just saw on another forum that Ft Wayne is getting NKP 624. she's going to a good home.
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Really, Rich will be busy
Somebody somewhere should name a 2-8-2 the "Gilbert and Sullivan". I believe there was an order of 2-8-2's to Japan when THE MIKADO play was popular, hence the name of the wheel arrangement
The 2-8-2 got a good home.
Just out of curiosity, this engine is all plain bearing correct?
MJV1988 posted:Just out of curiosity, this engine is all plain bearing correct?
Since it was built in 1922 by Lima, I would have to say, yes. All plain bearings.
Tender looks huge, is it from one of the NKP Berks?
Ed
I thought the shop was already pretty..."Full" at the moment. Where's this thing going to go, and where is it coming from?
Wow, all of the sudden, it seems like there is an attempt to get every steam locomotive running. Think about it: 2100, 576, 2716, 611, 2102, 1309, 1702, 2156, and now 624. I can't wait!
I'll be patient! 
Railfan Brody posted:Wow, all of the sudden, it seems like there is an attempt to get every steam locomotive running. Think about it: 2100, 576, 2716, 611, 2102, 1309, 1702, 2156, and now 624. I can't wait!
I'll be patient!
2156 is not being restored.
John DeRoo posted:Railfan Brody posted:Wow, all of the sudden, it seems like there is an attempt to get every steam locomotive running. Think about it: 2100, 576, 2716, 611, 2102, 1309, 1702, 2156, and now 624. I can't wait!
I'll be patient!
2156 is not being restored.
What is Fire Up 2156 then?
An unauthorized, unofficial Facebook page. Nothing more.
nathansixchime posted:An unauthorized, unofficial Facebook page. Nothing more.
That makes more sense, because I knew it was a lease agreement.
If memory serves, Ron Zeil blasted the city for their poor preservation of this loco in his epic work, "Twilight of Steam Locomotives". Doesn't seem it has been better maintained since that time.
Yep, sure looks like she'll be going to a better home this way.
Looks in pretty sad shape. Is everything that's missing, gone or removed and preserved?? Being in Hammond I can probably imagine it's all gone.
I would assume it's stored somewhere hopefully....I'm not sure why they would want to restore it to operational condition. Since it is all plain bearing like Jack said then it's pretty much pointless to operate unless some shortline wants to operate it. But I think they have enough on their plate with 765 and the rest of their equipment.
More photos here: http://www.rgusrail.com/innkp624.html
My quote from TRAINS is correct - we'all be announcing more details when this is finalized in a few weeks. A lot of these items will be addressed. I can't think of much that wasn't considered prior to moving on this project.
And 4501 and 4449 have plain bearings, too...
As much as I like NKP 587, 624 is a MUCH nicer looking machine in my opinion. It looks like a baby Berk to my eyes. The 587 has a slightly gawky look about her. Might be a Baldwin VS Lima thing.
Kelly,
To be totally correct, SP 4449 has plain bearings ONLY on the four driver axles, and that is still the original SP designed & developed pressure feed oil lubricated, babbitted crown bearings. All other axles have been up-graded to roller bearings. Also, for what it's worth, the 4501 has had her driver axle plain bearings up-graded to the SP design pressure feed oil lubricated, babbitted crown bearings.
Right and 765 still has a few plain bearings on her trailing truck, but the point is that plain bearings alone don't rule out operation. "Friction bearings" on a steam locomotive are just one of those things that gets picked up by the masses as being a "deal killer" and repeated as gospel - to Timken's marketing credit 
Wasn't there talk about acquiring Nickel Plate Berkshire 757 for display at Headwaters Junction?
Nope. 757 belongs somewhere else...
Oh yeah, it's in PA. I meant 779.
Kelly,
What you say is partially true, however a VERY important "factor" which any host railroad considers with the potential operation of a steam locomotive, ESPECIALLY one with plain bearings, is the operating track record of the locomotive AND its crew. Locomotives such as 4501, 630, and 4449 have had their "issues" with plain bearings in the past, but do to the experience and professionalism of their respective crews, the host railroad wasn't "tied up", and the respective crews handled the problems by them selves.
In todays modern railroad management environs, without ANY experience pertaining to steam locomotive operations, especially ones with plain bearings, it has become much easier for them to just say no, to any new operators of large main line steam locomotives, and the "straw that breaks the camel's back" has tended to be the "plain bearing" issue.
What is so ironic in the whole "plain bearing" issue, the railroad mechanical departments have totally overlooked, or lost sight of, the fact that they all have thousands, and thousands of EMD and GE diesel electric locomotives operating all over their systems, all of which have traction motors mounted on each axle with PLAIN BEARING, oil lubricated TM support bearings!
Railfan Brody posted:Oh yeah, it's in PA. I meant 779.
