Stealing a little bit of video from another thread, Chesapeake Western #662 moved from 9th St to VMT this afternoon. N&W Alco T6 # 41, which provided the power for the move spent 22 years as CW # 11. 662 will be dedicated Saturday along with N&W Bicenntenial SD45 # 1776.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq07q4kK ... e=youtu.be

That is impressive. Never thought that the old CW pair would be moving along that smartly.....in 2012. Nice going.

NS isn't afraid of plain journal bearings!

Regarding the plain bearings, remember that this was a "shop move" within the Roanoke Terminal yard limits, the distance traveled was only a little over 2 miles, and the unit was on the way to an event sponsored by NS. Your results may vary

No, they aren't, and they'll even move your for you for a price. All the support for that sort of thing is gone these days.

Gary, when are we going to see that paint scheme on an NS GE?
I am also waiting for the NF&D verison ;)

All looks good, glad to see them!

It's an astounding cosmetic restoration, showing what can be achieved by forward thinking people with relatively reasonable money resources. I got bashed once before for asking if she'll be made operable, but if it was a "go ahead" ideal, how much dis-assembly of what has been accomplished, would be required? In other words, would what has been completed be all for naught? If the sister locomotive was torn down to rebuild or replace the PM and generator, could they be run something like a "cow and calf" pair?

I will have to agree with what many have said, this is a very beautiful restoration.

I do have a couple of questions.

Was this locomotive or part of it under water while at the scrapyard?

If it was, what was the condition of the axle journals and the traction motors?
Does it still have the traction motors under it?

Thanks

As for returning the other unit to operation, I doubt that they could justify the cost.

I recently took 2 old Alco 539 engines apart for parts. These had, had the stack covered for part of the time, but not always. There was considerable damage to 2 cylinders of one engine. Water had run down through the turbocharger to the first open cylinders and filled them with water. To make the story short, I could not bar the engine over and could not remove the pistons, after cutting the rods, from the liners with a 60 ton jack. To salvage 3 good liners and one good piston, I had to torch off all 6 connecting rods and still could not bar the engine over.

The locomotive was under water several times during various floods over the years (the scrap yard was adjacent to the Roanoke River). We cleaned mud out of the cab, at some point water was over the cab floor. The locomotive was also stripped of most of it's accessable copper over the years.

The locomotive still has it's traction motors. We carefully pressure washed the running gears when the locomotives came over, and flushed river mud out of the journals and motors with kerosene. The journals and traction motor cellars were cleaned and relubricated for the trip to VMT, we replaced 4 of the 8 journal pads. One axle was slightly pitted, condition of the brasses varied. The pitted axle did run slightly hot, all the others were merely warm upon arrrival at VMT.

The track speed in the video 35 mph, and they were approaching it when they went by Steve, who was at work in the old coachyard. (now NS Research Dept.) This was from a standing start having gotten a clear signal about 1/4 mile east of there after coming off the east leg of the wye. Alco T6's are known for their fast throttle response.