<P>An interesting tid bit for all you sunken locomotive fans out there. On May 22, 2000, workers from the maintenance division of the Panama Canal raised a steam locomotive (from the photo it looks like an 0-6-0 side tank) and 15 dump cars from 45 feet of water in Gatun Lake. These were abandoned by the French company that tried to build the canal. They are to be restored and displayed. More information and photo at www.pancanal.com then go to Canal News and scroll to May 22, 2000. The loco. looks decent in the photo! To bad all the U.S. Panama Canal Co. locos. were repatriated, sold to used loco. dealers, resold and most later scrapped (three 2-6-0s exist as well as an 0-4-0T). You will also recall that a French 2-6-0ST was displayed at the Ford Museum, later at a bank at Traverse City, Michigan before it was repatriated (to France) in the 1980s'. <br>




jdconrad@snet.net

<P>I understand that the Confederate sbumarine, the Hunley was raised the other day. As I understand the newspaper article, it was made from steam locomotive boilers. What kind of boilers are these? Are they 1860's or older, and can any kind of knowledge regarding the construction of early locomotive boilers be obtained from inspecting them?<p>Better yet, if they were taken from existing steam engines instead of built new, what about starting a restoration project beginning with just the boiler? Talk about a basket case.<br>




andy.nold@gte.net

<P>If the plates for C.S.S. Hunley were actually made from locomotive boilers, my guess would be that they were foward boiler courses off a wagon top boiler. Of course the boilers might not have been railroad boilers and I would believe that these may have been nautical or industrial boilers. The C.S.A.'s government might have been inept but for the most part, they were not idiots. They recognized the importance of keeping the few locomotives they had going, seeing as they did not have the ability to make new ones. My thoughts are that the Hunley may have been manufactured from straight barrel, fire tube nautical boilers of the type that would be used on river steamers or small coastal vessels. There would have been plenty of those around to use for purposes such as building experimental submarines. <br>




envlink@voyageronline.net

<P>Let's not forget that the average locomotive boiler of the era was a bit small in diameter through the cylindrical courses for occupancy by a crew of people cranking on a propshaft. Old boilerplate, maybe - but unlikely a locomotive boiler reused in original form. <p>Dave<br>




lathro19@idt.net

<P>Hey, I only know what I read, I am not making any judgments on the aptitude or intelligence of the CSA. Quoting from the Associated Press article:<p> "The hand cranked sub, which was 40 feet long, 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and fashioned from locomotive boilers..."<p>Other articles I have seen on the net just mention a iron steam boiler.<p><br>




Hunley Website

andy.nold@gte.net

<P>The Hunley was fabricated at a machine shop in Mobile, Alabama, and several sources I've seen mention that it was made from locomotive boiler(s). The machine shop was still in existence as recently as the 1960's (?) and photos of it are featured in books on the Hunley. The drawing Andy supplied was made prior to the recovery, and may be inaccurate in several areas.<p>I wonder if it would be possible to trace the origin of the boiler(s)? Now that the sub is recovered and in a preservation tank, they may eventually be able to find stamped markings on the plates (if they used anything like that in 1863) which would help identify it.<p>By the way, this thing is VERY small, too small to accomodate "modern" men. The hatches are only 16" across their larger dimension. The hull started out as a cylinder which was sawed in half length-wise, and then re-joined with two ~12" high iron strips to form an oval. The dimensions are approximately 4' across and 4.5' high. Both ends have tapered courses which were added, and the bow and stern are cast iron sections. The hull is said to appear VERY hydrodynamic and the fabrication is not nearly as crude as was previously believed. For instance, many if not all of the external rivets are flush.<p>See the attached link for many excellent photos of the recovery and the flotilla which escorted the Hunley back home on Tuesday. I was out there and it was truely an awesome event!




Channel 5 in Charleston
whodom@awod.com

<P>Incredible!I can only guess what we will learn from the Hunley.This is the reason I'm interested in lost locomotives so much.They are like a time capsule.Each of us can find something that strikes our fancy with the recovery of a genuine "lost" artifact.Good luck to all those involved with the Hunley project.I really took a liking to their homepage.The bubbly breathing sound is from a scuba diver and had me wishing I were there too!<br> I wonder what they are going to do with that truss and lift system now that they are through with it? I know of a few steam locomotives that could be raised using such equipment.<p>Brian<br><br>




btamper@hotmail.com