Reading 2100

Railfan Brody posted:

For the past year, Reading T1 2100 has been under restoration. The big unknown is when exactly it will be ready. Also, people are wondering what configuration it will wear: the freight configuration, or the Rambles configuration.

Share when you think it will be done,

A waste of time to speculate on this, in my opinion.

and/or what configuration you like better.

Even though I rode the very first Iron Horse Ramble with #2124, in 1959, I still prefer the original "word day" freight service appearance.

Is it just me, or are these T1's, mechanically, easy to restore?

No, the 2100, as are all the "earlier" T1 class, NOT equipped with roller bearings.

Ross' team completed one in a month, and 2100 is almost done not even a year later.

That was back in 1974/1975 and well prior to the current FRA mandated boiler requirements.

Maybe its the mechanical aspect, or maybe you just need money and a good crew.

The key is MONEY,,,,,,,,and LOTS OF IT!

 

I would hope it gets finished soon. But don't forget the 2102 is also being restored. I wonder which T1 will be finished first. The freight configuration would look best.

RaritanRiverRailroadFan4 posted:

I would hope it gets finished soon. But don't forget the 2102 is also being restored. I wonder which T1 will be finished first. The freight configuration would look best.

I would put my money on the 2102 being finished first.

Money and time allowed the teams that are restoring these locos will determine when the'll be ready.

Of course, the final paint scheme will be decided by those who own them, but for me, I would prefer to see them in the original schemes, as they looked when running in their prime.

I feel like it's going to be a close race with 2100 and 2102. And I prefer the Iron Horse Rambles configuration.

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Railfan Brody posted:

I feel like it's going to be a close race with 2100 and 2102.

Why? The 2102 is owned by the Blue Mountain & Reading RR (Andy Muller), and generally /mainly needs the FRA mandated 15 year boiler recertification, plus she is already a coal burner. The 2100, after all the necessary work, must still be "converted" back to a coal burner.

 

645 posted:

The 2101's 30-day restoration was an unusual situation. Ross himself has said a restoration on that scale and speed has never happened before and never will happen again. Today's regulations and FRA inspections were not a factor back then as Hot Water has pointed out plus there were more people still around with working knowledge of steam locomotives which helped too. I assume you have already seen the link below about 2101's 30-day miracle?

http://www.freedomtrain.org/am...1-30-day-miracle.htm

I've read it before.

A better comparison for you on the speed of a large steam restoration project in today's world is N&W 611 which was retired in 1994 from it's first period of excursion service. It was stored in excellent complete condition - no rusted boiler, missing parts, etc. here! They also had millions of dollars in donations including a million-plus provided by Norfolk Southern themselves. The second restoration was started on June 2, 2014 and 611 was test run under her own power on May 9, 2015 which is about 9 months start-to-finish. This restoration has been the fastest one done with large steam in modern/recent times - condition of 611 at start of this second restoration and the many dollars donated were a key factor here in how quickly it returned to steam. You can read more at the below link in the section titled "Second Restoration and Excursions":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%26W_J_class_(1941)

Bottom line - the typical big steam restoration project does not get such a high level of monetary donations or if they do, it takes years to raise the funds. As Hot Water said - it takes MONEY - lots and lots of it! Look at Union Pacific - they have a dedicated steam crew, shop and budget which most organizations lack and it still takes UP time to perform a restoration. Keep in mind UP has a budget for their steam program unlike most organizations which rely mainly on donations.

(Also, I will not discuss if UP's current steam crew is competent or not - there are many other threads on this forum and others that have discussed same to death in the past. If that topic interests you please search for those threads as it has no place here regarding your question about how quick a 2100 or otehrt large steamer can be restored.)

I wasn't discussing the competence of steam crews.

If you want to see 2100 (or whatever engine of your choosing) return to steam sooner rather than later I suggest you send the organization much as you can donate. And let's not overlook support for active engines either - for example I'm sure the caretakers of SP 4449 or NKP 765 to naem two known worthy steamers would welcome donations to put towards maintenance, fuel and a fund for the engine's next restoration when the current 1,472 day certificate it operates under expires.

I am a member of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.

As for how 2100 should be restored - who cares long as it is back under steam if/when that day comes. It will be done when it is done!

They are almost certain that 2100 will be back under steam. They are almost ready for the boiler test.

Hot Water posted:

Railfan Brody posted:

I feel like it's going to be a close race with 2100 and 2102.

