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Can anyone advise where this engine is located, and if it is available for viewing? Wife and I are planning a vacation, and we always stop for pictures at locations (Parks, etc.) that have engines on display. I recall there was an effort to "redesign" the 3463 some months ago "to improve its efficiency", and wondered if it has been moved.

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Hot,

Thanks. Will want to see that engine. I have convinced my "trip planner" that we should try to see several more on this trip. Can you or other posters advise if the following are still at the locations listed below:

Wichita, Kansas   Friends Univ. Park   ATSF   3768   4-8-4

Amarillo, TX   Santa Fe Park   ATSF   5000   2-10-4

Austin, TX   City Park   SP 786   2-8-2

Dallas   Texas State Fairgrounds    SLSF 4501, UP Big Boy 4018, others

Fort Worth   Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum  T&P 610   2-10-4

Lubbock   Texas Tech College  FW&D   401   2-8-2

Texarkana   KCS-L&A   253  0-8-0

I have an old (1956?) book by the AAR of "Steam Locomotives on Display in the United States"

So......some of that info may be obsolete!!

I probably should also ask if I may have missed some "big and modern steam" along this general route.

Hudson5432 posted:

Hot,

Thanks. Will want to see that engine. I have convinced my "trip planner" that we should try to see several more on this trip. Can you or other posters advise if the following are still at the locations listed below:

Wichita, Kansas   Friends Univ. Park   ATSF   3768   4-8-4

Amarillo, TX   Santa Fe Park   ATSF   5000   2-10-4

Austin, TX   City Park   SP 786   2-8-2

Dallas   Texas State Fairgrounds    SLSF 4501, UP Big Boy 4018, others

Fort Worth   Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum  T&P 610   2-10-4

Most/many of the others you have listed are still in those cities, to the best of my knowledge. However, the T&P 2-10-4 #610 is now on the Texas State Railway, but I do not know which town it is located in.

Lubbock   Texas Tech College  FW&D   401   2-8-2

Texarkana   KCS-L&A   253  0-8-0

I have an old (1956?) book by the AAR of "Steam Locomotives on Display in the United States"

So......some of that info may be obsolete!!

I probably should also ask if I may have missed some "big and modern steam" along this general route.

 

Hudson5432,    When you leave Wichita, heading South on I-35, stop off at the town park in Blackwell, Oklahoma.  Do not remember what the type of engine it is, but is St. Fe and they also have an old ATSF station in the park.  Not certain of the full name of the park (has been 8 years since last been there), but it is Beatty Park, or something like it.  There is also the Railway Museum here in OKC, located a short drive off I-35 @ 3400 NE Grand Blvd.

Jesse     TCA  12-68275

Dieselbob posted:

All of the equipment that was at the Texas State Fair is now out at the new museum location in Frisco.   Whether it can be easily viewed/toured out there right now, I can't say.

Last time I was there a few years back it was all parked on a track far from street viewing access. We did not know the museum had been relocated and had gone to see it. Understand it is now open to the public.

Met a nice lady at the Frisco Heritage Museum though, an interesting little place.

Hudson5432 posted:

Hot,

Thanks. Will want to see that engine. I have convinced my "trip planner" that we should try to see several more on this trip. Can you or other posters advise if the following are still at the locations listed below:

Wichita, Kansas   Friends Univ. Park   ATSF   3768   4-8-4

Amarillo, TX   Santa Fe Park   ATSF   5000   2-10-4

Austin, TX   City Park   SP 786   2-8-2

Dallas   Texas State Fairgrounds    SLSF 4501, UP Big Boy 4018, others

Fort Worth   Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum  T&P 610   2-10-4

Lubbock   Texas Tech College  FW&D   401   2-8-2

Texarkana   KCS-L&A   253  0-8-0

I have an old (1956?) book by the AAR of "Steam Locomotives on Display in the United States"

So......some of that info may be obsolete!!

I probably should also ask if I may have missed some "big and modern steam" along this general route.

You should be able to visit the "Big Boy".  As stated above, it's in Frisco, TX now.  Call the museum first as it's a little odd.  What I mean by odd is you get your tickets down the road and then you go back to the actual museum.  It's still not 100% finished yet but is definately open to the public. 

Ps.. Make your trip there around lunch as there's a Babes located next door to the museum.  Probably the best fried chicken I've ever had. 

Driving vacation completed, and my "navigator" routed us through a number of locations where steam is on display.

ATSF 3463 at Topeka. Engine outside and not in very good shape. Main rod missing on engineer's side, etc. Hope a group can sponsor this and restore it cosmetically.

Great Bend, OK. ATSF Pacific 3416. Engine well cared for and in great shape. Boiler lagging missing but probably due to need to remove asbestos.

