Reading 2100

mlavender480 posted:

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...

I've never seen a photo "on line" either. Probably since the bozo that did the "conversion" didn't want anyone to see what he did. 

2102 at Belle Vernon, PA 1976.

Mike, ASR has removed the Tube Goldberg oil firing set up from the 2100.  She is in the process of being converted back to coal firing.

Pretty much all of the old, gaudy "Ferroquis" lettering and the ditch lights have been removed.

The throttle valves have been tried and lapped in preparation for the hydro.  We also discovered a drain hole had been drilled in the dry pipe.  This waa to allow any moisture to drain out of the dry pipe and not freeze while it was in storage in eastern WA.  This turned out to be the cause of a pesky leak when we were pressurizing the boiler under very low air pressure prior to the hydro earlier this fall.  The hole was tapped and plugged and the problem solved.

As a friend of mine who has been in railroad Preservation a lot longer than I have stated, projects like these "move at the speed of money".  They also consume dollars at an exponential rate.  So, that being said, if you feel so moved, ASR and 2100 would greatly benefit from your support.  If you are considering any year end giving options, please consider donating to Fireup2100.org.  If you would like to leave a lasting legacy for your kids or grandkids, sign up for a $21.00 a month subscription in their name.

Stay tuned for more updates in the next few weeks.  Lastly, if you hear a rumor, don't hesitate to ask the people in the know instead of spreading unfounded second hand information.  That does nothing to further the preservation efforts of any project.

Sincerely,

Rob Gardner

ASR Fundraising Chairman

I'm so surprised at how so many restoration projects sprung up in the last few years: 611, 2100, 2102, 576, and 2716. I don't want to be rude, but Ross Rowland eat your heart out!

Excellent point, Brody.  We appear to be in the midst of a steam renaissance these last few years, which is a good thing!  And don't forget, many of today's restoration projects had their inspiration from so many of Ross' adventures with the 759, 2101 and 614 over the years.

Rob Gardner

Rob Gardner posted:

Excellent point, Brody.  We appear to be in the midst of a steam renaissance these last few years, which is a good thing!  And don't forget, many of today's restoration projects had their inspiration from so many of Ross' adventures with the 759, 2101 and 614 over the years.

Rob Gardner

Definitely true. I wish 614 would get back to the mainline again!

Does Ross Rowland have a plan for 614 after he isn't around anymore to take care of her? I know 70 is the new 50. But no one is going to live forever.

From what I remember, over ten years ago, when the #614 was stored on the R&N in Port Clinton. The engine was evaluated and found to be pretty well worn out. The R&N may have considered purchasing the #614 at that time but decided not to.  

Railfan Brody posted:

Defiantly true. I wish 614 would get back to the mainline again!

The word is "definitely" not "defiantly."

That depends upon your point of view.

I really need to upload the video I took of 2100 in Tacoma. I haven't watched it in years...

p51 posted:

I really need to upload the video I took of 2100 in Tacoma. I haven't watched it in years...

Do you have a YouTube channel? Mine is Approach Medium Productions.

Railfan Brody posted:

J 611 posted:

Does Ross Rowland have a plan for 614 after he isn't around anymore to take care of her? I know 70 is the new 50. But no one is going to live forever.

"...but as most of us know, the FRA doesn't like new ideas involving historical equipment, and they created an obstacle that Ross and his team couldn't beat."

...

Railfan Brody posted:

p51 posted:

I really need to upload the video I took of 2100 in Tacoma. I haven't watched it in years...

Do you have a YouTube channel? Mine is Approach Medium Productions.

Yeah, mine is: http://www.youtube.com/playlis...QvIO_tA_0ORdsIx2mJLA

It just goes to show that a man who is defiantly true can be definitely false.

I think I need to quit replying for a while.

Bye Everyone...

Railfan Brody posted:

I think I need to quit replying for a while.

Bye Everyone...

Probably an excellent idea, plus stop believing everything you read on the internet.

Brody, no need to check out here.  Your interest in 2100 is most appreciated.  Please continue to spread the word and if you can make it Cleveland, we will certainly find something for you to do.  Learn from the comments others have made.  There is some good advise in there if you are willing to learn from it.

Everyone needs to think twice before believing what they hear on the internet as well as back channel second hand gossip.  It does no one and no project any good to spread rumors especially when the information comes from disgruntled individuals.  Go to the source if you have a question or a suspicion before airing it out in public and get the facts.

