I know the Middletown & Hummelstown RR looked at least one of the engines two years ago.

> Latest rumor is that these have been sold,
> but I do know whom, and I do not think they
> have moved yet. I know someone who made a
> legitimate offer three years ago, but the
> owner passed on the offer at the time.

> The wooden caboose is actually a PRR N6b
> cabin.

> The saddle tankers are across the road in in
> "operable" condition inside the
> owners shop, which also doubles as the cable
> television provider for that particular
> "holler". I think he has a little
> picnic for the locals once or twice a year
> and runs the tankers.

> This is not a place to trespass, but if
> properly introduced the owner is very
> hospitable.

One more for the list: ex-Reading Company steel passenger coach class PBh No. 1461, built in 1914 by Harland & Hollingsworth, and stored (landlocked) in Mann's Choice, Pa. It is/was owned by George M. Hart of Rail Tours, and was leased to the Everett in the late 60's. It since has moved twice and is presently in poor condition. It literally is a car in the woods.

> Don't forget the Tuscarora Valley narrow
> gauge coach (sans trucks) hidden somewhere
> in the mountains of south central
> Pennsylvania, and the two open air wooden
> boxcars from the defunct Wawa &
> Concordville RR in Concordville, Pa. One of
> my favorite tucked away hidden
> "discoveries" when I was a kid was
> the ex-LIRR Cooke steam rotary snowplow
> (replete with Belpaire) formerly owned by
> Ron Ziel that was stashed on an obscure
> siding on the Black River & Western
> north of Lambertville, NJ, but alas, it has
> since gone off to Steamtown in Scranton.

> Also, who could forget the PRR T-1 kept
> under lock and key in a Pittsburgh steel
> mill:):)

> Did I just say that??? Pinch me.

> K.R. Bell

Two ex-DL&W electric MU cars lost in the vines on an abandoned lumberyard siding along the North Shore RR east of Northumberland, Pa., owned by the same restauranteur that installed two others at Northumberland's PRR station-cum-restaurant..... Unless Wayne wants to tell me that Jay got rid of them, finally.........

lner4472@bcpl.net

> Hi friends,

> Every so often, I like to ask this question
> to see what's lurking out there in the deep
> dark night...

> "What is the most interesting abandoned
> railroad relic in the
> woods/scrapyard/backyard that you know
> of?"

> How about 2 Milwaukee Road RBL (ex-URTX?) sitting next to the old Excaliber plant on Hwy 100 in Greenfield WI? You should have to worry about rust, there is enough graffiti on them (now). They are pretty overgrown during the summer.(great camoflage) The rails they are on are the only remaining of the spur.

DK

elviracat@msn.com

> I doubt it. The last time I took a good look
> at it there was a USA "bumper
> number" still visible on one end. I
> believe it was one of the cars that was
> built here for foriegn service, never used
> in its intended role and eventually sold as
> surplus. It appeared to have been used a
> shed for some time.

Any more details on the location? I live about two miles from the Perkasie tunnel.

Bethlehem Branch Hike part 1
jrevans@accusort.com

> For me, it is a 1892 Climax, 2-truck Shay at
> Chain-of-Lakes Resort outside Romayor, Tx.
> Only a frame and boiler now but must have
> been something when it ran.

Robin was kind enough to send me a better picture of this Climax than I had, which I uploaded to me website. I linked to it below.

I know of lots of "lost" locomotives, and have seen pictures of several; but my most memorable experience was visiting Long Leaf prior to it being cleared up and established as a museum. To drive through a drying shed still full of lumber, then park and walk back into the woods to see the locomotives and other equipment in the woods. It was like being in a jungle in South America, and coming upon some old Inca ruins. It was an experience I am my family will never forget.

(Especially since I was supposed to be in New Orleans the next day, and we dragged in about 4:00 in morning. That whole experience is part of the Hefner family yore.)

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Long Leaf - that first visit

james1@pernet.net

James, I totally agree with your sentiments.

Several years ago a friend and I were exploring some swampland near Rimini, SC, trying to find the rumored Shay from Brooklyn Cooperage. We didn't find it (others have), but did find a handcar wheelset in the middle of nowhere. I also came fairly close to an encounter with a cottonmouth.

Other finds:
1. an abandoned logging skidder from the Holly Hill Lumber Company, near Holly Hill, SC. It's on the property of a hunting club, and if permission is sought first, they're quite nice about letting people in to see it. When we found it, I thought the condition of the oil in the journal boxes was pretty good, for 30+ years of exposure;
2. a bunk car off tracks, set along a back road leading to Douthat State Park and Warm Springs, VA. Don't know its lineage;
3. A good friend Pat Scott in Athens GA took me once to see two Georgia RR passenger cars sitting in someone's backyard.
Now on to rumors-when once talking with some local folks about the Virginia Blue Ridge, one related a story about an abandoned locomotive up in the nearby mountains. Can't confirm; nor can I confirm the stories about the narrow-gauge Shay near Asheville, NC that supposedly tipped over into a ditch.

jcpdeke@aol.com

Hey John, Can you tell us more about the Bunk car by Douthat State Park? Was in Narrow Gauge? I live outside of Lexington and would like to try and find it. Will Harris in Goshen has a interesting collection of stuff, he might be interested in saving it. It amazes me how much logging was done in VA and how few remains there are. I've been hunting for a pair of logging disconnects that a friend of mine found while hunting 20 years ago, from the South River Lumber Co.

