Here is a recent photo of AWP 290 at the Southeastern RR Museum.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 5&nseq=647

She had such a short excursion career. It's good to see her indoors and undr a cosmetic restoration.

I still think 290 should have gotten an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the movie "Fried Green Tomatos" for which Jessica Tandy got the Oscar for Best Actress. I enjoyed the movie thoroughly, and especially the scenes of 290.

I hope that Hollywood will once again come south looking for a beautiful Pacific.

Greetings All,

Two little known facts...in fact I doubt that many, if any, of the current southeastern folks know of these.

First- 290 was to be used in the sequel to "Fried Green Tomatoes", plans for the movie stopped at the point Jessica Tandy passed away.

Second- A few years later the SRM was approached about the locomotive for another movie(can't for the life of me remember what it was). I came up with a budget and timeline for returning the locomotive to service... I will never forget this, when the collections and preservation manager gave them the price they said, "we're not worried about that, how long will it take?". The timeline, with I think 6 people working on it full time, was 3.5 to 4 months. They needed it in 1 month! all of the kings horses could not have made that happen as there was a 6 week lead time on the tube material.

In my book that is right up there with the lost opportunity the museum had to accept donation of the NS Pegram shops in atlanta(back in 2000-2001), get moved by NS at no cost and receive $6mil ish from state and federal gvt for re-establishment costs... Gotta wonder, how many of these situations have occured over the years?

Work restarted on 290 earlier this year. It then was delayed due to power assembly leaks and other issues on our SW7 which had to be addressed. The diesel is almost done, so work on 290 should commence shortly thereafter. Here is a link to pictures of the work that was done most recently. Proves the old adage: "It's gonna look worse before it looks better."

http://trainboy85.rrpicturearchives.net ... x?id=40756

As a side note, we completed the cosmetic restoration of ex-Chattahoochee Valley 2-8-0 #21 recently....

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1655247

Andrew Durden
Manager-Locomotives
SRM

Hate to necro old threads...
But I ran across this nice shot of Atlanta & West Point 4-6-2 No. 290 in excursion service on May 1, 1990. Wow, that's really a sweet looking Pacific and a nice train of heavy-weight coaches!!
https://flic.kr/p/b5HAFa

This appears to have been taken during one of John Craft's photo charters. The engine is all black with no striped tires or running boards, which was her most common "in service" appearance on the A&WP. She was dolled up with white trim before being donated to the City of Atlanta, and ran with it in for the bulk of her excursion days. The only inaccuracies in this shot are the brass number plate and the red West Point Route herald on the cab (in service she had a black number plate with brass numbers and the cab herald had a black background). If I get my way, she'll have her "in service" look when reassembled.

I've been disconnected from things train for some years and was not aware of this. Back when the City of Atlanta "kicked" the Atlanta chapter out of Lakewood Park, there were several movers and shakers that tried to get the collection moved to Stone Mountain Park. That location would certainly have created visitors but at the time the powers that be did not want to be land locked like they were at Lakewood. The collection sat for years in Inman Yards.

Back to Pegram. Because of CERCLA (Superfund)* you had better have a mountain of money to accept a 100 year old industrial site. RR property is a favorite target of the EPA. Best course is to let it go to Brownfield then get direct federal funding to redevelop the site (see Atlantic Station as an example). Also Pegram is huge. Was the state interested in establishing a general transportation museum? The site could easily accomodate large pieces like aircraft. Lastly its location though close to downtown (tourism) is a bit rough around the edges.

* Anyone here in Atl is likely familiar with the new stadium for the Falcons. The former Doraville GM plant property was a candidate location and was very desirable by a large sector of the fanbase, but politics along with the prospects of a massive and expensive cleanup ended that idea.

I lost track of the 290. Last time I saw her (in pieces) was when we had 1522 in Atlanta in '94.
What exactly does she need. I know the 1472 is a given, but didn't she have some tram issues or mechanical issues?
I had heard that there was a proposal years ago to make a Ps4 out of her but got shot down.
Like to know more about her.

I seem to recall in an issue of L&RP an article on how 290 was re-trammed, so I wouldn't think that was a problem.

I remember the same article about lasers being used, but somewhere along the way I heard or think I remember hearing about some kind of tram issues.

I wasn't there, but the rumor at the time - take it for what it is worth - was that after the frame was trammed through laser driven accuracy to a very high tolerance, the parts that fit into the frame were not. Once reassembled, things were therefore not in tram with the well trammed frame. Perhaps somebody who was involved in the process is still alive and able to correct any misinformation.

dave

I wasn't there either, but here's what we've gleaned from those who were around the engine at various times throughout the restoration and eventual operation. At some point (or in multiple incidents) during her career on the A&WP, 290 was badly wrecked. The frame sustained quite a bit of damage and was repaired, though it remained twisted, to some extent. The railroad compensated for this with quite a few shims in amongst the shoes and wedges. We'll get back to the shims in a moment. Jump ahead to early 1986. The contract to restore the engine was awarded to J.J. Finnegan (Atlanta RailCar) at Duluth. Finnegan was located at the current site of the SRM. It was here that the (in)famous laser tramming job was done. The aforementioned shims, along with the shoes and wedges, were dropped on the shop floor, then stacked in the corner without having their previous location noted. Given the tram issues on the engine, this might have been helpful. I have no idea what was done as far as laser tramming the locomotive, in fact I haven't read the article. What I do know is that the locomotive ran hot within about 5 or 10 miles, being towed dead to the New Georgia shop after Finnegan went out-of-business about a quarter of the way into the restoration. It continued to have bearing issues a couple of years into it's operation. After Bill Magee, formerly with the Southern Steam Program and TVRM, was brought on board, the engine was taken to Irondale and had box and shoe and wedge work, along with repairs to the brasses which had been running hot almost continuously for two years. After this work, and subsequent minor adjustments, the engine was reportedly comfortable running 60-70 mph for extended stretches by the time she ran to Montgomery via CSX in August of '92. Unfortunately, steam on the New Georgia was cancelled later that year. The drivers were removed and turned after her return to the SRM, and the uneven wear caused by the boxes running cockeyed in the frame prior to the aforementioned work was corrected. In spite of the fact that the engine was running well when last parked and could probably make a few more miles on her current running gear with minor repairs, the long-term cure would be to true the pedestals and lay off new shoes and wedges. I don't recall the overall condition of the boxes themselves, but at least two are off of an A&WP 2-8-2 and are smaller than the others.

Thanks Andrew - your story says a lot about how shortlines kept things running in ways mainlines wouldn't have accepted, and with success. I did read the 1986 tramming story, and it was very detailed about not only the process but the results in terms of the tight tolerances that were possible using the laser technology.

dave

Dave....All,

It is my experience that the most expedient and ACCURATE manner in which to tram a locomotive is via a single wire down the center of the machine. Last one I trammed via this method took only two days of set up and measuring and produced results all within .003. Lasers (of the antiquated transit sight type as was utilitzed on 290 ) take longer and give one nothing tangible. There are other existent laser technologies but the cost does not justify the fanciness.

Cheers, Jason

Sometimes "analog" is better.