779 is rightfully where it belongs in Lima Ohio. I don't think the FWRHS "needs" another Berk, unless there was one that desperately needed a home. 779 and 763 are in safe hands, 755 needs an indoor home but is in a deserving place and that leaves 757 and 759, which while they might be in museums that don't quite seem to know what to do with them, at least they are in museums. If the FWRHS can keep 765 going, move and spruce up 624 and get the Wabash 0-6-0 and NKP 358 running again, they will have their plate full for many years to come, never mind building a new facility and the freight cars they have that need help. I'm just excited about the possibility of being able to see an "authentic" NKP roundhouse with a Berk, a Mike and an SD9 in it.
The 757 is in PA, but it was initially slated for Bellevue, but the city couldn't afford the display site for it. That's not to say it won't wind it's way back this direction, but it won't be us that makes it happen.
The 624 is an example of a pretty dire case -- dwindling restoration prospects, aborted preservation attempts, no major fiscal sponsor, orphaned and vandalized and pretty much abandoned. Meanwhile, the 779 continues to get a little TLC from both the John Keller Memorial Fund, City of Lima, and members of the FWRHS. We aren't thinking in terms of "gee wouldn't it be neat of we had two Berks or Mikado and a Berk" -- we're thinking in terms of what makes a sensible, compelling cultural historical case and justifies time and expense.
The 624 is lucky that it's a Nickel Plate engine and has local and historical relevance to Fort Wayne. (That's why for example, the "other" 765 built for the EJ&E and in display in Gary is nowhere on our radar.) HWJ is not intended to be a grab-all for steam, running or static. Ideally it'll represent one of the six or roundhouses and engine terminals in Fort Wayne 70 years ago, but our intention is not to stuff it full of locomotives just for the fun of it. There are enough places where you can stare at static equipment parked nose-to-tail. As DieselBob mentions, there is a pretty compelling interpretative angle in being able to recreate what it was like to walk into a roundhouse in Fort Wayne in the 1950s...
And if I'm not mistaken, the land where HWJ is planned on is the old LS&MS yards..
It's close. The original site in mind was the former LS&MS/NYC yard northeast of this map, but that's a big question mark as far as development goes for the time being. Our bridesmaid location was a former NKP yard a mile away to the west where the NS main is. The current location is almost right in between the two where an old NYC depot still exists.
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nathansixchime posted:It's close. The original site in mind was the former LS&MS/NYC yard northeast of this map, but that's a big question mark as far as development goes for the time being. Our bridesmaid location was a former NKP yard a mile away to the west where the NS main is. The current location is almost right in between the two where an old NYC depot still exists.
I know there is going to be a narrow gauge railroad will be built between HWJ and the Fort Wayne Zoo. Will you guys be using the current train within the zoo? If not, diesel or steam? A shay would be nice.
The train to the zoo is still very conceptual. The engineering of the line and bridges will largely determine what power and equipment is used.
Good notes on the Alco!
She looks a lot more fixable than a lot of other locos I've seen in parks.
Does anyone know of any Lake Erie and Western survivors?
I don't see the line to the zoo being feasible, since the elevation over State Street was removed because it was a low overpass. It sounds good in theory, and I'd love to see it play out. The LS&MS ran pretty close along Wells street so it wouldn't be too far fetched other than crossing State Street.
Any time frame on moving the Mike?
The elevation over State Street is coming back when they widen and straighten the street. We're talking about putting a roundhouse and a railyard in the middle of a major downtown attraction, so I don't know if State Street is necessarily a "bridge too far."
Only time frame we can say right now is sometime next year.
pennytrains posted:She looks a lot more fixable than a lot of other locos I've seen in parks.
Does anyone know of any Lake Erie and Western survivors?
NKP 587 was built for the LE&W in 1918. Other than that, I don't think so.
nathansixchime posted:The elevation over State Street is coming back when they widen and straighten the street. We're talking about putting a roundhouse and a railyard in the middle of a major downtown attraction, so I don't know if State Street is necessarily a "bridge too far."
Only time frame we can say right now is sometime next year.
Since I believe we are talking about something somewhat less than "full size" railroad line, I don't think it would be that hard to raise the grade high enough to clear State Street, with or without the road changes. The smaller gauge you go, the steeper the grades you can realistically tackle. No very practical, but how about a 3' Shay to pull the Zoo train? 
The question I have, is once you get to Spy Run Creek, how do you turn west to get to the Zoo? Real estate looks to be short supply around there.
Either over or under Wells Street. The Zoo owns all the land at Point Zero here and will be expanding and laying down parking. Some of their upcoming architectural renderings will have a station and a loop track there. When the work on State Street progresses, they'll be putting down a pre-fabricated pedestrian bridge over the NYC ROW. Part what was absorbed by the NYC was the ROW of an interurban line on the west side of the NYC -- you can still see the abutments of both bridges on State Street.
As I mentioned, the Zoo and the connection to it are pretty conceptual still at this point. It's not in the first critical phases of the project, but seems like a mid-to-long term no brainer to connect the region's largest attraction to downtown - and by proxy HWJ and the 765
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