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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:04 pm 

Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2005 1:27 pm
Posts: 552
Location: Milford,Mass
Hi
My two cents First is the 470 railroad club interested in selling the locomotive? or leasing it?
Next, the last thing I read in dealing with the locomotive, the Conway Scenic had no interest, in the locomotive, and yes that was under the old management.
Now there is all this hype, on what should be done? it should be running, etc etc.
Before anything can happen, who owns the Locomotive, the 470 Railroad club, first are they interested in selling or leasing the locomotive.
Before anything can happen, the 470 Railroad club has to make a decision.
Let's get past Part A before we get to Part B.


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:40 pm 

Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:09 pm
Posts: 63
Location: Holbrook, Mass
The 470 Club owns the locomotive, since 1983. If anything good is to come out of a real out & out bona fide effort to finally make #501 operational again the need will come to sell it to Conway Scenic RR. Some 35 years have come & gone, if they were ever really interested in seeing it operate again it should have happened by now. Why would the new principles who operate Conway Scenic want to invest their capitol into a locomotive that some railroad club owns & has done nothing much to support an all out effort to revive her?
The 470 Club sit on an amazing amount of money in their bank account, at least back about the time I stopped working on her late in 1999. In the 20 so years since I last viewed a financial statement, I'm sure it's up around $400K by now. Even at the time of my departure in 1999, there was an extra quarter of a million dollars between myself & another 470 trustee that would have easily swelled their available funds to over half a million dollars. After my Dad passed away I came into another half million dollars through a life insurance policy he left me. Not many of my critics have probably ever seen a half a million dollars or more in cold hard cash except on TV. That restoration project meant everything to me, everything! The club just sat on their hands 95% of the time and let me do the grunt work and running around paid for out of my own pockets.
In my opinion the folks who are going to evaluate the locomotives condition & feasibility to be restored are going to give it a thumbs up, in my opinion The 470 Club should part ways with her and let her have a second life.

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MEC 2-8-0 #501..... " The Real Legend of Crawford Notch! "


Last edited by John Smythe on Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:53 pm 

Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 5:27 pm
Posts: 118
Nothing should be done. The engine has been very nicely cosmetically restored by members of the 470 Club, it looks great and is well cared for. Enough already.


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:25 pm 

Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:09 pm
Posts: 63
Location: Holbrook, Mass
Cosmetically restored? Where were these 470 Club members when they were needed back in the late 1990's. The locomotives parts were scattered all over the property at Conway Scenic. Granted it looks pretty from a distance but that's about all. You must understand that with a NEW OWNER at the helm who unlike his predecessor who disliked steam very much " That's a Fact " IS STEAM FRIENDLY! That is what separates Men from Boys. I believe you may find yourself in the minority when it comes to the voices of others who want to see it operate under it's own power.
You know they said that Trump couldn't win the election...we all know how that turned out. Coal Wins!!

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MEC 2-8-0 #501..... " The Real Legend of Crawford Notch! "


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:40 pm 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
John, do you realize that you are arguing something that was said 7 years ago?

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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:59 pm 

Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:09 pm
Posts: 63
Location: Holbrook, Mass
I'm just stating facts & my opinions. One thing I have neglected to write about is a man, the man...also known as Nelson Blount. His passion & love for steam locomotives is why so many escaped the scrappers torch when the age of steam ended. He wanted them, took them , acquired them, whatever it took to save a part of our history so that a young boy like me who was born in the mid 1950's could see them & dream about them, wishing I had the little bit of money it would have cost to save the last New Haven Steam Locomotive from the scrapyard. All those engines of the New Haven and not one was saved, McGinnis, what a looser, there's more to life on this earth that to scrap the last New Haven Steam Locomotive for a couple of thousand dollars in scrap value. Plus the costs to pay men to cut it up, left him with enough pocket change to buy lunch for he & his pals for a week.

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MEC 2-8-0 #501..... " The Real Legend of Crawford Notch! "


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:19 pm 

Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 9:06 pm
Posts: 2530
Location: Thomaston & White Plains
Patrick B. McGinnis was not head of the New Haven when the last regular service steam power was retired (1952), and he had left the New Haven and moved on to the B&M (in 1956) when the last NH steam locomotive, 2-8-2 #3016, was sold for scrap in 1959.

Virtually all NH steam power was sold as scrap "on the hoof", and cut up at the steel mills. Most met that fate at Luria Brothers in Modena, Pa., near Lukens Steel in Coatsville. The railroad did not have employees cutting up steam locomotives.

