Six Flags Over GA RR fire

[Tommy Gray]

Just saw on the Narrow Gauge Discussion Board that one of the locomotives on the Six Flags over Georgia Railroad caught fire this past weekend. From the video I've seen, it appears the fire is in the tender and then seems to spread to the cab as it grows. I hope this isn't the end of the railroad at SFoG. The end of steam was bad enough.

[Keeline]

I figured that articles of the moment would not be very accurate. I looked at SteamLocomotive.info and found that the two Six Flags Over Georgia locomotives had been "dieselized." While I had a sense of what this meant, they didn't define it well on the site.

http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=5317
http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=5318

These were made by Bob Harpur in 1966 and named after the two locomotives in the "Great Locomotive Chase" of the Civil War, The Texas and The General.

According to this forum page, the two trains had been converted to diesel powered tenders that pushed the unpowered "locomotives" in 2005.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/ ... ?10,936317

I would imagine that many know this already but I thought I'd put out the information and citations in case it benefits the conversation. The guest videos of the fire were pretty chilling. Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom had a recent problem with its steampunk themed Sleeping Beauty Dragon.

Of course, how many car and bus fires have been on Americas highways in a 24-hour period of time?

James D. Keeline

[Cannonball7]

The diesel engine is in the tender and there is a hydraulic motor that is attached to the drivers of the locomotive that actually move the train.

From the video I saw, it looked like the fire was under the cab - which makes me wonder if the hydraulic motor caught fire...

From a pure exterior inspection, it never looked like the park took care of the train. It was never clean and shiny - but always looked dirty/dingy and not well maintained.

Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to management that the trains need more attention. Given that are port of up-charges for their holiday events (Fright Fest & Holiday in the Park), I doubt they'll get rid of the trains.

[Cannonball7]

I saw another video of the fire... It looks like fire was shooting from the tender, where the diesel engine lives, towards the cab. So, I am guessing that the hydraulic motor was not at fault. This looks purely like a fire in the tender.

Has anyone been to the park to see if the railroad is back up and running? My guess the "General", which caught fire, is out for some time. I don't know the status of the "Texas" - and whether they have it running now.

[Tommy Gray]

From what I see in the video, I, too believe the fire is in the tender and it appears to spread to the cab. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the cab did not burn completely. I just wonder how much damage was done. This had always been my favorite park railroad when these locomotives were real steam. When they were real steam, there was some pride in them as both were kept clean with shining brass and good paint. I believe the crews took the time to keep them up. I had hoped Six Flags would keep one locomotive as a real steamer, but, in my opinion, they were out to save as much money as they could. I still have some nice photos of these two locomotives I took years ago displayed in my office. Also, have good video of both locomotives operating under steam. Great memories riding behind these two machines.

[Cannonball7]

From what I see in the video, I, too believe the fire is in the tender and it appears to spread to the cab. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the cab did not burn completely. I just wonder how much damage was done. This had always been my favorite park railroad when these locomotives were real steam. When they were real steam, there was some pride in them as both were kept clean with shining brass and good paint. I believe the crews took the time to keep them up. I had hoped Six Flags would keep one locomotive as a real steamer, but, in my opinion, they were out to save as much money as they could. I still have some nice photos of these two locomotives I took years ago displayed in my office. Also, have good video of both locomotives operating under steam. Great memories riding behind these two machines.

I am right there with you, Tommy! But alas, SFoG ruined those beautiful steamers.

I find it somewhat ironic that the switch to diesel is also done for safety reasons...yet, SFOGRR had no incidents under steam, but caught fire with diesel.