1901
The Pan American Exposition was at
Buffalo NY on 342 acres with 8 million people attending. To move the people
around the park Cagney Brothers built six miniature steam locomotives. Our
engine was built in 1901 for this event and was one of the six miniature
trains.
1906Our train was moved to Owasco Lake Park, Auburn, NY. and was an amusement ride at the park. A sign said “5 cents to ride all around the island”. The engine operated at the park until 1954 when New York State made a new rule that park steam trains had to be operated by a certified locomotive engineer. This was very difficult for park operators to do. They tried to convert the train to run by a gasoline engine but it did not work very well so in 1954 the engine was stored in a barn.
1960
Gerald Brewer, Canandaigua, New York acquired the engine from Owasco
Park in 1960 and after finding steam parts to replace some that were lost when
the engine was converted to gasoline got the engine running on steam again. He
ran the train on a small track in his yard until 1970. That was the last year
listed on the New York state boiler certification. The engine ended up in a
barn until 1990.1990
2006
Bill McCutcheon had run a Cagney steam train at the Braddock
Heights Amusement Park in Maryland during 1943 and 1944. He was 12 years old at
that time and had not been involved with a miniature steam train for the next
62 years. Dave Conroy let him operate his Cagney engine and it brought back
memories and the excitement of getting on the throttle again. In 2006 we bought
the train from Dave. Bill McCutcheon and his 5 sons put new tires on the
engine, rebuilt many things and laid 300 feet of track to make it steam again
in our back yard.Today the Cagney continues to run on occasion free of charge. The Cagney is still owned, operated, and maintained by the McCutcheon Family and with some help from close family friends. We hope to preserve the history of this locomotive, the parks it ran in, and the park in Braddock Heights.
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| Photo By Jacob McCutcheon |
2015
The Blue Mountain Railway gets a semi-permanent structure to house the locomotive, coach and handcar. A stub switch leads up to the building and no longer will the engine be under a tarp for the night.
It would be wonderful to see the Braddock Heights Park brought back to a level similar to Pen Mar Park (Washington County, Maryland). Great web site! Thanks for your effort.
ReplyDeleteWonderful memories of that one of a kind park. I seem to remember the train going through the tunnel of love where you could steal a kiss with your little honey.
ReplyDeleteRemembering the days this little engine was at Owasco Lake Park. Unfortunately there is nothing left of the amusements at the park. In the late 60's the Island where the original amusements were was bulldozed and nothing was left. Trees, rides and buildings were all gone. New trees planted and a couple picnic shelters are all that's there now. Glad we found the original train and that you have restored it to it's pervious glory! WELL DONE!! Leon Jessie, Auburn, NY.
ReplyDeleteGerald Brewer was my uncle I used to run that train when I was a kid now I have one of my own Mine is a little engines 260 Mogul, where that is a 15 inch gauge Cagney mine is 7 1/2 inch and a half scale where that is 3 inch scale I know now that train belongs to somebody in Maryland. I tried to get in touch with them a few years back, but I never got no response.
ReplyDelete