Was there any results posted anywhere on the ITM auction? I went to the Ozark site and they don't have anything on the auction now. The information in the earlier post bellow is based on people seeing bids meeting the reserve cost before the auction closed. I wonder if they really are toast or if there were last minute bids.

As far as a scrapper not being willing to sell a piece of equipment, remember that it costs money to scrap something. Workers wages, transportation and materials (oxy/acetylene, fuel,etc) all add up and cut into profits. A good offer above scrap value can still save a piece of equipment. The problem now is time. I would bet that the scrapper has a time limit to get the job done. There won't be time to do any lengthy negotiatoions. Most of the people who would be interested in the remaining equipment would be museums who would take a long time to authorize the money for purchase and movement. There may not be enought time for that.

I would hate to see the F's and Santa Fe coaches get cut up. It's true that you can't save everything but I am surprised they didn't get bids.

TRAINS Magazine Newswire had the results of the auction on their website this morning. I'll list the link below, but don't know if the paywall will get you if you're not a subscriber.

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... ond-chance

Important quotes from the article:

"The pieces which were sold in the auction included: U.S. Navy boxcar No. 4828; Pennsylvania Railroad boxcar No. 497329; Milwaukee Road refrigerator car No. 37191; wooden outside-braced boxcar No. 2, which is believed to be of Wabash Railroad heritage; and PRR Railway Post Office Car No. 6523."

"Among the former ITM pieces which were not sold are former Amtrak, nee Great Northern, steam generator car no. 661; Milwaukee Road EMD FP7A no. 96C, which currently wears Monon Railroad livery; Milwaukee Road EMD F7B no. 68B; PRR Pullman sleeper no. 8007, Philadelphia County; and Santa Fe stainless steel coaches nos. 3083 and 2400. "

“Cooke says the city of Noblesville was left with around 60 cars following the eviction. Since then and through two auctions, he says, dozens of cars have been successfully relocated. The city, in total, has helped save 34 railroad cars and enabled them to be safely moved out and find new homes around the country,”

"Cooke says the city plans to clean up the park and repurpose it for use as a tourist attraction and southern terminal for non-profit tourist line the Nickel Plate Express, which operates between Noblesville and Atlanta, Ind. "

"As part of the cleanup and repurposing of Forest Park, Cooke says, the city plans to keep several railcars in Forest Park for static display. He also says the city could lease other pieces of equipment from the former ITM collection to the Nickel Plate Express."

NS 3322 -

Good to see that some of the items were sold, and thus saved. One point however; the Milwaukee Road ice bunker refrigerator car is actually a Union Refrigerator Transit Company car that carried a Milwaukee Road herald. Many of the cars owned by Union Refrigerator Transit carried the heralds of railroads that the cars were leased to or assigned to. Thus the reporting marks on the car read U.R.T.X. 37191. and not MILW 37191.

One other point; someone described the U.S. Navy boxcar as being a wooden car. Is that correct? My guess is that it is a steel bodied car.

Nice to see that the Pennsy boxcar and R.P.O. were saved. Is the R.P.O. still so configured on the inside? Or was the interior "gutted"? Also, PRR boxcar #497329 is the number of the car after it was assigned to sand service by the railroad. Anyone know what road number the car carried when it was still in regular service?

Thanks!

Les

Les,

From the photos the RPO is a gem with a very intact interior. Great save and congrats to the party that purchased it!

- Rob

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Who was it not long ago that wanted an F B unit so bad? Seems they've got the chance right now if they move quickly. Scrappers might be willing to work with a buyer on the F units.

Personally, I thought the F units stood the best chance of being saved. I thought we would be having this discussion over the Baldwin. Why are the ATSF coaches not deemed salvage worthy? Are the interiors still intact? Seems a shame to waste two good coaches. The PRR car looks a lot worse than the ATSF cars.

Interesting how the cards fell on this one.

Robert

The ATSF coaches were basically shells. Lots of parts were stolen to fix the other ones.

Ah, I see. Still a shame to loose two shells that could make decent coaches.

Robert