Whitewater Valley RR Steam Weekend 2006
Then engine was fully restored by John and Byron Gramling. When FCC# 75 is not visiting other railroads, it is located at the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, MI. More information on the engine is at http://www.mstrp.com/fcc75.html
(For information on this year's WVRR Steam Weekend, go to http://www.whitewatervalleyrr.org)
Many of the crew of the WVRR have at least one steam whistle that they have collected. While operating as the engineer, the honor is given for them to put their own whistle on the engine. In this photo, an engineer is installing a large whistle on FCC 75. Due to its size, the whistle could not be used while in motion (low hanging tree branches). However, that did not stop the crew from doing a "stationary test".
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A few of the member-owned whistles that were installed on the engine during the weekend. The glove on the right gives you an idea how large some of the whistles were.
In the next photo, the largest whistle in this picture is being blown on the engine. Note how much steam it uses.railroadsteam enginewhitewater valley railroadwvrrflagg coaltrains
The largest whistle in action! From thirty feet away, I could feel the sound pressure against my chest. Note how much steam is being sent both upwards and back across the top of the cab. Even with that much of a load on the engine, there was very little drop in steam pressure.
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FCC75 has had a couple safety features added to its original configuration.
The original brakes were steam powered. To meet Federal Railway Administration regulations, the brakes were converted to air with the addition of a compressor (the vertical unit in the left of the photo), air tanks (visible just below the water saddle tank in side-view photos), a brake stand, etc.
Electricity for lighting on the engine is provided by a steam turbine generator which is mounted just below the headlight.railroadsteam enginewhitewater valley railroadwvrrflagg coaltrains