Wichita. ATSF Northern 3768. "Museum of the Great Plains" not open so just saw it parked on a RR bridge. Engine appears to be well cared for.

Oklahoma City. ATSF Prairie 1096. Engine needs some TLC......

Railway Museum of Oklahoma. ATSF Consolidation 643. Museum closed but I shot through the fence. Engine appears to be in good shape.

Lubbock. Texas Tech campus. FW&D Mikado 401. Arrived after hours but was able to photograph the engine, which appears to be in good shape.

Amarillo. Madam Queen ATSF 5000. Engine well cared for but rods rusty.

We also visited the museum at Frisco, TX. The museum had not yet opened but I was able to photograph the Frisco Northern 4501, UP Big Boy 4018, and a few diesels. The Frisco museum appears to be a first class operation.

It amazes me how many engines ATSF donated to online communities at the end of the steam age. I was pleased to see how well most of the ATSF (and other) engines were being cared for. Hope someone can rescue the 3463 before it is too late.

Photos are below. My thanks to all who provided info.



01-005-DSC_2269-ATSF346302-010-DSC_2287-ATSF341603-015-DSC_2303-ATSF376804-020-DSC_2306-ATSF109606-045-DSC_2320-RR Museum07-060-DSC_2350-ATSF500009-090-20170316_183114-FW&D40117-360-DSC_2425-Frisco1917-365-DSC_2433-Frisco450117-370-DSC_2438-UP4018

Attachments

Images (10)
  • 01-005-DSC_2269-ATSF3463
  • 02-010-DSC_2287-ATSF3416
  • 03-015-DSC_2303-ATSF3768
  • 04-020-DSC_2306-ATSF1096
  • 06-045-DSC_2320-RR Museum
  • 07-060-DSC_2350-ATSF5000
  • 09-090-20170316_183114-FW&D401
  • 17-360-DSC_2425-Frisco19
  • 17-365-DSC_2433-Frisco4501
  • 17-370-DSC_2438-UP4018
Last edited by Rich Melvin
Hot Water posted:

The locomotive has not moved, and is still in front of the Expo Center in Topeka, Kansas. In my opinion, it will never move, as legal action was taken against the group in Minnesota, and there has been enough support to keep the locomotive in Topeka.

I don,t get it.A change for a locomotive to brought back to operation.Instead of just sitting there in the park.I do not understand a move like this.I rather see a steam locomotive in action rather just sitting in a park.

Last edited by seaboardm2

It's always been my opinion that the ATSF 3460, which sits only a few blocks from Topeka Shops, should have been the poster child for a well-preserved steam engine.  How do all the retired Santa Fe Machinists, Carpenters, and Electricians feel when they see this engine?  And, believe me, it has been worse in the past.  It got a paint job a few years ago.

My only guess as to the reason for the embarrassing condition of the engine is that there is something political that has prevented good care.  And I am not just referring to city politics.  Perhaps politics in railroad affinity groups played into it as well.  There is certainly an abundance of skilled shop employees, active and retired, in Topeka.

Last edited by Number 90
seaboardm2 posted:
Hot Water posted:

The locomotive has not moved, and is still in front of the Expo Center in Topeka, Kansas. In my opinion, it will never move, as legal action was taken against the group in Minnesota, and there has been enough support to keep the locomotive in Topeka.

I don,t get it.A change for a locomotive to brought back to operation.Instead of just sitting there in the park.I do not understand a move like this.I rather see a steam locomotive in action rather just sitting in a park.

As I recall, there's a question about who legally owns the locomotive and may have been "sold" by a group that didn't own it.

Last news I could find was in 2015.  Guess it's still tied up in court.

Rusty

Rusty Traque posted:
seaboardm2 posted:
Hot Water posted:

The locomotive has not moved, and is still in front of the Expo Center in Topeka, Kansas. In my opinion, it will never move, as legal action was taken against the group in Minnesota, and there has been enough support to keep the locomotive in Topeka.

I don,t get it.A change for a locomotive to brought back to operation.Instead of just sitting there in the park.I do not understand a move like this.I rather see a steam locomotive in action rather just sitting in a park.

As I recall, there's a question about who legally owns the locomotive and may have been "sold" by a group that didn't own it.

Last news I could find was in 2015.  Guess it's still tied up in court.

Rusty

Rusty,

There was an article in the Topeka news paper, on April 10, stating that the Judge issued a finding AGAINST that "group" trying to "save" the 3463. So,,,,,,,she just might be on her way to Minnesota to be turned into a bio-chip burner. Assuming of course that the group in Minnesota is able to obtain government funding under the current/new administration.

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