Why? The 2102 is owned by the Blue Mountain & Reading RR (Andy Muller), and generally /mainly needs the FRA mandated 15 year boiler recertification, plus she is already a coal burner. The 2100, after all the necessary work, must still be "converted" back to a coal burner.

 

 

From what I've heard, 2100 should be complete in early 2017.

Railfan Brody posted:

I feel like it's going to be a close race with 2100 and 2102. And I prefer the Iron Horse Rambles configuration.

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Yeah of course. You provide good content. Keep up the good work.

The Iron Horse Rambles looks better, however most Reading T-1's were designed for freight service in the 1940's.

Lee Fritz

Saw one when I was 6 years old and can see it in my my like yesterday.  There was a T1, a flat car with Santa and his elves, a passenger car and a caboose.  The drivers were massive to a kid.  I remember when she pulled out the wheels slipped, but she went down the track like a rocket.

Also my neighbor was the engineer on 2100 rambles.  He's passed on now, but he asked me if I wanted to "take a ride on the steam excursion".  At 11, I didn't know what that was.

A friend gave me a picture of 2100 at Jenkintown, and there was my neighbor hanging out the cab.  Also on the 2100 video, he's packing the train through the Y at Hagerstown?

And the rambles paint scheme is the classiest.

Which video would this be? Would like to see this Hagerstown clip.

Make mine in freight black, with a side of polished side rods.

Pure elegance.

Rusty

October 15, 2016:

Vandy tender behind IC car is 2100's canteen car.

This project is having difficulty financially, mechanically, administratively and otherwise.

I think it's going to be a very long time before this one runs...if ever.

What a GREAT topic! Thanks for posting, everyone!

I'll cast another vote for the Rambles paint scheme. Here is a Lionel's 2100 (6-18006; 1989) painted and detailed as 2124 by three Forumites. The final photo was taken of 2102 in the R&N Steam Shop.

So based on pictures of 2100 and 2102 it seems the 2102 is the more likely candidate for being completed first. That would be interesting. I wonder if R&N would paint the RBMN on the tender. I wouldn't care for that. I also would want to see a picture of CNJ 113 next to the 2102.

OGR Webmaster posted:

This project is having difficulty financially, mechanically, administratively and otherwise.

I think it's going to be a very long time before this one runs...if ever.

But the kid who started this thread "heard" that the 2100 will be complete early next year.  Who to believe?  

Thanks for chiming in Rich and keeping this conversation grounded in reality. 

cta4391 posted:

OGR Webmaster posted:

This project is having difficulty financially, mechanically, administratively and otherwise.

I think it's going to be a very long time before this one runs...if ever.

But the kid who started this thread "heard" that the 2100 will be complete early next year.  Who to believe?  

Thanks for chiming in Rich and keeping this conversation grounded in reality. 

To be fair. There are many rumors going around and no one can be sure what is the truth at this point. From my perspective the people in charge of the restoration (American Steam Railroad) make it seem like the restoration is close to completion when in reality judging by those photos it will take a lot longer to finish the restoration.

The group that is restoring 2100 turned me off when they kept talking big things when they purchased Frisco 2-8-2 1352 in Taylorville, IL. As soon as 2100 came along it seems 1352 was forgotten about and it still sits in Taylorville. 

I hope one of them gets done soon, I really want to ride behind one before going to my underground condo.

IF we only knew some of the people at the AOSR.. They would be ones who could give a good answer on a timeline for restos.

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

IF we only knew some of the people at the AOSR.. They would be ones who could give a good answer on a timeline for restos.

Then again, if you actually knew some of the folks in that group you would understand some of the "issues". Just my opinion but, I wouldn't believe them if they told me the sun rises in the east and sets in the west,,,,,,,I'll double check THAT this evening! 

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

IF we only knew some of the people at the AOSR.. They would be ones who could give a good answer on a timeline for restos.

Kelly Lynch

As far as ASOR goes, they have a lot of worthwhile goals and rehabilitating any and all steam locomotives to operating condition are only a part of them.

As far as 2100 goes, Dan Pluta is recently involved and the locomotive is not that far off from a hydro. There's not a steam locomotive group out there that hasn't had a change of personnel or a rough patch or two.

Spoony81 posted:

The group that is restoring 2100 turned me off when they kept talking big things when they purchased Frisco 2-8-2 1352 in Taylorville, IL. As soon as 2100 came along it seems 1352 was forgotten about and it still sits in Taylorville. 

It was never forgotten, but when you have an engine that is 70% of the way closer to running versus 100%, which one do you pursue?