Rob Gardner

Rob Gardner posted:

Brody, no need to check out here.  Your interest in 2100 is most appreciated.  Please continue to spread the word and if you can make it Cleveland, we will certainly find something for you to do.  Learn from the comments others have made.  There is some good advise in there if you are willing to learn from it.

Everyone needs to think twice before believing what they hear on the internet as well as back channel second hand gossip.  It does no one and no project any good to spread rumors especially when the information comes from disgruntled individuals.  Go to the source if you have a question or a suspicion before airing it out in public and get the facts.

Rob Gardner

Rob:  I can't find an email in your profile.  Any chance you grew up in Chesterland, OH and graduated high school around 1990?

It really makes me laugh when some people on this forum substantiate the need to find the "facts first" but they themselves get their "information" from second-hand untrustworthy sources as well.  Like Rob said everyone needs to check their sources. 

Brody, don't be afraid to post to this forum. Although some of the characters here can be very hard to deal with, your interest in real trains is a good thing if the industry intends to last particularly in the steam preservation sector. My best advice to you is: listen and ask lots of questions! And always remember the saying that you "truly know nothing". I use this saying in all aspects of my life, from my railroad side to my medicine side. It helps to give one the drive to learn more and get better at their understanding of how things work. 

Regardless, I'm very impressed with the 2100 group's professionalism and information to the general public. I really enjoy looking and learning about the rebuilding process, which in itself is an art that is somewhat lost nowadays. 

I've always noticed this but never really spoke up about it. Brody, Hot Water seems to comment with that attitude for whatever reason. Just ignore him like I try to do. As for the others who put you down about getting a bit of information wrong, well that's their loss for driving out an interested person. 

Thanks for all of the positive feedback everyone! School's closed today, so this video is how my morning is going:

Rusty T. 

You got some wrong info from Wikipedia as to the time frame of the Reading T-1's being built. No Reading T-1's were being built in 1947, might be possible the last T-1 was having some work done on it in 1946.

The info about being built from 1941 to  1945 is correct and because of the metal shortage during WW2 that was why they were allowed to rebuild and not build something totally new. You would do well to look up the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society on the internet.

Lee Fritz

Google can be your friend as long as the sites it leads to are correct.  I would rather ask for good info here and risk some negative comments than to obtain false info.

I appreciate the correction, I've been known to be wrong sometimes. I usually check multiple sources if I have time and not on my work computer.

Perhaps this would be a good opportunity for someone much more familiar with the T1 than I to go and update the information on Wikipedia?

Rusty

Keep learning Brody! 

Berkshire President posted:

Rob:  I can't find an email in your profile.  Any chance you grew up in Chesterland, OH and graduated high school around 1990?

Berkshire, yep, that's me.  Good sluething!  I sent you an email.  Look forward to catching up with you.  I think I visited your place once back in high school and saw your Lionel collection once, no?

Rob Gardner

Just a friendly reminder to check out our website at fireup2100.org to buy a 2100 T shirt or polo shirt as a gift for that favorite T-1 fan or to support the project with a tax free donation here at the end of the year.

We also posted a bunch of work session reports and updates in the last 24/hours from the past few month's activities.

Watch our website and Facebook page for announcements of our next private rail tours this year.  We also have some special Reading 2100 decal sets in the works for the HO Broadway Limited T-1s.

Enjoying all of the history and discussion about the Reading as well as the T-1s.  Keep it coming.

Rob Gardner, ASR Fundraising Chairman

I'm trying to find more information, but what's the latest on 2100? Also is there an idea yet of where she might run? One place comes to mind for me, and I know the 765 is 100' and the T-1 is 110', could they run the 2100 for testing on the CVSR?

You might want to read the lengthy thread on TrainOrders.com, Steam Railroading,concerning the latest "issues" with that group (American Steam Railroad). Also, the possibility of potential eviction from that roundhouse in Cleveland. I have only limited "inside information", but there definitely seems to be some "issues" there.

I have one of the groups members coming over today to run trains.  I'll ask him to chime in here.

Excellent!  Please ask him if he is aware of the ultra sound report indicating that the lower side sheets of the firebox are down to 1/4" thickness (borderline thin) in some places.

