The Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad, 50th Anniversary: 3000th Video!

Well hello there. This is TommyBNSF. Now, if you've been following my channel for the past several months, you'll have seen many videos of trains from Sandusky, OH. You might be wondering to yourselves, what the heck was I doing in Ohio for so long? Well, the answer is simple: work. But not just any work, I got a job working at the Cedar Point amusement park. Doing what? Working at the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad. Now most of you would probably not think much of a small amusement park train, but this one is different. The Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad runs with authentic coal fired steam engines, all them 3 foot narrow gauge 2-4-0s. The railroad is run under the watchful eyes of Mr. Randy Catri. One of my coworkers called him one of "steam railroading's most unsung heroes", and I agree. If it weren't for him, this railroad may not exist today. He's worked on this railroad for 40 years! 25 of those years were as superintendent. He may give some people a hard time, myself included, but overall, he's a very caring and lovable guy that can make anyone laugh and have a good time. His wife also brings in delicious cakes, most notably her cherry chocolate cake.

The lead engine on the CP&LE is Judy K #44, my personal favorite engine here. She's a Vulcan 0-4-0T that was converted into a 2-4-0. It was built in 1923, and the earliest info we have on her is that she worked in Lehigh, IL for a stone company, and was number 802. In 1968, it arrived at Cedar Point. It was originally named Jack Foster in honor of the first superintendent of the CP&LE, and in 1992, it was rebuilt by Shop Services in Iowa, received a new welded boiler, and renamed the Judy K, named after the Cedar Fair CEO's wife, Judy Kinzel. In my experience, she rode the smoothest and fired the easiest out of the 3, but her throttle is a pain in the ass. It doesn't lock in place, so we had to hold in place during the entire trip, and after a while, our arms got sore. Hopefully one of these days, we can fix this.

The 2nd main engine is the Myron H #22. This engine is also a Vulcan 0-4-0T that was converted into a 2-4-0. It was built in 1922 and served at the Wayne Coal Company in Clay Bank, OH. It ended up at Cedar Point in 1963. It too got a rebulid at Shop Services in 1990 and got a new welded boiler. During 2013, it got a repaint and looked very shiny for the railroad's 50th anniversary. 22 was my 2nd favorite engine. Her fire was not quite as predictable and rode a little rougher. However, I did like that the throttle stayed in place, so it's a more comfortable engine to run. Although, in me and Brandon Donegan's experience, this engine seemingly tried to kill us. I bashed my leg against the apron, and boy did it hurt like a mother. Brandon had similar experiences with it too, so he and I always liked Judy more.

The current backup engine is the G. A. Boeckling #1. It was built by the Davenport Locomotive Works in 1927 and was presumably one of the very last locomotives built by Davenport. This engine moved around the country many times including Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL, and most notably, Disneyland. Cedar Point traded our old Maud L. #1 for the Davenport in 1999. It sat for many years, and in 2007, it went to Knott's Berry Farm, but it returned in 2010, where Randy converted it into a 2-4-0 from its original 2-4-4T configuration. It replaced George R. #4, a 1942 Porter 0-4-0T, now a 2-4-0, as the main backup engine. The Davenport is lighter and has a welded boiler, whereas George is much heavier and still has its original riveted boiler. However, the Davenport is only a backup for a reason. The throttle is a pain to control, you always have to be at the tip of your seat or standing to run the engine, and it requires a long throw for coal going into the firebox. However, the biggest issue, as you'll see in the video, is that the engine squeals going into the Main Station on that sharp curve. That's because for whatever reason, the pony trucks are welded to the frame of the engine, so they're basically useless and creates a lot of noise going around sharp curves. It would wear out very quickly if the engine was used every day, so that's why it's only a backup. It ran only twice for the public, both times in October.

2013 crew:

Managers:
Karrah Folk
Randy Catri
Steve Vorhees

Supervisors:
Shaun Hill
Justin Hamric
Mandy Brayn
Brian Smith
W. Barrett
Matt Abele

Team Leaders:
Emalee Dickson
Ashley Simpkins
Steve Strandburg

Firemen:
Corey Bryant
Brandon Donegan
Tommy McGowan (myself)
Chris Ramey

Engineers:
Cory Branham
Matt Gleason
Jon Monasco
Cory Marshall
Robert Ries
Dan Sczesny
Matt Sorlien
Wes Speir
Roy Young

Platform Crew:
Jessica Boley
Patrick Cleveland
Jeremy Davis
Chelsea Edwards
Kashery Freckleton
Ian LaPoint
Alex Mahoney
Amanda Marker
Tim Munsil
Arber Parduzi
Evgeni Penkov
Ryan Rankin
Stefan Stojkovski
Curtis Sztuczko
Paul Tassin