About Us

Ridge Locomotive Works is owned and operated by Marty Knox. Marty Knox has the knowledge and experience to provide high quality boiler services to the live steam community. Like many Live Steamers his initial interest was in machine work. While an Industrial Education student at Kean College he built his first locomotive chassis to the point where it was running on air and needed a boiler. Getting a quote of $600, he decided to build his own, and actually used it as a project for his Metals Fabrication Class.

Finding boilers fascinating, he took classes in Non-Destructive Testing, Ultrasonics, and Radiography. Upon graduation he took a job as a Quality Control Engineer with an engineering firm that built code pressure vessels. Later he took a job as a boilermaker in a chemical plant. While there he went to school 40 hours a week for 12 weeks to qualify as a code welder. During this period he started Ridge Locomotive Works, building boilers for live steam locomotives.

His railroad interest led him to change jobs, going to work for the Morristown & Erie Railway. After 4 years at the M&E he went full time with Ridge Locomotive Works and in January 1986 relocated to Texas, where he continued to build boilers and locomotives. In January 1990 he was hired as Master Mechanic for the Huckleberry Railroad, a 3’ gauge steam tourist railroad near Flint, Michigan. In October 1990 he was promoted to Chief Mechanical Officer, serving in this position for 16 ½ years. He retired on March 1, 2007 to once again operate Ridge Locomotive Works full-time. His experience building, designing, maintaining, and operating steam locomotives, from a 30 pound ‘Tich’ to a 400 ton Berkshire, can help YOU with your live steam projects. Contact me for a quote on your new boiler or boiler repair. Or check out the Price List.