Here's the topic I found - http://www.trainorders.com/dis...hp?10,4219165,page=1

Here was the write up co614 wrote - "I was reflecting on the awful string of luck poor 2100 has had for the last 42 years. When I bought her and her sister 2101 they'd been in the Striegel scrapyard in Baltimore for about 15 years and 2100 was selected to do the honors of being the one restored to pull the American Freedom Train and the 01 to be her parts donor. Then she spent the next 13 years sitting in the Hagerstown,Md. roundhouse functioning as a catchers mit for the pigeon droppings from the larger resident bird population until Mr. Richard Kughn came along and hired Bill Benson to fix her up for excursion duties. With Kughn investing about $ 1,000,000.00 ( 1988 dollars= about $2,500,000.00 current dollars) by 1990 she was restored to like new condition and ready to do the honors pulling excursions out of the Detroit area for Mr. Kughn who had also bought the Lionel Corporation and would use the 2100 as his promotion tool. Sadly, his attorneys convinced him that the liability issue was too big and the order was given to sell her. At auction she sold for $ 312,000.00 in 1995 to a Canadian Thomas Payne who installed a rube Goldberg oil firing set-up he designed that was an abject failure. After a series of totally failed excursions run out of Tacoma, Washington she was hauled off to a storage field in central Washington state where she sat forlorn until 2 years ago when along came the Cavalry in the form of the American Steam Railroad ( ASR) who convinced the owner who got her title from Payne when he defaulted on his loan ( with the engine as collateral) to lease her to them, pay the costs of flatcaring her to Cleveland,Ohio where they had an appropriate shop in which to restore her to service and a place to run her. 

    With this weeks news that ASR  and landlord Midwest are not getting along well it's my hope that the 2 entities can find common ground and get back to the business of seeing the 2100 comne back to a useful life. There's always 2 sides to every story so let's hope that none of the issues involved in this spat are beyond resolving. 

    It would be a shame for ASR to have gone to all this effort for naught.

    IMHO-Ross Rowland"

I found it!! - http://www.trainorders.com/dis...,4217948#msg-4217948     This is very very sad. Sounds like it will never get finished. If this is true, then why did they even bring the 2100 to try and get restored in the first place? Will just have to wait and see unless it's already set in stone. 

Here's what's said, "The American Steam Railroad and the Reading 2100 is being asked to vacate the roundhouse that the Midwest Preservation Society is in charge of due to not paying rent and refusing to.  If they do not leave they will face eviction.  This is a sad turn of events for a locomotive that can't seem to catch a break.  Attached are two pictures of the notice attached to the 2100".

Here's the photo from train orders I saved on my computer to post here. These are not my photos.

Hey, Tony!  Good to hear from you!

Tom, we have had conversations with numerous shortline, regional and tourist RRs in Ohio and other nearby states.  When the time gets closer, these things will be announced through official channels at that time.  Thanks for your interest.

Rob

Not good news. What would happen if they are evicted? Now, it's more likely 2102 will be finished first, and it has more railroad to run on, the 2100 will be dependent on others letting it run like the CVSR, etc. I'm sure CSX would not let the 2100 touch its tracks. Maybe NS would let it use their tracks to get somewhere. Wasn't the 2102 in OH before 1985?

Uh oh.....bad news.  Hopefully whatever issues exist can be resolved for all parties involved. 

Rusty T and PhillyReading,

I found this in a book about the T-1's by Robert Gottschall Jr.  2100 was outshopped September 11, 1945.  Numbers 2123 through 2129 were outshopped January 18, 1947 through April 22, 1947.

It looks like the formal authorization for twenty T-1 locomotives was made on October 25, 1944.  The book is interesting.  The author does not state how much of the information he used is from the RCTHS.

Like everyone else posting here, I hope the this gets resolved and that we see 2100 operating again. 

wrawroacx posted:

Here's the topic I found - http://www.trainorders.com/dis...hp?10,4219165,page=1

Here was the write up co614 wrote - "At auction she sold for $ 312,000.00 in 1995 to a Canadian Thomas Payne who installed a rube Goldberg oil firing set-up he designed that was an abject failure.

    IMHO-Ross Rowland"

Goldberg's oil burner:

Can only imagine what it looks like behind the sheet metal.

All you are seeing here is the cheap sheet metal blanking plate that Tom Payne replaced the butterfly doors with.  The valve is within reach of the engineer's seat but the burner is inside the firebox.  The pump was bolted to the cab floor.

There is/was nothing horrible behind the sheet metal than the oil burner itself which is now long gone.  The mortar and steel plates that were installed over the grates have been removed and the few missing grates have largely been reinstalled already.

Just this weekend we documented the complete blackhead of the 2124 at Steamtown to aid in returning the 2100's blackhead to its original configuration.

Otherwise, do not believe all the rumors and speculation that the "experts" not associated with ASR or the 2100 project itself love to continue spread on the internet like maneuer on a field.  The project is not dead.  Nothing more need be said at this time.

Rob Gardner