Some of the most interesting tales I have heard over the years are the various locomotives and cars that were actively pursued or offered to railway museums and tourist lines but never actually acquired or deals were never consummated. A few that come to mind:

LIRR G5s No. 35 circa 1978-1980 and B&HS No. 250 circa 1982-1985 to the BR&W but never came to pass;

PRR G5s No. 5741/PRR H6sb No. 2846 (mid-1960s), Q&E No. 4 (early 1970s), FEC No. 148/Crab Orchard & Egyptian No. 17 (early 1990s), and LIRR No. 39 (mid-1970s) entertained by Strasburg RR but never transpired (except recent developments with No. 39, of course);

Are there any others?

K.R. Bell

Howdy,
I believe in the early New Hope & Ivyland years, pre 1968, there was talk of one of the Reading T1's moving to the NH&I, and later on, there was talk of ex CP Royal Hudson 2839 being moved to New Hope. Valley Forge Scenic ex GM&O 425 almost made it to the NH&I at one time after the VF demise, not sure why it never went.

The BR&W & the Black River Volunteers Association (BRVA) tried to buy Aberdeen & Rockfish 2-8-2 number 40, and Canadian National 2-8-2 number 3254, before working out a deal with the Sunrise Trail NRHS on the LIRR 35. At least some parts of the 35 made it to Ringoes in 1977 (I was in the truck).

Sam Freeman (then owner of FEC 148) with the NH&I (more likely, it was then NH&I president Jimmy McHugh with Sam) also looked at buying the 3254 or one of the LS&I 2-8-0's.

The BRVA, sent two members to the B&O museum to inquire about a lease of CNJ 4-4-2 camelback 592, but never got past a first meeting (B&O museum officials said something to the effect ... no way it's going anyplace - but thanks for coming!).

Hughie Jenkins (then owner of ex PRR doodlebug 4666 and ex Washington Terminal RS1 57) talked to the Reading Company about a possible purchase of two of the 3 FP7 still on their roster (pre Conrail). The idea was to lease them to the BR&W, but all parties involved found it impractical.

Have fun - David Notarius, Cambridgeshire UK, (ex NH&I & BR&W volunteer in the 1970's when I should have known better!)

In my neck of the woods its always been an apocryphal tale of the L&N Big Emma which was shoppes out and ready to go to KRM - who as the story goes said they already had an L&N engine and turned it down. Hopefully someone here can finally confirm or bust this one.

Howdy Folks;

Can anyone confirm these stories?

The San Diego Railroad Museum, now the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, in the 1970s tried to get an American built ex SNCF 141R 2-8-2. The SNCF was going to donate the locomotive, but the folks in San Diego could not rase funds to ship it back to the US. I think the locomotive in question was 141R 73, a Lima 1945 product, currently being rebuilt in France.

Also, there was some convertible gauge American 2-10-0 built for the Soviet Union at the end of WW2 in reserve - storage in Russia during the early 1990s (5 foot gauge with extra 4ft 8 1/2 drivers, running gear & wheel sets). I was told that two where bought by an American. Does anyone know anything about there loco's?

Have fun guys - Dave - again...

TVRM had the opportunity to acquire Little River Railroad No. 110 many years ago. However, they decided to do other things. They also had an opportunity to acquire the old NC&St. L Railway shops and roundhouse at Craven's Yard-just off I-24 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That site was rejected in favor of the property that the Southern Railway donated in East Chattanooga as there was no possibility for the museum to construct it's own main line on account of the geography-NC main line occupies the only usable space between Lookout Mountain and I-24 (built on fill in the river). The Alabama Great Southern Railway tunneled through the mountain adjacent to the NC main.

A power plant in central Pennsylvania went through the motions to donate two former Lehigh Valley two-bay hopper cars (out of three) from their in-plant captive fleet of hoppers to a local NRHS chapter with a museum in the late 1980s. Unfortunately, when the scrapper showed up to cut up the remainder of the cars, he started at the wrong end of the siding, and had the three two-bay hoppers reduced to shards in an hour or two. Two other (three-bay) hoppers from the rest of the set ended up being donated instead.

This reinforces the lesson: No matter what promises have been made, how much you trust the folks in charge, and even if you don't necessarily have authority to do so, spray-paint "DO NOT SCRAP" in four-foot letters on the side of any piece of to-be-preserved rolling stock located any place where this scenario could possibly play out.