There's plenty to criticize regarding PBM and his time at the New Haven, but being personally responsible for not saving a New Haven steam locomotive was not one of those things. He later went to Federal prison for his role in a kickback scheme involving sale of B&M passenger cars.

Howard P.

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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 12:56 am 

Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:09 pm
Posts: 63
Location: Holbrook, Mass
Patrick McGinnis was President of The New Haven Railroad as late as the end of 1955. I have the hardbound book " New Haven Power 1838 -1968 " by J.W. Swanberg and photos of him at certain locations along with typed text explaining what was going on throughout the book. You are correct the bastard went to prison. He also made a mess of the B&M RR.
April 27, 1952 was the day that a New Haven RR steam locomotive made a final run, it's number was #1388. Perhaps others were in use as snow melters, or in dead lines awaiting, being hauled to a scrapyard. That day was the official company last run of scheduled steam power.
That man McGinnis was in charge he had the authority to do something & instead did nothing to save a single solitary steam locomotive. The buck stopped on his desk anytime for any reason. The man could have sent #3016 to Nelson Blount between 1952 and when he left the NH in 1956. He could have sold or given it to Ellis Atwood for display at Edaville, RR the 2 foot Maine narrow gauge rr where B&M sent 2-6-0 #1455 back in the mid 1950's era. Am I right?

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MEC 2-8-0 #501..... " The Real Legend of Crawford Notch! "


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 6:25 pm 

Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:49 am
Posts: 277
Location: North London UK
Hi Guys, Getting back on track to the MEC 501 and away from all the finger pointing, what work needs to be done to get her back in operation? What exactly is the condition of the running gear and what problems need to be addressed besides the usual boiler work? Lets play niece guys and keep on message! David Notarius, some guy from Jersey now living in far away England.


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:46 pm 

Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:09 pm
Posts: 63
Location: Holbrook, Mass
MEC #501 needs to be acquired from current owners The 470 RR Club of Maine. The running gear is missing some parts, many are in the state of being half way completed, needing to be finished in a machine shop. The valve spools, rings, packing, etc need to be removed for inspection & new parts made from scratch if required. Cross heads need to be finished, main & connecting rods, bearings reconditioned. All the ET-6 Brake parts need to be reconditioned, tested, certified, lines cleaned, etc. Power reverse unit needs to be cleaned, inspected, refurbished. A new copy of the missing throttle is still on the CSRX property awaiting to be finished. It was borrowed from MEC #519 at Steamtown USA and is about 75% completed. I have the rest of the drawings of what needs to be made to finish the quadrant & machine the teeth.
There's a punch list a mile long that needs to be be checked off to make sure nothing is overlooked. Back in the late 1990's the main & foremost item that needed to be addressed was of coarse the boiler per order of my immediate supervisor Matt Rines. Other items & jobs that needed doing were taken up on days when it was too hot outside to get inside the boiler, after all the engine was stored outside and on sunny hot Summer days who the Hell wanted to climb inside where it reached 140* on many a day? Plus working alone much of the time, not a lot can get accomplished.

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MEC 2-8-0 #501..... " The Real Legend of Crawford Notch! "


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 11:08 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:19 am
Posts: 6399
Location: southeastern USA
And how have your negotiations with the 470 Club been proceeding? Do you actually have the authority to represent the new management for this purpose?

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“God, the beautiful racket of it all: the sighing and hissing, the rattle and clack of the cars over the rails. These were the sounds that made America the greatest country on earth." Jonathan Evison


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 11:26 pm 

Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:09 pm
Posts: 63
Location: Holbrook, Mass
It is not my job or responsibility to deal with The 470 RR Club. It is the desires of the new management of Conway Scenic RR who are interested in pursuing this. At this time I myself am only interested in advancing the cause, presenting facts and details to those who lack access to an array of data at my disposal which allows me to shed light on the topic.
Because I feel that over the past 20+ years much has been forgotten regarding the MEC #501, both good & bad, the amount of legitimate information that can be produced clarifying many issues is of great benefit to all. There's lots of misinformation floating around about many things regarding MEC #501, when I left the project early in 2000, essentially time stopped on everything that happened, I have a darn good memory & lots of photos, video, documents, letters, reports, etc. You name it & I most likely can come up with the answer. Hope this helps.

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MEC 2-8-0 #501..... " The Real Legend of Crawford Notch! "


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 Post subject: Re: The Maine Central 501: What should be done?
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:22 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
This thread and its companion on the Railfanning board has been reported three times. Since both threads seem to be discussing the same issue, I am locking this one and the conversation can continue on the Railfanning board if you wish.

Thanks.

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