Continuing Traditions
A process that has been around for nearly 200 years, the firing of a steam locomotive, is proudly continued by the dedicated volunteers of the New Hope Valley Railway in the small, unincorporated town of Bonsal, North Carolina. This antique beast requires constant attention to run as smoothly as possible on this popular tourist railroad, bringing riders on a round trip to nearby New Hill and return. The locomotive is a Vulcan Iron Works 0-4-0t type engine number 17 built in 1941, a small engine, but it has just enough power to haul it's train up the grade back to Bonsal. In between runs the crew looks over the engine, checking every part and lubricating the running gear, making sure everything is working as it should. These men are very dedicated to this little engine, for it is far from an easy (or clean) task to keep this 85 year old relic running smoothly, but if it wasn't for them, many people would never be able to see an amazing piece of industrial history like this hard at work doing what it was built to do.