How about Southern trying to get GTW 5629 from Dick Jensen? Imagine, a good PS-4 stand in on the SRR steam program. It's ewnough to being tears to your eyes just think of how history might have changed had Dick not been such a... well, you know. Maybe 5629 would still be around today had he said yes.

Illinois Central 2-8-0 No. 790, now at Steamtown, almost came to the Morris County Central RR in Whippany around 1966. MCCRR President Earle Gil was negotiating with its owner and nearly inked the deal when the Virginia Blue Ridge Ry. contacted Earle notifying him that they were dieselizing and had the four ex U. S.-Armey 0-6-0's for sale at a bargain price compared to the 2-8-0.

Al Holleuffer

Here's another one, boys,

Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Dixie class 4-8-4 (NdeM QR1 4-8-4 is a similar design), number 576 , located in Nashville’s Centennial Park, was considered for the Southern Railway Steam Program in the mid-1970’s. The local citizens in the Nashville area protested, so the 576 remained in the park. The 576 was also considered for the steam program run by the Clinchfield in the 70s, but came across the same local opposition. I was told the TVRM also tried to get her at one time. The 576 still remains on display in Nashville’s Centennial Park. Would be interesting to see if Nashville would part with her now.....

David Notarius, sinking in the Cambridgeshire mud, UK

Most of us know the heart breaking story about the legendary photographer, the late Don Wood, and his efforts to preserve the now long lost Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) 4-6-0 Camelback number 774. (see the October, 1971 issue of TRAINS), but most of you do not know about a last ditch effort to buy the locomotive by the late George Hart! George made an offer to the CNJ management for the 774, but it had already been sold and had just left for the scrapper. By the time George contacted the scrapper's, it was too late. I think George also tried to buy a Reading pacific. Anyone knows the rest of the story? Have fun - Dave Notarius

It'd be interesting to dig through the correspondence file. I doubt one was "just shopped" and ready for donation, as the last M-1 shopping was in 1950 or 1951 at South Louisville, where the class received their overhauls. In the end, the M-1s congregated at DeCoursey yard, on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river, across from Cincinnati, until 1959, when they were pulled out, coupled drawbar to drawbar (the L&N saved the tenders), and hauled to a scrap yard in Cincinnati.

I've heard that KRM was offered one from this bunch, but the museum turned it down due to 1) lack of room at the original Louisville location; and 2) the fact that KRM already had a 2-8-4 in the collection (C&O 2716) and two L&N steam locomotives (4-5-2 #152 and 0-8-0 #2152/Republic Steel 285).

I've also heard that KRM was offered IC 2613, which was a real loss.

That is true, TVRM attempted to broach the subject and was rebuffed. That was about fifteen years ago. As I recall, one of the local railroad museums proposed restoring the locomotive to operating condition but was rebuffed by the Parks Department (which controls the locomotive).

I have heard the "just left for the scrapper" tale about #774 a few times but not tied to Mr. Hart. Interesting.

Add Scranton, PA's Pocono to the list. The story goes that the DL&W offered Scranton a 4-8-4 to display, but balked at trucking it up hill to the city's Nay Aug Park. One of Steamtown friends may have some more details to confirm or bust the story.

One of my least favorite "got away" stories is the loss of the B&M E-7 once owned by F. Nelson Blount. He had it, but didn't have a crystal ball to tell him just how rare it could end up being.

A local urban legend that made the rounds in th St. Louis area some years back concerned the original Museum of Transport's director and a representative from the Pennsylvania RR.
Seems the PRR rep made the drive to St. Louis to discuss donating the PRR collection to the MOT.
The director and his wife had a large number of cats roaming the grounds, and when he drove into the MOT he accidentally ran over one of the cats and it caused the director to go ballistic and start hammering on the auto's roof with a broom handle. The PRR rep turned around and left.
I don't know if there is any basis to this story and the old timers who told me are long gone now. It does make a humorous mental picture to anyone who knew the director.

From my post of 6/26/10.

Here’s some historical trivia regarding #202. I don’t believe many people know that in the late summer of 1982, the city of Hagerstown offered to sell #202 to the Strasburg Rail Road for $1, an offer that was summarily rejected by SRC (one of our top ten boneheaded moves IMHO).

I’m not sure what if any strings were attached to the deal (I was extremely junior at the time), but had the deal gone though, it could have led to a significantly altered timeline for SRC motive power history. It’s safe to assume, #7002 would have never left the RRMPA, and #475 would have never been acquired, for starters.