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Ross E. Rowland, Jr. 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.〔http://bodwyn.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/ross-e-rowland-steam-railroading-titan/ Freedom Train〕 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. 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,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 U. S. Patent 4425763 )〕 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Attendance Shortfalls at Steamtown National Historic Site Prompt Calls for Privatization )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ross Rowland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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