I was lucky enough to be able to see 2100 during her test runs and on the weekend runs of the disasterous "Golden Pacific" lunch train to nowhere, out of Tacoma.

I'll be happy when that stupid name is removed off the side of the tender and the ditch lights buried deep within the center of the Earth.

p51 posted:

I was lucky enough to be able to see 2100 during her test runs and on the weekend runs of the disasterous "Golden Pacific" lunch train to nowhere, out of Tacoma.

I'll be happy when that stupid name is removed off the side of the tender and the ditch lights buried deep within the center of the Earth.

The name has been crossed off, and the ditch lights were cut off the locomotive. That excursion really was awful in every way. I'm actually glad I wasn't there.

Railfan Brody posted:

That excursion really was awful in every way. I'm actually glad I wasn't there.

Actually, I rode the excursion once (was going to ride again but they went belly-up quickly) and I enjoyed it. The cars were spotless, the staff was extremely friendly and the food at the end of the run was very good. Heck, they even did a photo run-by and a Q&A with the crew at Frederickson. It wasn't cheap, but I'm very glad I rode it.

Lots of people were nay-sayers about it being a bad experience for paying customers, but I suspect none of them actually rode it to experience it first-hand.

It was a disaster only in the sense of a business decision, but for the experience of riding it. The Spirit of Washington Dinner train tried the same route soon after this operation folded and the route killed it, too.

The Reading T-1's were re-built at Reading PA from some other type of steam engine that they took the boiler and drive wheels from and widened the firebox. If I am correct they were re-built from 1940 to 1945. The numbers for the Reading T-1's were 2100 to 2129. I think the weight of a fully loaded(water & coal in tender) Reading T-1 was close to 400 tons.

Lee Fritz

phillyreading posted:

The Reading T-1's were re-built at Reading PA from some other type of steam engine that they took the boiler and drive wheels from and widened the firebox. If I am correct they were re-built from 1940 to 1945. The numbers for the Reading T-1's were 2100 to 2129. I think the weight of a fully loaded(water & coal in tender) Reading T-1 was close to 400 tons.

Lee Fritz

I think they used their I-10 2-8-0s for the conversions to the T-1, correct?  That always amazed me, given how compact an I-10 is compared to how gigantic and sprawling a T-1 is!

The Reading RR got parts from Baldwin Locomotive works to help with the rebuilding work. The Reading T-1's were 4-8-4 steam engines.

Lee Fritz

Eddie Marra posted:

phillyreading posted:

The Reading T-1's were re-built at Reading PA from some other type of steam engine that they took the boiler and drive wheels from and widened the firebox. If I am correct they were re-built from 1940 to 1945. The numbers for the Reading T-1's were 2100 to 2129. I think the weight of a fully loaded(water & coal in tender) Reading T-1 was close to 400 tons.

Lee Fritz

I think they used their I-10 2-8-0s for the conversions to the T-1, correct?  That always amazed me, given how compact an I-10 is compared to how gigantic and sprawling a T-1 is!

From Wikipedia:

The T-1 class was designed by a consortium of the Reading Company's superintendent of motive power and rolling equipment, E.P. Gangewere and a team of engineers at the Baldwin Locomotive Works.^[1] The class was the brainchild of Reading Company President Revelle W. Brown, who had previously been President of the Lehigh Valley railroad. During his tenure on the Lehigh Valley, Brown had been thoroughly impressed by the road's 4-8-4 "Wyoming" locomotives. Upon becoming President of the Reading Company, Brown wanted a similar class of locomotives to replace the 2-8-0s, 2-8-2s, and 2-10-2s which handled the majority of freight traffic on the Reading system.^[2]

The T-1 class were built between 1945 and 1947 at the Reading Company's main locomotive shop in Reading, PA, using the boiler, firebox, and several other components of thirty existing I-10sa class 2-8-0s. The main reason for this was that the War Productions Board had outlawed the design of new locomotives, but allowed them to be rebuilt and modernized.

To fit the new cast steel engine beds supplied by General Steel Casting Corporation, the boiler was lengthened. This was done by replacing the first two boiler courses and adding a 187 in extension in addition to adding a new 111 in smokebox.^[2] The firebox was modified by adding thermic syphons and a combustion chamber.^[1]

Roller bearings supplied by Timken or SKF were used on the four wheel pilot and trailing trucks as well as the six wheel tender trucks. The first 20 examples, (2100-2119) used friction bearings on the eight driving wheels, while the final 10 (2120-2129), intended for both freight and passenger service, had roller bearings throughout.^[1] The driving wheels themselves used the Boxpok design with a diameter of 70 in.