Thanks - Mike

> James, I totally agree with your sentiments.

> Several years ago a friend and I were
> exploring some swampland near Rimini, SC,
> trying to find the rumored Shay from
> Brooklyn Cooperage. We didn't find it
> (others have), but did find a handcar
> wheelset in the middle of nowhere. I also
> came fairly close to an encounter with a
> cottonmouth.

> Other finds:
> 1. an abandoned logging skidder from the
> Holly Hill Lumber Company, near Holly Hill,
> SC. It's on the property of a hunting club,
> and if permission is sought first, they're
> quite nice about letting people in to see
> it. When we found it, I thought the
> condition of the oil in the journal boxes
> was pretty good, for 30+ years of exposure;
> 2. a bunk car off tracks, set along a back
> road leading to Douthat State Park and Warm
> Springs, VA. Don't know its lineage;
> 3. A good friend Pat Scott in Athens GA took
> me once to see two Georgia RR passenger cars
> sitting in someone's backyard.
> Now on to rumors-when once talking with some
> local folks about the Virginia Blue Ridge,
> one related a story about an abandoned
> locomotive up in the nearby mountains. Can't
> confirm; nor can I confirm the stories about
> the narrow-gauge Shay near Asheville, NC
> that supposedly tipped over into a ditch.


yenko117@yahoo.com

> James, I totally agree with your sentiments.

> Several years ago a friend and I were
> exploring some swampland near Rimini, SC,
> trying to find the rumored Shay from
> Brooklyn Cooperage. We didn't find it
> (others have), but did find a handcar
> wheelset in the middle of nowhere. I also
> came fairly close to an encounter with a
> cottonmouth.

Mike, I believe I have a picture of it I can send you offline, if you haven't seen it already. That is one with the pole road wheels, right?

> Other finds:
> 1. an abandoned logging skidder from the
> Holly Hill Lumber Company, near Holly Hill,
> SC. It's on the property of a hunting club,
> and if permission is sought first, they're
> quite nice about letting people in to see
> it. When we found it, I thought the
> condition of the oil in the journal boxes
> was pretty good, for 30+ years of exposure;

Did you take a picture of it? That particular one is news to me.

I have not seen it in person, but the remains of trackwork and cars from the Garyville Northern RR are in the woods east 0f Interstate 10. The track is shown in detailed maps of that part of Louisiana.

A Shay from the same railroad is in Hope Canal east of Garyville. A friend of mine told me a story of how when he was a youngster in the about the early 1960s, he was taken on a hunting trip in the Livingston, LA area when he was shown an abandoned locomotive. It was in a shallow spot in the center of a grove of trees; you could not see it until you were on top of it.

What I believe he was describing was one of the Baldwin dummy (tram) engines used by the Garyville Northern, and apparently abandoned on the northernmost extremity of the railroad. After all of these years, he has no idea where it was, and the man who showed it to him is either in failing health or has passed away.

There is also what sounds like a logging skidder mounted on a barge in a canal in the same swamp. The barge has since sunk; and the pulleys from the skidder are occasionally reported as an upside down steam locomotive.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project
james1@pernet.net

Hey James. I've seen a few pictures of the pole truck shay, but Thanks for the offer! I was more interested in learning about the abandoned camp car, John wrote of. I've done some exploring along the Blue Ridge Parkway, but so far have only found grades and chunks of coal.

See ya - Mike

mes > Mike, I believe I have a picture of it I can
> send you offline, if you haven't seen it
> already. That is one with the pole road
> wheels, right?

> Did you take a picture of it? That
> particular one is news to me.

> I have not seen it in person, but the
> remains of trackwork and cars from the
> Garyville Northern RR are in the woods east
> 0f Interstate 10. The track is shown in
> detailed maps of that part of Louisiana.

> A Shay from the same railroad is in Hope
> Canal east of Garyville. A friend of mine
> told me a story of how when he was a
> youngster in the about the early 1960s, he
> was taken on a hunting trip in the
> Livingston, LA area when he was shown an
> abandoned locomotive. It was in a shallow
> spot in the center of a grove of trees; you
> could not see it until you were on top of
> it.

> What I believe he was describing was one of
> the Baldwin dummy (tram) engines used by the
> Garyville Northern, and apparently abandoned
> on the northernmost extremity of the
> railroad. After all of these years, he has
> no idea where it was, and the man who showed
> it to him is either in failing health or has
> passed away.

> There is also what sounds like a logging
> skidder mounted on a barge in a canal in the
> same swamp. The barge has since sunk; and
> the pulleys from the skidder are
> occasionally reported as an upside down
> steam locomotive.

> -James Hefner
> Hebrews 10:20a


yenko117@yahoo.com

> Any more details on the location? I live
> about two miles from the Perkasie tunnel.

I have to pull out a topo map and then maybe go back up there to look. It is on the south side of the road, inside a curve,somwhere west of the north portal. There was not much left the last time I saw it (five years ago?)

MEA

wrallenassoc@earthlink.net