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

[@b3j8]

Been going to Cedar Point since summer 1972. Have to agree that of all the steamers the Judy K. was my favorite too followed by Albert and George. Seeing this little railroad is almost as much a kick as riding the coasters. Almost. LOL

[@wiestbound]

Man, that's a sweet steam train.

[@Thunderbolt_1000_Siren]

3,000 vids? Damn! Nice video

[@williamhoward2731]

I wish to thank you for sharing this awesome railroad video with me .

[@mikehawk-ne2bl]

Railroad tracks ride the train 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@yourtypicalrebel4354]

I would honestly love to get a job working on Cedar points narrow guage Railroad, it looks like so much fun

[@Coaster_Universe]

If your still on the crew I'd like to ask if you and the crew could repaint the "new" tender to have a big Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad logo on the sides. I love the engine but I felt the lack of the look on the tender took a little a way from the engine. But thank you for helping keep the CP&LE railroad alive. I love those engines.

[@TommyBNSF]

Randy, our boss, has been pestering management to have the painters come and letter Judy's tender for the past 2 years. They got Myron's and G.A. Boeckling's/George's tender lettered, but not Judy's. I heard they have a design for it, but so far they haven't applied it. I'm hoping it's lettered for next year.

[@flying1502]

Honestly, cedar point needs to adopt a lima 5 chime for their trains

[@csxrailfan02]

thats an awesome crew.

[@mateomoreno6125]

I love trains

[@FranzFerdinandVIII]

Congratulations Tommy! I wish you the*BEST* Franz Ferdinand VIII

[@bensommer4529]

Yeah, Albert should be put back in service. It would be great to see him run. Also, when I went to Cedar Point and asked some engineers on the railroad which engine is their favorite and most of them said Judy K. I thought that was odd considering her throttle is broken.

[@cple1]

+Ben Sommer Broken? It just doesn't latch the way it should.

[@moreminh]

It’s been like 4 years since this was made, but today, I just got a price of coal from Judy k! She is still running loud and proud!

[@ArmamentAxes]

I live in Norwalk i have rode that train many times but not in many years

[@SwirlyTrainz]

"Dont hate the train, I work on it." said every engineer.

[@vongruenheit687]

Wait, George was replaced, darn, I loved that loco

[@cple1]

+Von Gruenheit Not really, we can still run George. Just not much of a need at the moment.

[@bensommer4529]

How often do you have to fill up the tender with coal and water again?

[@cple1]

+Ben Sommer Every night for coal after we are done. Every 3 to 4 rounds for water.

[@bensommer4529]

Is it hard to get a job on the CP & LE? I'd probably like to do that during summers in college.

[@cple1]

+Ben Sommer Apply online. www.cedarpoint.com

[@bensommer4529]

If you you skip to 38:48 into the video, you can see that the engineer blowing Myron's whistle, is blowing it 3 times not 2 (which he should be doing) and he wasn't going backwards. ????

[@cple1]

+Ben Sommer He only whistled twice. Station whistled twice and he answered with two shorts.

[@justice7558]

It’s so weird seeing an attendant at each crossing. I’m surprised it’s not automated like most other parks. From a management standpoint it would seem expensive to staff team members at each crossing. I guess it is how crossings were operated back in the day.

[@cple1]

From a standpoint of safety, it is better. The two Disney parks have no public guest crossings. Dollywood has a manual gate and ropes at 2 crossings. Kings Island has manual gate. I believe Silver Dollar City has manual gates.

[@1AngryCummins]

@@cple1 Is communication held VIA handheld radio between the engine crew and the gate staff?

[@cple1]

@@1AngryCummins we have radios. However, a buzzer at each crossing is activated by limit switch that is tripped by a flap on the tender. The limit switch is placed a timed distance before the crossing.

[@1AngryCummins]

@@cple1 Excellent! Very interesting to know. The manned gates are truly a nice touch to the railway.

[@mateomoreno6125]

@justice7558 have you been to Disney world

[@TFN5459]

What is that weird thing on the back of the Judy's tender? It kind of looks like the Davenport's old tank...

[@TommyBNSF]

You're exactly right. According to Randy, by the end of 2011, Judy's tender was leaking very badly, and so Randy came up with the idea to rebuild Judy's tender using Davenport's tank at the back, converting it from carrying oil and water to just water. They originally had plans to rebuild George's tender with the same concept, but that tender was just fine.

[@TFN5459]

That's a really interesting "quick fix". I'm guessing the pipes toward the rear of the tender are also for water? It's definitely a lot better than the arrangement we have out here on the Disneyland Railroad and filling up the tenders (and tanks) with a stepladder and a hose.

[@RailroadStreet]

Awsome video!

[@ecb1912]

It would be awesome if they restored Albert

[@justinkelsheimer2162]

Do you still work at cedar point??

[@TommyBNSF]

Yes.

[@cple1]

You do too!

[@dindog22]

who is Myron H. named after?

[@cple1]

The second Superintendent of the railroad.

[@TexasTrainProductions]

Why don't they do long long short long at the railroad crossings?

[@TommyBNSF]

We aren't under FRA rules so we are not required to do the crossing sequence. Some engineers (myself included) do the long long short long just for fun.

[@TexasTrainProductions]

Ah. Why aren't y'all under FRA Rules? Nice video by the way!

[@cple1]

***** We are insular, no outside connection, on Private property, and have no public (roadways) grade crossing. Therefore we do not meet FRA requirements.

[@TexasTrainProductions]

Ah

[@bensommer4529]

Why is George a backup engine?

[@cple1]

+Ben Sommer 1942 riveted boiler and is larger than the two engines we run on a daily basis.

[@bensommer4529]

Sorry, I mean 38:28. Whoops

[@cple1]

George is #4

[@TommyBNSF]

Ah shoot, you're right. I was thinking of Judy's old number. Thanks.

[@Rlotpir1972]

The railroad could use better railroad crossings such as larger red lights and red gates.

[@cple1]

+Robert Lopresti Why?