Anthracite road steam. Barring the Reading, only five engines total out of the Jersey Central, Lackawanna, Lehigh & New England, Erie, Lehigh Valley, and NY & OW. Nothing at all from the latter three.

John Rembis

A good chunk of the surviving Maine two-foot locomotives wouldn't exist if Ellis Atwood didn't buy them to work his cranberry bog in Massachusetts.

Roger

That is, unless you believe the tall tales that there's an Erie pacific hiding out in Korea...

There's just so many out there that were near-misses, and those that inexplicably survived in numbers where their roster mates were liquidated.

For all the ATSF 4-8-4's that managed to make it to parks and museums, and a fairly good collection of stuff, not a single surviving 2-8-2, 2-8-4, and only one 'early' era survivor.

The Northumberland collection sticks with me, one of most of the significant classes, yet some of the real 'leading edge' stuff like the T-1's were toast, same with the J-1's.

For modern-era survival stories, I have to salute Dave Conrad rescuing the SY 2-8-2 out of the burned enginehouse in Kane and restoring it to a "New Haven" 2-8-2. I didn't think it was destined for anything but the torch when the building was flamed on top of it. That's not classic preservation, but it's certainly taking one out of the jaws of death.

Likewise for Age of Steam saving the Woodward Iron 2-10-0 from Mid Continent. With no rail connection and a questionable bridge between that heavy engine and the outside world, I thought for sure that it would be scrapped in place. Same thing for B&LE #643.

I also heard the Perlman tried to get 999 cut up under the radar. Apparently, the only reason he allowed 999 to be donated to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry was because someone asked him what his plans for it were. I'm not sure how true this story is, but from what I've heard about the man, it wouldn't have been out of character.

I think his face in this picture says it all..

The late Rogers E. M. "Frimbo" Whittaker made his last pubic appearance at the December 1980 Akron Railroad Club banquet. During the Q&A session at the end of his talk, I remember someone asked him something about Pearlman and Mr. Whittaker dryly referred to him as "Public Enemy" Pearlman. So, he had quite a reputation among that generation of fans as well.

Let's not forget that Perlman was the person who donated a 4-8-2 Mohawk and electric S-motor to the Museum of Transportation at Kirkwood, MO.

And perhaps even more remarkable is the one that Atwood *didn't* get, WW&F No. 9, purchased from the WW&F by Frank Ramsdell in the 1930s and then closely guarded for the next 60 years (!) by his daughter Alice on her farm in Connecticut.

It's not only the last surviving Portland Co. Forney (a class of engines once omnipresent on the Maine Two-Foot lines), but the last surviving engine of any kind from the WW&F, Kennebec Central, and SR&RL.

-Philip Marshall

Apparently there are a couple ATSF 2-8-2's that still exist, but were lost in a flood and are still buried in a river. Someone with a lot of money could go digging for them and fill in the preservation gap. Anyone have any more info on those engines?

They exist, at least according to posters on this site. There are two Mikados and one 2-6-2.

I wouldn't start digging based on any of these rumors:
http://cs.trains.com/ctr/f/3/p/116174/1334966.aspx
"The still-buried AT&SF 2-8-2 in the Kaw River is said to be No. 4076."

As a life long Bessemer fan, I find it incredible that they held the 643, 154, and 604 in their Greenville Roundhouse for 30 years. That's very unheard of. I have not come across a story as to why these three locomotives were preserved. Given that the Bessemer, DM&IR, and Union were US Steel properties, it might have been something that came down from the top.

I've heard several different stories on what the plan was for their preservation, the Riverside Park in Greenville is one, another is that US Steel meant to display them in Pittsburgh.

The Erie Pacific in Korea was Erie 2524.

In 1970 I had a chance to see the KNR steam roster; there were 100 engines including two Pacifics in the PaSi-5 class, both built in Korea at Yong Dong Po shops.

I should note the Korean railroad was built by the Japanese, and like Japan's railroads, is left-hand running. A right-hand drive US locomotive has the engineer on the wrong side to see signals etc.

Phil Mulligan

Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad 2-8-0 No. 2 (originally Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 780, renumbered New York Central 5780) and its 4-6-0 stablemate, Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad No. 1 (Originally Chicago Hammond & Western 109, than in succession: Indiana Harbor Belt No. 15, Potato Creek No. 8, Grasse River No. 63)

If it wasn't for an amazing remote location I have no doubt they would have vanished long ago when the railroad was abandoned in 1933.