Fundraising has begun to restore the historic Flying Yankee train, beginning with a plan to repair equipment known as the traction motors.

This year is the 90th anniversary of the Flying Yankee undergoing final preparations at the Budd Company for delivery to the Boston and Maine Railroad. The eye-catching train called Concord home for two decades before ending passenger service in 1955.  

The non-profit Flying Yankee Association purchased the train from the state in 2024 and moved it to Conway, where they plan to create a building to house it.  

The current fundraising drive hopes to complete work on the model GE 721 motors which are attached to the first two axles of the train. They used an electrical generator that was unusually small compared to conventional locomotive traction motors.

Both motors will be shipped to a qualified shop for restoration. The work is estimated to cost up to $30,000, funded through donations and grants over the coming months.

The Flying Yankee was one of a handful of trains built with the stainless steel “streamliner” design, which shared sets of wheels among the locomotive and the first two passenger cars. This made the train lighter but also made it harder to reconfigure for different jobs and hard to fit into some rail yards, which is why the design was eventually abandoned.

For more information, see the website at www.flyingyankee.org.