The L & N historical society listbot (http://lnrr.listbot.com) discussion site reports that, the last CSX/L&N GE U-25B L&N 1616 has been sold to a locomotive recycler by the B&O Museum. The Ex L&N 1616 had been stored for years and restored at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN. Many thought the locomotive was preserved and safe. The B&O Museum needing money gave TVRM a quick chance to purchase and then sold to a locomotive recycler. Get your last photo fast because as soon as the sale is final it will be removed from TVRM.<p> <br><br>



rickmerritt@hotmail.com

WHAT!?! What the heck is this? First off, why wasn't this locomotive offered for sale over the Internet, and in this discussion board particularly? Secondly, who at the B&O Museum is making these decisions that dictate that a CSS&SB little joe and PRR GG-1 be deaccessioned and sent to another museum but a plain old U boat be scrapped? But what really gets me is that the general public, railfans and historians were falsely lead to believe that the locomotive was preserved, when in fact it was just so much money on flanged wheels. We can expect this sort of behavior from railroads who can see only the bottom line, but not from the very people we trust to be guardians of our railroading heritage. <p>This is the very thing that we have been discussing on this board. If you have historic equipment that does not suit your needs, offer it for sale or trade to another organization or museum before you scrap it. Although the sale of the unit probably brought at least $10,000 or more, and the money is probably sorely needed by the B&O Museum, that still doesn't justify sending another historic locomotive to scrap without at least trying to find another home for it. <p>I would like to see on the Internet someday a web site that would be nothing but a forum for museums wishing to dispose of artifacts and equipment, and other museums looking to acquire artifacts and equipment. Sort of make it an unspoken rule that you first offer equipment and artifacts on this forum before you attempt to sell the stuff to an outside party (by outside I mean someone not in the railway preservation movement). Perhaps a passage in the ARM Reccomended Practices that states" thou shalt make all attempts to find suitable homes for unwanted historic equipment with other museums before offering equipment for scrap". <p>I recently decided that my hulk of an FP7 would never get restored by me, and that I wanted to get rid of it. I could have very easily sold it for scrap, paid off some debt and maybe even made a buck or two. But instead I offered it for trade. I'm close to making a deal on it now in exchange for a piece of equipment that I never thought I would own, and really didn't want initially. I'm still in debt, but at least I can sleep at night knowing that I didn't consign a historic locomotive to death. <p>Oh, if anyone doesn't feel that a U25 is historic, then why does the Lakeshore Railway Museum in Northeast, PA have one on display? Apparently someone does.<p><br>



bighookx45@aol.com

DOUBLE, TRIPLE WHAT !!!! This can't be true ! <br>If a diesel locomotive is not considered historic by one museum, it may be by another--- Railroad Museum of New England has the last locomotive bought by the New Haven, a U25B, #2525, and it is the only operating U25B. GE's first American road locomotive design is as historic as EMC's GM-103 at St. Louis.<p>If you can't use it, store it, preserve it yourself, at least offer it to another group that can, or will try to. The torch and metal shear is awfully final.<p>Wasn't this one cosmetically restored and good-looking ? Not just a back-lot hulk ?<p>I would sure like to hear from the B&O Museum on this.<br>

Hang on folks. I'll call the B&O Museum today and see what I can learn. Until then, let's keep our powder dry.<br>



eledbetter@rypn.org

Just out of curiosity, what is the number and linage of your FP7, Mr. Rowlands?<br>