Delaware steam railroad volunteers keep historic treasure tooting

David Ludlow knows what it takes to run a railroad. It might mean spending his weekends and evenings painting a diesel locomotive.

Or standing in a creek, waist high in water, clearing brush with a chainsaw.

Or pounding spikes into a fresh railroad tie with sweaty volunteers on the track maintenance gang.

Or explaining to a wide-eyed little boy who is taking his first train ride what a caboose is and what an engineer does.

Ludlow, 56, is executive director of the Wilmington & Western Railroad, which bills itself as Delaware's operating railroad museum. It's the only place in the state where you can take a ride on a vintage railroad coach pulled by a steam locomotive.

The producers of Great Scenic Railway Journeys, the Emmy-winning public television series that profiles some of the world's most historic and scenic tourist railways, were so intrigued that they recently spent three days filming the W&W for a program celebrating North America's steam railways. The occasion prompted the W&W to double-head its steam engines, the magnificent, pulse-stirring spectacle of two linked locomotives pulling one train.

"You don't see that anywhere in the United States. Very few tourist railroads do that," said Robert Van Camp, creator and producer of the series. "The Wilmington & Western is playing a significant role in presenting and preserving our deep American railroad heritage."

What's most impressive is that the Wilmington & Western still exists. This former branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which follows the sinuous course of the Red Clay Creek, became an excursion line in the mid-'60s. Then Mother Nature, evidently no rail fan, delivered a one-two punch. Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Tropical Storm Henri in 2003 swelled the creek to record levels and washed away bridges and track. Supported by federal disaster-relief funds, determined volunteers and contractors rebuilt the bridges and restored the line.

In its heyday in the late 19th century, the Wilmington & Western ran from downtown Wilmington to rural Landenberg in Chester County - a distance of 20 miles - where it connected with a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Three passenger trains and a mixed freight train operated six days a week, moving clay, snuff, iron, and coal to and from the many water-powered mills along the route.