A quick note to all you potential steam loco owners: an ex-SNCF 141 R class mikado (MLW 1947) is up for sale in Switzerland. You might want to brush up on your French...

According to the website advertising the sale, the engine has a new boiler and smokebox, the wheels have been recently reprofiled and the engine was a running locomotive when taken down for major work.

Also worth noting is the stated intent to SCRAP the locomotive if no buyer is found.

Interested parties are invited to contact the seller before August 17th.

http://www.tvnp.fr/PFF/?p=8816

That sounds like the equivalent of a Craigslist auto ad that says "running when parked". :-)

A 141R would actually be a handy engine for tourist line service in the US. Hopefully someone will get it.

Gee, since someone is bringing back 4-6-2's to Canada, how about returning this 2-8-2 there too!


Les

A 141R ould be an incredible display (and operating artifact) at several museums.

Honestly, in terms of overall historic impact and interpretive value, this locomotive is perhaps the most relevant steam locomotive on the market today. The question is, will xenophobia keep her in Europe?

Anyone interested in starting a group to acquire her?

Rob

"

Which I think is just to move the locomotive locally, not actually ship it any great distance. I have to wonder at the combination of 'reserve price not disclosed,' the early deadlines for various 'milestones' in the deal to be completed, and 'locomotive to be scrapped October 1 if not sold' -- I get the impression some buffaloing is going on. They also appear to be saying that the locomotive was under restoration at the time SLM was sold to Stadler ... without making any mention of DLM as an option. I have to wonder if we are hearing the whole story.

Compare this with 141R 568, which was for sale last year (and was discussed at that time) for what turned out to be about $1.25M plus shipping. Admittedly that locomotive had been thoroughly worked over by DLM and Wasatch, and was said to be (caveat emptor!) in full running and 'licensable' condition.

(BTW, an interesting page with downloadable resources on the 141R class, for the interested, is here:

http://www.141r568.ch/141R/en/roundel/locomotive_documents.htm


Something I thought was interesting was the proposal they described to convert the French equivalent of RPOs to contain auxiliary water storage. Be interesting to see how they were going to arrange the tankage within the car structure, and what other purposes the car could serve after the conversion...

The Baldwin 141R for sale would be a star at any museum.

There are many preservation projects that need financial support and do not involve moving equipment across part of a continent plus an ocean.

PC

Whoa, close your eyes, and between the hooter on it and he exhaust I could be in West by gawd Virginia.......

According to specs in listing, it's got solid bearing driver axles. Might be an issue here. It really looks and sounds great. Interesting operating practice in handling the excursion up to Gothard. Instead of our practice of adding a helper for the whole train, the steam engine took only as much as it could handle at track speed (I'm guessing for a premium fare), and all the other cars came up separately.

There are a bunch of steamers in danger according to the website as translated by Bing.

http://www.tvnp.fr/PFF/?page_id=4984

True, but that doesn't make them more worthy. The U.S. locomotive export business is largely (totally?) missing from major U.S. museum collections.

British groups, not surprisingly, have done a great job repatriating exports (between having a more global vision and access to dedicated funding, that's not surprising).

A 141R checks off a whole bunch of interpretive boxes and tells a story that few other locomotives can. Does that make it a better project than some domestic restorations. Possibly, depending upon your POV.

"Anybody's museum?" Well..... seriously?

I don't think it fits into the collection of the museum that interprets North Carolina shortline railroading, or the one about trolleys in the northeast, or the logging railroads in Humboldt County.

If you have to go through intellectual jumping-jacks to justify it, don't do it.

I could see it in Green Bay, IRM, St Louis, or on one of any tourist railroads needing good medium-sized power, or anybody with the mission of military railroading in the 20th century.

I do wonder about the dichotomy between reserve price and pending scrapping. No scrapper is going to pay more than the wholesale value less acquisition cost, which isn't a lot. That plus 10% is a bargain for the seller absent other offers, and perhaps makes an acquisition a possibility when an offer at retail isn't affordable. Unless the reserve price is scrap value, of course......

Personally, I think it'd be a great addition to the National Railway Museum in York...

Didn't it say it was a product of Montreal Locomotive works?