Rusty

Hello Everyone,

First off wanted to say thank you to all of our supporters and donors some of you that are on here support the 2100 project.   Because of this we continue to work on the 2100 with an all volunteer crew which meets on Saturdays throughout the year.     After reading some of the comments I wanted to address a few of them.  

1. The first one being 2100 will never run again or will be long time before it does run.    This is not true at all.   We continue to work on 2100 at pace that time and money allow us to do.   I would say the donations that come in or reoccurring donors we have on the 21.00 a month program allows us to bring either more paid help to move the project along faster or allows us to purchase the materials required to complete a section of the overall project.   

All of us do this on a volunteer bases so sometimes we have 10 people to help because everyone schedules line up that Saturday or we have 5 people because not everyone could get the time off to come out.    So the project very much ebbs and flows based on dollars and volunteer labor to help out.   So the person who made the comment should very much understand this issue.

I'll also say everyone who has been on a steam locomotive restoration or maintenance project understands that you'll find items that a visual inspection may not find or your taking care of items that have been looked over in the name of just run the locomotive.   A good example of looking over a item for the sake of running the locomotive was the throttle valves.   Our group had to pause to address the very leaky throttle on 2100 and that took several weeks and a machinist and addition $4,000 dollars which was not part of the original plan but you only have one time to do it right.   So one part of the plan gets delayed to put resources on the that project to see it to completion. 

2.  As far as the paint scheme 2100 will be painted in?    We have decided  that already but that is off in the distance and our concern is getting the locomotive mechanical completed first before applying the paint.

3.  We are working on fundraising right now to get the next part of the boiler done which will includes the needed plumbing, rest of the work to do the hydro and to replace all of the flexible steam hose with correct steam rated black piping and many more smaller copper pipe runs needed for the stoker installation.  Estimated cost is between 5K to 10K to get this section completed.

We are working on the locomotive as quickly as possible and sorry it's not a quickly as folks would like to see but I encourage you to come out  and volunteer labor hours or become a donor to the 21.00 program to help purchase the items we need to complete the project.   We have FRA boiler time left on this locomotive and it would be a shame not to get some of these mechanical issues fixed sooner then later so we can all enjoy seeing a Reading T1 #2100 run again which our goal we would like to see is fall of 2017.

I would ask if have question or concerns or comments you can write us at contact@americansteamrailroad.org   We are more then happy to answer folks questions instead of speculation about what is going on.

Please also consider making a tax deductible donation before the end of the year at https://www.fireup2100.org/donate  

Best Regards,

Steven M Harvey
President
American Steam Railroad

I am just glad you are restoring it.  If money weren't a problem, I'd send you a nice donation.  I guess one of my bucket list is to ride behind 2100 and take photos of her and with her.

Thanks for all your efforts and maybe with a new president, I and other will have more money and can donate.

Francine

OGR Webmaster posted:

This project is having difficulty financially, mechanically, administratively and otherwise.

I think it's going to be a very long time before this one runs...if ever.

Other wise Rich, there are folks working on the engine now where there may have been none,  let's give them a chance, a thousand mile journey starts with the first steps.  Hopefully there luck will change and there endeavors will be rewarded. 

NKPSTEAM779- Thank you for that information. That clears up most of the comments on here.

It's no wonder 2100 will be finished later as it will be much more of a challenge to restore it unlike 2102.

I wonder if there are now TOO MANY steamers restored/trying to be restored? First, it takes money to restore and keep it running.  Many people can only give to one project; hence is this a case of Peter robbing Paul?  Also, there is the case of "too much" removing the "Wow!" factor.

The FRA now has strict inspections.  But are we one major boiler accident from the whole gig being over?

Dominic Mazoch posted:

I wonder if there are now TOO MANY steamers restored/trying to be restored? First, it takes money to restore and keep it running.  Many people can only give to one project; hence is this a case of Peter robbing Paul?  Also, there is the case of "too much" removing the "Wow!" factor.

The FRA now has strict inspections.  But are we one major boiler accident from the whole gig being over?

Personally, I think "one major boiler accident" is the least of the concerns.

I remember reading that 2100's oil conversion was done with a "gun-type" oil burner... as someone who often works on (and hates) oil furnaces, I'd like to see some pics of THAT set-up.  Couldn't find any online...