New Haven J-1A Mikado. The Valley Railroad's J-1A Mikado #3025 takes a holiday Santa Special across the little trestle spanning the Falls River in Centerbrook, Connecticut, just a few hundred yards north of the Essex Depot.
Astute observers will quickly note that the locomotive you see here is not an original New Haven J-1, but a "kit-bashed" Chinese SY Mikado, that was rebuilt from a locomotive that was damaged in an engine house fire at the Knox & Kane Railroad in Pennsylvania back in 2008. At the time of the fire, the Valley Railroad had been searching for a 3rd steam locomotive to supplement its existing engines that were 90 years old and in imminent need of heavy maintenance. The railroad elected to purchase the damaged K&K Engine primarily because of its relatively young boiler, frame and running gear. Rather than rebuild her has a stock Chinese SY, they decided to "Americanize" her, and make her look as much like a New Haven Engine as possible. As a result, the tender, cab and a number of other details were all modified and the result is what you see here. They gave her the number 3025, which is one number higher than the last New Haven J-1 that was built. They even put an original New Haven Whistle on her. Now that she's in regular service, the Valley Railroad Mechanical Shop can begin to focus on needed repairs to their older engines.
