A recent photo of her came through on railpictures.net. In spite of a paper thin firebox she looks like she is ready to go. She is getting some care as she rests along the former B&M mainline.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 86&nseq=73

I must have missed Guilford Transportation's hostile takeover of CSX trackage in Maryland. Besides which, weren't they doing that under Springfield Terminal auspices? Oh, wait, maybe that IS a Pan Am Railways loco rolling past.....

Forgive me for the typo. B&O mainline. :-)

Beautifully restored.

Steam Operations Corporation managed the cosmetic restoration. Chris McBride did the painting, Miller Graphics the lettering. 614 was painted by the same team, as well as our two operating units. Chris is also painting CW # 662

Kudos to their work!

Looks much better with a jacket on it!

Still a shame W&W didn't have the resources to restore 14 to operation. Now it would make a great loco for the their operations, with steel bridges.

She looks beautiful. Taking good care of her now makes it easier if the money truck overturns in the parking lot someday. It also makes it less likely for anyone to complain about "that rusty old engine" when she looks as if she could take off at track speed.
We did get to ride behind 13. Wish we could have ridden behind her, too.

Oh, she does look great! How I wish I could see her run, too, and with her and her sisters restored not just to operation, but to run on those 18 miles of track in Clay County, W.Va.!

A bit about her history: it's my understanding that this locomotive was originally built as an 0-8-0 (and she looks it, too; if you've ever seen the engine in person, it's amazing how close it is to a USRA 0-8-0 in appearance and proportion), and that she was the plant switcher at Alco's Schenectady works for a number of years. Having been built in the WW I era, she was even named "Liberty."

Of course, she would be sold to a West Virginia shortline, where she would acquire that leading truck, and be sold again to the BC&G.

A link that may be of interest to West Virginia shortline fans--be sure your speakers are turned on for a nice surprise. . .

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/index.html

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/RE ... dings.html

I'm guessing that she was probably pretty tired when the BC&G bought her in 1950. Stories I have heard talk about her bring fired up with paper thin sidesheets in her last couple of years. When she lived in Delaware you could poke your finger right through the inside sheets. Nevertheless, the BC&G was probably an amazing place to visit, gone before I was brought into this world. I'm glad to see she is being given such nice care.

Does anyone know who paid the bill for her cosmetic restoration and how much it cost?

The City of Gaithersburg received a TEA-21 grant for the project that included comestic restoration of BC&G 14, a caboose swap, and trade for the RDC.

Wesley

Diversified Rail Services was pleased to be requested to assit Mr. Lindsay in the BC&G #14 restoration by applying the new jacket. It was very interesting to look at many details on this engine such as the badly damaged tender frame incurred in a rear end collision with a coal train on the BC&G. Also the paper thin firebox interior sheets with several holes rusted through. But most interesting was the frame extension containing the lead truck that converted this New York Central 0-8-0 into the BC&G #14. Does this engine show up on the NYC rosters? Was the conversion into a 2-8-0 performed by the NYC or the BC&G? The frame extension gives this engine an odd proportion forward of the cylinders - the steps are pretty crude fabrications with handrails that follow their own lines. An interesting bit of work.

An interesting bit of history about BC&G 14--I don't believe she ever was on the roster of the NYC.

As I understand it, she was built as an Alco plant switcher, and originally carried no number, but was named "Liberty;" supposedly there is a builder's photo available of her from the Alco collection, with that name. (Is that the set of photos from the Mohawk Chapter of, what, the NRHS, or the RLHS?). From there, she was apparently sold to the Kellys Creek & Northwestern; I would guess that's where the leading truck and those weird steps and handrails came from. She would be sold in 1950 to the BC&G, and as they say, the rest is history. . .

Among other things, check out the wreck photos in the link below:

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/LO ... oco14.html

She has been here before, too:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11192

Other stuff:

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr665.htm

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0604/kcnw1.jpg

Hmm, check out that big doghouse she used to have--and where's my copy of Beebe's "Mixed Train Daily?" I'm almost positive there's a photo of her in there on a passenger train, running tender first, on the KC&NW, I just need to confirm that. . .

Now, if someone has a copy of that photo of her as the "Liberty," that would be something to see!

When the BC&G #14 came to my hometown of Gaithersburg, I was just a baby.

It wasn't long after that, Dad would take my younger sister and I out to the train station on those Saturday, and sometimes Sunday afternoons in the shadow of the 14. I had no idea where the Buffalo Creek & Gauley was, or how the engine got there. But I knew of it...that much I was sure of. I climbed all over that engine in my youth.

I remember the Southern RPO that used to be there, and the N&W caboose. I remember before the tender arrived. I also remember the long stretch where the BC&G #14 lacked a cab, and headlight.

Shortly after I turned 20, a big thrill for me was getting to pass the #14 for the first time as viewed from a fast-moving CSX freight train, much like in the Railpictures.net photo. At 19, I hired out as a conductor on the same trains I grew up watching pass through town.

The engine had been fixed up by the late 90s, but by 2010, it was looking a little worse for wear. The paint had faded badly, there was bird s#it all over it, and it was still missing several parts.

In 2010, I finally got the chance to visit the location of the real BC&G with a good friend from St. Albans WV. It was really exciting visiting the overgrown right of way, visiting places I recognized from pictures, and the names of places I had seen in print. Exploring the old route, I thought about how cool it was finally seeing one of the old stomping grounds of an artifact that had always been in the background of my life.

The new paint, and added parts look GREAT on the engine. Best it's ever looked since having a fire inside of it's belly. I was a little sad to see the throttle welded-shut inside the cab, but I guess that's a small price to pay for such a wonderful restoration.

Now if they could just do something about that grungy exB&O C-27A caboose... (paint it Chessie!!!)

From what I have read about BC&G #14, she was never on the NYC, and she was never an 0-8-0, but was built as a Consolidation. My sources on this are J. David Conrad and Tom Lawson. A photo of her as the "Liberty" might refute this, but I'd like to see it.

As for "Mixed Train Daily", yes, she is in there as KC&NW #1. In two photos (pages 52 and 53 in my copy of the famous book); the first showing her running tender first leading 3 flat roofed "miners cars" with that big doghouse very prominent, and the second pulling away from the camera as the passenger cars cross the Kelly's Creek Railroad, another coal-hauling short line.

Les

Here is a link to an earlier discussion about #14, built as an 0-8-0 by Alco.

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6691&p=31260&hilit=alco+liberty#p31260

Wesley