Hi everyone-

I am very pleased (giddy, actually) to announce that the city of Lakeland, FL has awarded the 2-6-0 mogul Virginia-Carolina #50 to the Alexander Chapter-NRHS. Last night I recieved and email from the city announcing that we were selected as the winning bid.

Now, while we have crammed narrow gauge wooden boxcars into standard semi-trailers and put Edwards Railcars on the back of a big ol' rollback, we have never tackled a full-fledged medium sized Alco.

If any of you have commercial contacts or interests in helping with this project, please email me via PM. If any of you have any nuggets of wisdom, CONSTRUCTIVE advice or questions that all RYPN'rs can benefit from, then by all means post it here.

What I do know is that the specs of the engine say it was about 110k lbs loaded with coal and water, that we will likely need a crane and two flatbeds. Lakeland, FL and our location of Newton, NC (about 40 miles NW of Charlotte) are both easily accessible via interstate and there are no landscape issues such as trees, hills, etc at either the loading or unloading site.

What are our plans for the engine? Well, the first part is to get her moved safely and then perform a cosmetic restoration. She will displayed under roof and not out in the weather like she has been for the past 50 years. Will she ever run again? I don't know, that's putting the cart before the horse. But if anyone ever wants to look her over, you are MORE than welcome....

Thanks in advance, and to all RYPN'rs who have helped and advised us in the past. This forum has been the single-most helpful tool that our fledgling museum has had.

Matt Bumgarner
Alexander Chapter-NRHS

Congratulations, Matt! I look forwards to seeing her!

Matt, Sent you a PM

She actually looks pretty good or spending the last 50 years out of doors in moist Florida air. Good luck with her.

Also sent you one. Excellent work.

dave

Hey, she has what looks like a twin sister, and under restoration to operation by the Western Maryland Scenic (apparently on a time and money available contract):

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans/11.aspx

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans/11_gallery.aspx

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans ... llery.aspx

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans ... llery.aspx

I got to see this engine at Ridgely, W.Va. a year or two ago, and what impressed me most was how small it was compared with the WM's own 734 just two tracks over. A delicate little thing, why, you could almost have it in your back yard. :-)

A photo in the restoration gallery shows her being loaded on a lowbed trailer.

One curious thing about this locomotive is a rather longish space between the cylinder block and the first driving axle; this is most apparent in the builder's photo historic gallery). It almost looks like it should be a 4-6-0, but if it were, it would be a tiny version of one. Does anybody have an explanation for this?

A little history on the No. 50 per the Alco builders records..

Built 5/1922 by Alco/Cooke for the Osceola Cypress Co.

Serial No. 62634

Engine weight is 111,000lbs

Cylinders 13 x 24

Drivers 50"


I find nothing on the 50 in SI&E or BR&L sales records, although other Osceola Cypress engines do appear.

Remember, be fair to the homless man living in the firebox and post an eviction notice!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29728

I believe that both V-C #50 and B&H #11 were built for the Cuban sugar company railroads. Many of these engines (there were other wheel arrangements in addition to Moguls) became "stock" at the Cooke plant when the Cuban sugar industry fell upon hard times due to the restoration of the sugar beet industry in Europe that occurred after the end of the First World War. The engines still at Cooke were eventually sold to short lines and industrial operators in the U.S.A. These locomotives have long been known as the Cuban Sugar engines.

BTW, many of these engines DID make it to Cuba and some may still be down there.

Les

I did find several Cooke engines listed in Cuba from that timeframe, and have a picture of just one of them.

But only two of them are 2-6-0s; and those are basically just remains only. The other dozen or so are 2-8-0s; and that may explain the large space between the front driver and the cylinders.


Some of these were offered for sale by John Bennett of ARMF (Spain) at JohnNBennett@hotmail.com. That was several years ago; I don't if they are still around; most of their sister engines have since been scrapped.

I looked at that loco awhile back.......did you look at the tender trucks? looked like somewhere along the way, they lost their journal brasses and wedges........... all the wheels are pretty bad too, years of sitting there in the pine straw has rusted them on the bottom at the railhead, bad enough that it will need new tires to be run again........When I looked at it last the homeless guy was living in the tender tank.......maybe he leased the firebox out to someone else?.......
With enough money, probably $300-500K.....it has some potential for operation...maybe......

Well, maybe 200k-500k could make it run, maybe not.

Our first priority is getting the ol' gal under shelter and then polishing her up. The bottom line is that there is NOTHING like a steam engine to attract a a crowd. I would prefer to have a live one, but a dead one will work too (if its not in pieces).

I don't know much about the boiler, running gear, etc, or am I knowledgeable enough to intelligently comment on it, but I will say that the tender is shot. I dare say that if she were to run, the tender frame would be the only usable part.

The tender trucks do intrigue me... why in the world do the wheels have tires on them as opposed to cast wheels?? Seems like a lot of extra maintenance to me.

Thanks!

Matt Bumgarner

Why tires on the tender trucks?

Same reason tires were used anywhere else. They could be removed and renewed without having to use a wheel press. A great advantage to small time operations such as would use a loco like this.

This practice extended into the early diesel era. The Lake Erie, Franklin & Clarion specified tires on their two bought-new Alco RS1s for the same reason. They were able to do this operation in their own small shop with their own personnel.

Well blow me down! Thanks... learn sumthin' most every day. Now what do you guys know about women?? I've got one I've tinkered with for 20 years and still manage to screw something up... daily.

Seriously- thanks!

Matt

The Reader Railroad is happy to know the locomotive has found a good home. We can possibly help you relocate it as we have the equipment and move our own for movie work and sometime excursions. Please let us know. 501-624-6881