BAKER CITY, Ore. – Bob Butler doesn’t appear a bit baffled by the knobs and levers and gauges before him, and he isn’t even breaking a sweat, despite the heat radiating from the boiler a foot or two away.
Model railroads are his hobby; steam engines are his passion.
“I’m old enough, I was around at the end of the steam engine era,” Butler said.
Butler, 60, of Olympia is the first person to take advantage of the new Engineer for a Day program at the Sumpter Valley Railway.
He’s done this sort of thing before in Ely, Nev., and in China.
“But this program is different because you get the whole train,” he said.
The Sumpter Valley Railway is the only steam locomotive railroad in Oregon offering the opportunity to be an engineer for a day, and one of just a few in the United States.
Every Friday through the end of September, would-be engineers can drive one of two oil-burning Mikado engines, the No. 19 or the No. 20, for $600. For $750 they can drive the wood-burning Heisler No. 3.
Participants must be 18 years of age and hold a valid driver’s license. A second person can share the engineer seat for an extra $150.
Though Butler is technically the engineer this day for the Mikado No. 19, he is joined by Scott Hutton and Dan Denham, the senior operating crew for the SVRR.
“We’ll be the firemen and the trainers,” Hutton said. “You can’t teach them everything, but we’ll be there to stand by.”
Hutton is the chief mechanical officer, and Denham is the president of the nonprofit SVRR that is run by volunteers who live as close as Baker City and as far away as Alaska.
The Sumpter Valley Railway was originally used to haul logs for the Oregon Lumber Co. It operated from 1890 to 1947. The railway’s locomotives run on narrow-gauge track, 3 feet wide instead of the standard 4 feet, 8 inches.
The Sumpter Valley Railway bought the wood-burning No. 19 and No. 20 Mikado engines in 1920, and in 1941 it sold both to the White Pass and Yukon Railroad in Alaska.
The locomotives were converted to run on oil and were used until 1958. The engines then sat unused in Skagway, Ala., until 1977, when Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration Inc. found the engines and purchased them for $1 each. The restoration group paid nearly $25,000 to bring the engines back to Eastern Oregon.
“They’re both home and cost about $300,000 to rebuild,” Denham said.
The cost of rebuilding the engines doesn’t include the thousands of hours of work done by volunteers, he said. “They’re back home, working on their home turf.”
Butler can’t keep from smiling as he watches Hutton and Denham work on No. 19 for a trip down the rails.
“They’re lubricating the bearings,” he said, slipping on a pair of thick leather gloves in case he’s called to action. “They’re using the compressor to force the grease in.”
After graduating from college, Butler worked for a short time on the Milwaukie Railroad near Portland.
Engineers for a Day at SVRR can get as involved as they want, Denham said.
The morning prep work is optional. It takes about five hours of work before the train is ready to travel the track. This warm-up period is called “hostling.”
“It’s the process of bringing the engine up cold, building the fire, greasing, lubricating, making sure everything is tight,” Denham said.
Butler arrived at 8 a.m., at the start of hostling, to get in on all the action.
When it was time to climb aboard, Hutton stood behind Butler while Denham sat in another seat near the boiler to keep an eye on the gauges.
“We’re about to pop off – we’re right at the top of the glass,” Denham said, keeping his eyes on a glass gauge that measures the water level.
Right on cue comes the deafening blast of pressurized steam – and a few minutes later Butler is ready to give the lever a gentle pull to coax the locomotive into action. Hutton urges Butler to sound the steam whistle first. Denham complements the whistle with an echoing “ding, ding, ding, ding” of a bell. Then the train begins to roll.
Butler leans out the window to wave goodbye, and the No. 19 rolls down the track, disappearing into the dredge piles and willow trees, chug-chug-chugging its way to Sumpter.
If you go …
The Sumpter Valley Railway operates weekends and major holidays from Memorial Day through the end of September.
Up to two people per day can participate in the Engineer for a Day program. For more information, go to www.svry.com or call 541-894-2268 or 866-894-2268.
Passenger travel from McEwen to Sumpter and back costs $12.50 for adults, $11.50 for seniors and $8 for children. A family pass for up to two adults and four children costs $30 round trip, and rates are available for groups of 20 or more.
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