Ross Rowland

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.

Early life and financial career
Born in Albany, New York in 1940, Rowland's family relocated to Cranford, New Jersey in 1945, where Ross frequented local railroad roundhouses as a child. Rowland's father, grandfather and great-grandfather all had railroad careers which contributed to Ross's interest in trains as a child. At the age of 14, Rowland left his family home in 1954 to hitchhike following a dispute with his parents. After returning to Cranford, eventually a local friend would invite Ross at the age of 17 to start a career in the futures exchanges in New York City. In 1966 Rowland founded Floor Broker Associates Inc. He also served on the board of COMEX, a precious metals investment firm. Rowland would work in commodities for 33 years prior to retiring.

During his commodities career, Rowland would be sued by Henry Leffert Ramm, who accused Rowland of an adulterous relationship with Ramm's wife Lynn Ruth Ramm in 1984. Henry Ramm sued Rowland for damages. Rowland appealed the case for a jurisdiction dispute to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas under Judge David Hittner in the case Ramm v. Rowland in 1987 who denied Rowland's motion to relocate the case and returned the case to the Texas state courts.

Steam excursion career
Ross Rowland began operating steam excursion trains in the form of his newly formed High Iron Company on October 13, 1966, and he would subsequently create several trains that would be pulled by steam, including the Golden Spike Centennial Limited train in 1969. 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 United States Bicentennial. Rowland's actions in setting up the American Freedom Train would lead to him being awarded an honorary lifetime membership in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The American Freedom Train was met by some protest, particularly from American Indian Movement and People's Bicentennial Commission activists concerned about inadequate coverage on the train regarding African American and Native American history. Rowland responded to the criticism by offering a tour to some protestors while stating "We only have 700 linear feet, so we can't do everyone satisfactory."

Rowland has been connected with and operated several U.S. excursion steam locomotives, including Canadian Pacific 1278, 1238, 1286, Nickel Plate Road 759, Reading 2101, and Chesapeake and Ohio 614.

ACE 3000 Project
During the 1980s, with 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 and to operate with enough efficiency to be economically viable to railroads. Rowland managed to obtain permission from CSX Transportation to operate C&O 614 in freight service in 1985, to obtain data in order to finalize the ACE 3000 design. The ACE 3000 originally started development as a Steam turbine locomotive design, but was changed to a traditional reciprocating drive as development continued.

A preliminary design for the ACE 3000 was developed, 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.

21st Century Limited
In 1992, Rowland along with Ralph Weisinger proposed the 21st Century Limited, a theme train hauled by C&O 614 with custom railcars and displays. Rowland initially projected the train would run by 1996, and 614 was briefly wrapped in the colors of the train for a photoshoot to advertise the project. Rowland sought out several sponsors for the train and was able to sign Chrysler as a sponsor. The project would eventually be cancelled.

In the 1990s, Rowland operated public excursions on New Jersey Transit between Hoboken and Port Jervis until the retirement of C&O 614. Rowland has been a critic of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Steamtown National Historic Site.

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 coaches pulled by 2 GP20 diesels, traveling from Victoria to the peak of Malahat before returning to Victoria. The operation was criticized for lacking any proper station or accommodations at Malahat, and a lack of scenic sights along the route. Further criticism highlighted the age of the rolling stock, a failure to attract cruise traffic such as the success of Alaska's White Pass and Yukon Route, and the failure to bring in an operating steam engine due to weight limits on bridges over the PAW line. The operation failed, and ended in July 2001.

Later career
From 2007 to 2017, Rowland promoted the concept of a "Yellow Ribbon Express" for the benefit of the Wounded Warrior Project. In early 2011, Rowland announced the planned 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. However, problems with capacity on the Buckingham Branch Railroad and with steam operation into Washington, D.C. killed the project's feasibility. By 2014, many of the passenger cars bought for the Greenbrier Express were sold at auction, bringing an end to the project.

In the early 2000s Ross attempted to sell C&O 614 at auction, however no buyers surfaced. In 2002 it was announced Andrew J. Muller of the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad had purchased the locomotive from Rowland, however this deal would later fall apart and Rowland retained ownership of the locomotive. C&O 614 was moved from storage in Pennsylvania to static display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in 2011. It has since been moved to display in Clifton Forge, Virginia, at the C&O Railway Heritage Center, where it is currently wearing the green paint scheme of the failed Greenbrier Express project. Although on static display, Rowland still owns the engine through the American Freedom Train Foundation.

In 2016, Ross Rowland founded a new "American Freedom Train Foundation" to promote a 2026 Freedom Train concept for the United States Semiquincentennial. Criticism of the American Freedom Train 2026 and the prior Yellow Ribbon Express has come from railfans who have speculated they were projects whose primary goal was to fundraise money for restoration of Rowland's C&O 614. Rowland volunteered to portray Santa Claus in a 2018 Toys for Tots train event. Rowland frequently operates as a guest steam locomotive engineer at the New Hope Railroad, and was an avid boater as well until selling his ship the Hustler in 2021. In 2021, Rowland received a lifetime achievement award from the HeritageRail Alliance.