Oahu Railfanning

nkp174

Active Member
Recently I had a chance to visit the Hawaiian Railway Society in Ewa, HI. It is a 3' gauge line with a 4 steam locomotives, a few diesels, and probably around 15 cars. One of their steam engines, an 0-6-2t is currently being restored. I didn't get there in time to ride, but I did get their in time to be impressed by both their operation and by how large of an operation the Oahu Railway was in the 1940s (double track mainline, automatic block signals, and 2-8-2s).

Here's there 0-6-0 which was actually as powerful as the Class 56 2-8-0s used extensively on the continent
DSCF6759.jpg


And a modern freight car
DSCF6768.jpg



Their restored private car
DSCF6766.jpg





There website is: http://www.hawaiianrailway.com/

Michael
 

TrainNut

Ditat Deus
Those are some neat pictures. I was not aware there was steam on Oahu. On several occasions, I have had the chance to ride the Sugar Cane Train between Lahaina and Kaanapali on the island of Maui. Fun stuffs. I'd post some pics but those were the days when I was still using 35mm slides.
 
Michael,

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing. I really like the 0-6-0. Those trucks under the tender look almost like they are touching. I think that would be a neat switcher to model. 0-6-0's weren't real common in 3' gauge were they.

Greg
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
that would be a pretty sweet shortline to model! and pretty easy too with a very small roster.thanks for postin :thumb:--josh
 

nkp174

Active Member
I really like the 0-6-0. Those trucks under the tender look almost like they are touching. I think that would be a neat switcher to model. 0-6-0's weren't real common in 3' gauge were they.

Greg

I am really curious about it. The tender is just great. I wonder if it was a freight locomotive or a switcher. (narrow gauge roads typically just used older 2-8-0s and 2-6-0s for switching...and the first D&RG 2-8-2s came equipped with sloped back tenders) Previously, the only 3' gauge 0-6-0s I can recall seeing were tank engines.
 

nkp174

Active Member
Pardon my ignorance, but what's a Class 56?

The Class 56 2-8-0s were the little sisters of the more famous Class 60 2-8-0s (later known as the C-16s). The South Park's Baldwin 2-8-0s were not C-16s, but rather Class 56 copies. The Rio Grande had a bunch of both the C56s and C60s. The C56s disappeared as the mainline was standard gauged and when the first 2-8-2s arrived. Hence, they ended up on many lines both as second hand power from the Rio Grande and as original power. All of Otto Mears's properties had Class 56s...but not Class 60s. The F&CC started off with leased c56s and c60s. A C56 ended up on the Uintah. I think one C56 lasted long enough for the re-classification of the 1920s...when it received the designation C-14. The 0-6-0s were more powerful than the C56s, but not the C-16s. The 0-6-0s were ALCOs. I've since found, thanks to George Hinton's book, that the OR&L also had 0-8-0s!
 

Triplex

Active Member
Your brining up the Oahu Railway led me to realize that Hawaii is definitely the forgotten state in terms of railroads. I was searching for information on the Oahu Railway and the other railways. There isn't much online, especially when it comes to photos. Okay, the railways collapsed right after WW2, but you'd think there'd still be something. I'm most disappointed by not being able to find anything useful on the Honolulu terminal operation, which outlasted the rest of the Oahu Railway by 25 years. By my reckoning, that makes it the second-last narrow gauge railway in the United States.
 
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