An Ottaway locomotive and train set even went to France!
Orleans, France was the sister city of Wichita. Harold Swanson got things rolling to get the school children of Wichita to donate a train to the school children of Orleans. The train was set up downtown and the kids would pay what they could to ride on it. All proceeds went to the train fund. More donations came in and they raised around $5000 to get the train to Orleans.
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| The train operating in Wichita to raise funds |
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| An older image of the train operating in France |
The locomotive still works every year in a public park. Except this year, for the moment, because of Covid19.
I was excited to hear from someone in the know this June. Below is what he had to say and the 2 images are ones that he sent of the train as well.
"Only the boiler is not the original one. It is her third boiler. The second, built in the 1980's, had been changed for a new one in stainless steel in 2012. Fire is less strong, but the boiler itself is more safety.
I join you a picture of the train working four years ago, I was driving...
On the second picture, you can see the complete train.
The train started to run in this park in 1952, and in 2017, the Mayor of Wichita came here for her 65th aniversary... "
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| The owner of the photo operating the Ottaway in France May of 2016 |
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| The whole train operating in 2016 |
From the photos sent it looks like they are keeping the locomotive and it's cars in pristine shape. It's good to see it being so well cared for and still able to operate.