1. Accomplishments

2. Pacific Wilderness tourist train

3. Recent developments

4. References

5. External links

Ross E. Rowland, Jr. (Born 1940) is a figure in United States railroad preservation. He has run public and demonstration excursions on existing railroads utilizing steam locomotives.

Accomplishments

Rowland's most famous accomplishment was The American Freedom Train, a steam-powered exhibit train which toured much of the continental US over 1975 and 1976 in conjunction with the celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial.^[1]

Rowland has been connected with and operated some of the most famous U.S. excursion steam locomotives such as the Nickel Plate 759 2-8-4, currently at Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, Pennsylvania; the Reading 2101 4-8-4, currently at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland and the Chesapeake & Ohio 614 4-8-4.

During the 1980s, during a spike in oil prices, Rowland was instrumental in forming American Coal Enterprises, an organization dedicated to the design and production of modern, coal-fired, reciprocating, direct-drive steam locomotives designed to reduce or eliminate operational concerns associated with steam locomotives such as dynamic augment and to operate with enough efficiency to be economically viable to railroads.^[2] Rowland managed to obtain permission from CSX Transportation to operate a renumbered 614T in freight service in 1985 to obtain data in order to finalize the ACE 3000 design.

A preliminary design for the ACE 3000 was developed,^[3] but active development stopped prior to any effort to build a demonstrator or prototype when oil prices fell in the mid 1980s and it appeared that the disparity between coal and oil would not be sustained at a level significant enough to expect that a coal-fired locomotive would be economically feasible.

In the 1990s, Rowland operated public excursions on New Jersey Transit between Hoboken and Port Jervis. He announced preliminary plans to operate another steam-powered exhibit train, and was a critic of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Steamtown National Historic Site.^[4]

Pacific Wilderness tourist train

In the summers of 2000 and 2001, Rowland managed the Pacific Wilderness Railway (PAW) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This short lived tourist train consisted of a few older coach cars pulled by 2 GP20 diesels, traveling from Victoria to the peak of Malahat before returning to Victoria. The operation failed and ended operations abruptly in July 2001.^[5]

Recent developments

In early 2011 Ross announced the planned restoration and operation of the Greenbrier Presidential Express, a luxury train set to operate from Washington, D.C. to the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV.^[6] The train was being rebuilt in Pottstown, PA until financial circumstances forestalled its completion.

References

External links

• The Ultimate Steam Page - Information on Ross Rowland's ACE 3000 and other modern steam projects
• The Story of America's Freedom Trains - Information on the 1975 - 1976 American Freedom Train
• ThemeTrains.com - Information on the High Iron Company's Golden Spike Centennial Limited of 1969
• The Yellow Ribbon Express
• Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society

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