For the record, here's the story behind #759's "freeze damage". In late 1973, the Delaware and Hudson RR tentatively approved a steam excursion featuring #759 and Steamtown's two operable ex-CP G-5 Pacifics (nos. 1246 and #1278). It was to be a two day extravaganza from Albany, N. Y. to Scranton, Pa. and return--with #759 as the "road engine" and the 4-6-2's as helpers on heavy several grades. Mr. Dick Williams of the D&H was put in charge of coordinating the excursion with Steamtown; since Steamtown had no heated shop facilities at the time, Mr. Williams offered to have #759 stored for the Winter in a heated roundhouse in Rouses Point, NY and the Pacifics in a facility in Plattsburg, NY. Steamtown personnel would prepare the locomotives for the excursion in those facilities. #759 steamed lite to Rouses Point in early November, 1973, and was bedded down in the D&H roundhouse--but not fully "winterized' because it was supposed to be kept in a heated facility over the Winter. The Pacifics did not go to Plattsburg because Steamtown had some potential use for them over the Winter (they did run a Winter excursion on the Green Mountain RR in December, 1973)--and that turned out to be a good thing for Steamtown as the Pacifics probably would have suffered the same "feeze damage" as #759 did.


What happened next is rather bizzare. As word got out in the railfan world that the excursion on the D&H was planned, Steamtown was beseiged with telephone calls and letters seeking details on the trip from those who wanted to chase and photograph. Steamtown's Executive Director, Bob Barbera, was notorious for disliking those who wanted to chase and photograph without buying a ticket (with some justification--but that's another story). Against the advise of his staff, Barbera ordered the trip flyer to contain information that the locomotives would be "shrouded" during the trip except for the paying passengers at photo runbys. Disgruntled chasers beseiged the D&H with their disapproval of the shrouding; the railroad informed Barbera that they wanted no part of hanging sheets on the locomotives during the excursion, but Barbera held fast that the locomotives were his and he could do what he wanted with them. The dispute ended up in the D&H withdrawing their support for the trip.


Steamtown planned to retrieve #759 from Rouses Point in the Spring--when warmer weather returned. But the D&H didn't tell Steamtown that when they withdrew their support for the proposed excursion, they also withdrew their offer to keep #759 in a heated facility for the Winter. Mr. Howard Hontz ordered #759 out of the Rouses Point roundhouse, and into outdoor storage in the D&H yard. That resulted in some freeze damage to #759--mainly to components in the feedwater system and flexible staybolt caps. Barbera filed suit against the D&H for the damage, and the D&H ended up being found at fault for the damage. #759 returned to Steamtown "dead in tow", and the D&H hired Wes Camp to oversee the freeze damage repairs at Steamtown's Bellows Falls shop. All damage was repaired successfully, and #759 was fired up and test operated on Steamtown's yard trackage at Bellows Falls. That turned out to be #759's last operation under steam.

#759's FRA boiler time ran out during the litigation with the D&H, and the locomotive was really too big to regular use at Steamtown--so it was decided not to do anything more with the locomotive at Steamtown unless someone else came along to foot the bill for boiler work. In 1977 or 1978, a potential excursion operator approached Steamtown about running some trips with #759; that party promised to fund the boiler repairs. It was decided to first apply for a tube extention as the locomotive was only going to see limited use, but a preliminary inspection revealed some question marks about the condition of the tubes and superheater units; when a tube burst under hydro, Bob Barbera said "no way" to applying for the tube extention.(To his credit, Bob was very concerned about tube condition--few railfans ever knew that he was a mechanical engineer, and he'd experienced first hand having his father Andy severely burned when a tube "let go" on Steamtown ex-Rahway Valley 2-8-0 #15 in 1973.) The interested party initially agreed to pay for #759's retubing; Steamtown's shop forces removed the front end and superheater units, and began drilling out flexible staybolt "telltales" in the firebox for Flannary testing of the bolts. Dillon Boiler was contracted to do the retubing and make repairs to some defective superheater units; Dillon Boiler removed the old tubes, and began preparing the boiler for a new set--and had a new set of tubes "lined up" for the locomotive. Dillon requested a "down payment" on the new tubes before placing the order. When Bob Barbera asked the potential operator for funds to cover the down payment for the new tubes, the potential operator backed out of the deal. That alone sealed #759's fate of operating again for the Steamtown Foundation. THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG MECHANICALLY WITH #759 THAT WOULD HAVE EVER PREVENTED IT FROM OPERATING AGAIN. And I think that's undoubtedly still the case as Ross Rowland mentioned #759 as one of the candidates when he was recently talking about the use of three steam locomotive for the proposed Greenbrier Express; of course, we all know now the Greenbrier Express won't have steam--at least initially.

So, will #759 ever operate again? It could, but most likely won't unless someone other than the Park Service finds a use for it--or some "sugardaddy" who really wants to see it run makes a huge donation to the Park Service specifically for that purpose.

Frederick G. Bailey

worse engines have come back from the haunting dead, no prob for 759, if someone can build an engine (Leviathan) it aint no prob.