Freight on the Valley Line. The former Aberdeen & Rockfish Mikado #40 takes a short, branch-line freight north out of Old Saybrook, CT on the former New York, New Haven & Hartford Connecticut Valley Line, which is operated today by the Valley Railroad Co. of Essex, CT. The train pictured here was operating for an October 2024 photo shoot organized by Dak Dillon Photography and was probably the first steam photo freight that has been operated by the railroad since 2012. The cab crew this afternoon included Ken Blandina on the throttle and Casey Jane Palumbo firing. These folks did an amazing job making some smoke for us on the run-bys here, as the coal used on this line is a grade purchased specifically because it burns cleanly, almost like anthracite.
This location, which is a nice, uphill grade, is referred to as "The Ladder", near Milepost 1.7, about half a mile north of what the railroad calls the "Museum Siding." Historically, this spot was just a dense tree-tunnel, but some serious, recent tree-cutting has opened it up nicely, making it perhaps the largest, most open spot on the entire railroad. Fortunately, on this particular day, mother nature cooperated with some nice afternoon sun to produce some of the best-lit shots I've ever captured on this line.
