Anyone have any insight?

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=130976

J

This siding is at Galt, Ill., which is where the last couple (I think only two?) NWS&W steamers salvaged by the Illinois Railway Museum were sent to await further repatriation, purchase by other interested parties, etc. The ex-KCS tender is, as I recall, one NWS&W used as well. The spray paint on the cylinder says that this is ex-GTW 8374.

I don't remember if IRM finally found a savior for these relics; I think at least one was purchased for static display somewhere. Is this it, or are kind folks making the

I happen to know the photographer; if nobody else is forthcoming with more information I can call him up and ask him whether there was more on the site.............

Another photo of the 8374, taken last August in Galt by Wesley Fane, had this information:

"A former Norhwestern Steel and Wire switch engine from Sterling, Il. saved from the scrap heap, sits on a siding in Galt, Illinois. It was bought by a collector from Nebraska, and is slowly being disassembled and transported back to the owner's home."

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=123626

The execellent site, steamlocomotive.info - lists GTW 8310 as being scrapped. When did this occur?

http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=440

Tom Cornillie

8310 was scrapped in 1982, and presumably was not one of the engines donated to the IRM. The engine in the photo on Steamlocomotive.info is actually 8305 (NS&W no. 05), and as far as I know she's still in Galt, although I recall hearing somewhere recently that both of the remaining Galt engines were going to new homes. The third one, ex-GTW 8300 (NS&W 30) was sold a few years ago, and is now on display in Independence, Iowa.

If I recall correctly, all of these locos have a covenant on them that says "static display only" . None will ever run again, and that is shame. Apparently they were fit enough to operate in the steel yard, but not outside of it! I am not sure I understand how such a covenant can remain in effect for a private purchaser.
Any ideas?

Correction, you mean run to death. The most memorable thing about a visit to Sterling was that you could hear the rods clanking before you could see the locomotive!

So, we now know # 8374 is apparently going to Nebraska. Any idea where? Public display? Private display? Possible operation?

And what about the very LAST 0-8-0 there now at Galt? What news about her?

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

Both of the last two 0-8-0's at Galt have been sold to new owners. Plans are to keep the extra tender and have that moved to the campus at Union.

Bob Kutella

Most of the ex-GTW 0-8-0's of Northwestern Steel & Wire were acquired by the Illinois Railway Museum. At the same time, a Chicago scrap dealer was about to cut up ex-CB&Q 2-8-2 #4963, formerly owned by Richard Jensen. IRM traded several of the 0-8-0's to the scrap dealer for #4963. The 4963 is on display at IRM today.

Bob:

Thanks for the information. Has the 8305 already been moved to wherever it's going? She didn't seem to be in the photos of the 8374 and the KCS tender that appeared at the beginning of this thread.

Do you know if the KCS Vanderbilt tender is from one of KCS's 2-8-8-0's? I think these articulateds were numbered in the series that would include the number 759, which is shown on the tender in the photo. This number seems to be recently repainted. Did the boys at IRM do this? I think that these KCS 2-8-8-0's had "doghouses" mounted on the side of the curved water portion of the tender. Does IRM intend to replicate this feature?

Thanks again for the info Bob.

Les Beckman

I have no firsthand info on the status of whether both engines have been moved yet, but if not, certainly in the planning for when the weather improves.

As to the tender, it was repainted by one of our interested members and I have no idea if that might be the correct number - or merely a romantic wishful thinking on his part.

Bob Kutella

You know, its funny; everyone talks about this trade, and that these engines were later torched, but yet NO ONE seemed to be willing to confirm it with a picture at the time; one has to think that the scrapping of five steam locomotives at this late date would at least have attracted SOME photographic attention; my gosh, look at the attention that fellow GTW loco #5629 got at about the same time period, yet nothing was said about the five 8300's????? Does anybody have some sort of confirmation to this effect? Also, did any of the "jewelry" off these engines survive, including the raised-numbers, etc?

Sadly, try as I might, I couldn't convince ANYONE in the State of Michigan to save one of these, and that included my own insitution. To my knowledge, other than the one at IRM, NONE has been restored as GTW ---they all have been turned into a "fake" locomotive for some other road.

TJG

TJ-

I remember reading somewhere of the locomotives involved in the "swap." Perhaps this was in IRM's RAIL & WIRE Magazine, but then perhaps not. Although I am a Burlington fan, and especially of their O1a Mikado's, it still seems like a high price to pay for getting the 4963 saved. In any event, it was done. What's past is past. Just would like to get a record of just which engines were so sacrificed. As for photos of the event, a good chance none exist.....they were just a bunch of old 0-8-0's after all!

Bob-

As for the number of the back of the KCS tender, perhaps your member could still read the number outline and thet's why he repainted it as such. Sure would like to know if that is really the case.

Les Beckman

I recall hearing that the 0-8-0's that were traded for the CB&Q Mike were cut up at NS&W and traded to the Chicago yard as scrap steel rather than complete engines. Before that, I had wondered if the other five 0-8-0's might still be sitting in the other yard today, since they had kept the Q engine around for so long before the trade. As I recall, the IRM kept a few parts off of one or more of the scrapped engines as well. Five non-unique 0-8-0's in trade for one (also non-unique) Mikado does seem like a a pretty uneven trade, but considering how long it has taken to find homes for the 0-8-0's that they kept, I can't say I blame the IRM for making the decision that they did.

Now that Northwestern Steel & Wire is no more, I have to wonder if the "display only" clause still applies. I'm sure it's probably a moot point anyway considering the condition of the engines.