Diamond Steel Construction hauled the J&L 58, our 23" gauge Porter 0-4-0T to the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum today. Of her original 93,000 lb. weight in working order, only 56,000 lbs. remains!

Evaluation of the locomotive will begin tomorrow and restoration work will proceed on an expedited schedule.

good luck with your project.

Is what we see in the photo all that you have or do you still have the water tank etc. as well?

Congratulations, Rick!

I have heard that the remains of the water tank are owned by a third party and I am trying to find it. If it still exists I'll use it as a pattern for a new tank, otherwise I'll design a new one from scratch.

Were you able to acquire the necessary blueprints for the engine?

Thank you for preserving this little locomotive! ANOTHER SUCCESS STORY!

Other than the gauge, there was nothing "little" about these beasts. Look at all that steel in the "frame." Look at the size of those cylinders compared to the boiler. These locos (at J&L Steel) and their kin at various other mills were a very specialized design. The purpose of all that weight is twofold: First to produce tractive effort, and equally important, provide braking. The rolling stock these moved about were heavy, hard rolling, and sans brakes of any kind. Some of these locos and especially their diesel replacements were often fitted with "brake trailers" on either or both ends. The purpose of those, aside from giving the brakemen a safe place to ride, was to produce even more braking effort. An amazing critter to be sure and highly worthy of preservation.

All of these and the other positive remarks are heartily agreed with by me!

Congratulations on preserving one the the once more common, yet more specialized, examples of steam locomotion.

Edit: Earlier thread on this effort; have to say I find the operating proposal most interesting--and find one of the interesting points is that this operating proposal almost looks and sounds like something a serious model railroader would think up! But that shouldn't be a surprise, much less a criticism; do not the best of railroad modelers not only build models, but operate their miniature railways as a form of railroad simulator?

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37393&start=15

The locomotive relied upon the cylinders for braking because there are no brakes on this beast at all.

I am still quite surprised at just how heavy duty everything is on the 58. She apparently could pull like crazy. On of our long range goals is to build an appropriate train for the 58 made up of cast iron ingot buggies with molds and stools. Probably 15,000 to 20,000 lbs. per car of weight, enough to make the 58 bark a little bit.

When I started laying track using 100 lb. rail it looked a bit funny to those who are used to seeing two foot gauge with 60 lb. and lighter rail. With the 58 now sitting on that track, that heavy rail no longer looks to be too heavy!

I have six drawings. Boiler, cab, rear platform, cylinder cock rigging, driving boxes, general arrangement and sander box rigging. That answers 90% of the questions I have about the locomotive's construction.