Oh-Nine-Hundred, meet Thirty-Twenty-Five! The northbound, diesel-powered, Essex Clipper Dinner Train pulls into the yard at Deep River Landing for a relatively rare event on the Valley Railroad: a nose-to-nose meet between diesel-electric and steam locomotives. Most of the time, the Valley's north-facing steamers are running tender-first during these meets. The 3025 just happens to be facing south for a special event later this month. This meet is rather unique in another way as well. The steam engine sitting on the platform is 42 years newer than the diesel!!! The 80-ton, center cab GE product was built in 1947 for use at their manufacturing facilities in Schenectady, NY. It came to the Valley Railroad in 1991. The New Haven-lettered 3025 is actually a re-built Chinese SY Mikado, built in 1989 by the Tangshan Locomotive Works. She came to the Valley as a derelict hulk after the Knox & Kane Railroad Engine House fire back in 2008. She's been lovingly rebuilt to resemble a New Haven Class J-1 and has been in service since late 2011.
