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		"Little Whistler" Date: 1969
That’s little me on the pilot step of the "Little Whistler" in 1969 at Doe River Gorge, then known as "Family Playland."  This engine never would work right due to the terrible design of the rebuild.  She ran out of steam five times in the gorge the day this picture was made, and that was just ONE TRIP!

	.	Lehigh, Illinois Date: Early 1960s
Here is the little engine at Lehigh Stone Company in Lehigh Illinois.  She was built for a company called Hopewell Fibres in Virginia by the Vulcan Iron Works in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1926.  From there she went to another company in Mass-a-tu-shus then over to Illinois to the rock crusher.  She and another engine went to Marion, North Carolina to be rebuilt at the Marion Machine Works about 1966.  She was given the Frankenstein treatment and came to the original Doe River Gorge Family Playland in 1968.  The other engine never came to Hampton but instead wound up at the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio. She is homely in this picture, isn’t she?  This picture was made by Don Ross in the early 1960’s, and is used with permission.

	.	"Poor Old Thing " Date: 1999
It has always been a personal goal of mine to fix this old engine up, get her running right and back into service. Here she is at Doe River Gorge the day we went to work on her in the winter of 1999 - 2000. "Poor old thing," I thought. At the end of the first day we had her separated from her tender and removed that hideous birdhouse headlight that was about to fall - see photo below.

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Work Begins Date: 1999

	.	Move to Johnson City Date: Winter 2000
We loaded her up and moved her from the Gorge a few days later, to the old narrow gauge shop in Johnson City, now the shops of the East Tennessee Railway. We put her over the narrow gauge pit on track 2, the traditional place for heavy repairs in the shop. It was right beside the machine shop and blacksmith shop. The black and white photo below right is a rare view inside the historic ET&WNC shops during the narrow gauge years.

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Track 2 Date: 2000

	.	In Dry Dock Date: 2000
Here the Little Whistler sat for six years.  During that time, we gained and lost a steam locomotive for use at the Doe River Gorge, rebuilt a narrow gauge diesel and two passenger cars, and got the railroad back in service from the camp to Pardee Point.  We also did some work on the poor old thing, and had her ready to come apart if the day came we needed her and the spirit moved us do get started.  We also stirred up the “Booger," the resident ghost who hangs out in the shop.  Notice all the orbs in the pictures made in the shop, supernatural fans.

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Poor Repairs Date: August 2006

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Running Gear Date: 2006

		Blow Torch Time Date: 2006 Ken Riddle and Glenn Berry
We had to do some cutting to get the steam dome cover off, and found her nearly new, unused Vulcan throttle valve inside.  The Marion people had some sort of ball valve arrangement.  I wasn’t about to let that throttle get away, so out came the torch again! Frank and Rick had suggested blasting her off to remove all the crud.  I am usually opposed to sandblasting anything on a locomotive, but she is going to have a complete running gear rebuild, so let her have it! In the photo below, up on the lowboy she goes to O. J. Gardner. Glenn Berry, Director of the Johnson City MTPO, photographed many of these shots for us. Glenn worked for Norfolk & Western Railway years ago and is an avid rail enthusiast.

Loaded Up Date: 2006

		Throttle Date: 2006
There’s the throttle after amputation. Below - there goes the Marion boiler-off to the scrap pile!  Good riddance to that POS!

Good Riddance Date: 2006

		O. J. Gardner's Date: 2006
It was a short ride over to O. J. Gardner's for blasting.

		Before... Date: 2006
O. J. and his crew were kind enough to pre-prime the running gear as well.

... And After Date: 2006

		Tweetsie Shops Date: 2006
Eddie Mason transported her across the mountain to Blowing Rock on his big rollback he has for Chuck Mason Equipment.  Here she is backing into the world famous Tweetsie Railroad shop.

The Pros Date: 2006

		Into the Shop Date: 2006
Don Scholl chopped off the rest of that dreadful Marion leading truck frame as we unloaded her. In the meantime, we found the world’s strongest pine 2 x 4.

		The Booger Date: 2006
The Booger rode over with us and posed with Don and Ricky at the Tweetsie Shop. Now the Little Whistler will have the rest of the Marion garbage removed and be de-wheeled and prepared to get new axles and driver tires.

To Be Continued... Date: 2006