked to that end of the train. 

 

I like to catch the first train.  The line at Ardenwood Station kept getting longer and longer during the day. Kids were having a great time.

The Oakland horse car was on display.  

 

A cold locomotive sat in the yard with the safety valve removed.  I talked to the owner, who said he had brought it down from Tacoma.  It was supposed to run this weekend, but had developed a leak.  He ran it the week before at the Sumpter Valley.  He was surprised when I called it the Polygamy Central. 

 

There was a big Garden Scale display, and a live steam display.  

It was nice to see the animals, including two frisky piglets and a cow with a calf.