Picture said to be taken in the 1990's. It this the same locomotive that has been reported buried in a culm pile, or is this another one?? And what is it's status today?? http://www.undergroundminers.com/wanamielokie3.jpg

It looks just like the two engines that had made their way to Pine Creek in the late 1960s. Need someone who knows Chevy trucks to date the shot from the truck bed.J.R.

GM started using that style pick-up bed somewhere after 1972, IIRC.

This is presumably the last of three very chunky Vulcan 36" gauge 0-4-0T's that resided in the Glen Alden colliery at Wanamie, Pa. into the 1960s, and cryptically hinted at in the 1967 U.S. Steam Locomotive Directory by Victor Koenigsberg, the predecessor to Dave Conrad's detailed update of 1988.As hinted by May, the NJ Museum of Transportation at Allaire got #4 and #9 in 1967; as far as I know they are both still there, although Conrad lists one as being transferred to another owner. #9 was actually originally built in 1916 for a mine owned by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, but was t ransferred to another owner in 1921.This leaves sister Glen Alden #8 still unaccounted for. Conrad reports that it was donated to an unknown party in September 1960. That party apparently never took possession of the lokie, and it reportedly sits there to this day. With the repatriation of the West Va. Northern locos in Madley, this may now rate as Pennsylvania's best-hidden "secret" steamer. If any one wants to go looking, Wanamie is southwest of Nanticoke and east of Glen Lyon, southwest of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.This loco is not listed at either Steamlocomotive.com or Steamlocomotive.info . I call upon our resident regulars from Steamtown or Brother Laepple to confirm this lokie's existence or scrapping.More photos at http://www.undergroundminers.com/wanamie.html Unfortunately, the more modern photos have the appearances of scanned, badly-faded photo prints, possibly decades old already.

The #4 and #9 were sold off by Pine Creek in the mid to late 1970s. I am not sure off hand where they went. I thought at least one was destined to be converted to internal combustion. There was a third Wanamie engine that hit the Pine Creek rails, but it was back in the 1950s. The Glen Alden Coal Company #28 was purchased by a private individual and brought to Pine Creek in 1958. It was then sold several months later to someone in Virgina in 1959. It was built in 1937. As of the early 1970s, the #28 was in Clinton, Maryland.

In looking at steamlocomotive.info, it shows the #28 as being in Clinton, NJ. The information I have clearly shows it as Clinton, Maryland. In fact, I have a picture of it there. The data I have ends there, but I see where it ended up with Kepner. I had forgotten about that. J.R.

Happy to oblige, Sandy. Last time I was through Wanamie, about a year ago, I did not see the remains of #8. On a previous trip there, it was partially buried in a pile of rock and culm, but on this last trip, its former location was obscured by a bunch of truck trailers. The area of the breaker and enginehouse was declared a Superfund site some years ago and fenced in. The trailers were inside the fence. So I am unable to confirm or deny whether #8 is still on the site.The last time I was at Wanamie during the steam era, #8 was still in service on a truncated piece the track. The track was still in place for most of the length of the line, but just at the edge of the yard, a pile of rock on the track prevented travel beyond that point. #8 was shuffling cars from the slope into the breaker. Unfortunately, I cannot date that final trip any closer than late 1966 or early 1967. The other two lokies, if memory serves me, were already gone.

Hi Bill;Yes, as others have confirmed; this is the engine that was rumored to be buried. I have front and rear views of it; courtesy of Paul Shiptoski. The rear view shows the unique dent in the rear of the cab roof that I could see on #8 in a tape I have of the Wanamie operation. The front view is included on my Surviving World Steam Locomotive CD-ROM; and shows that the smokebox door and end covers for the cylinders are missing.This engine and the other former Glen Alden coal engines were discussed at length by Rob Davis and myself. I pieced the following history together, along with the following details:1955-1958 #4, #8 and #9 transferred to Wanamie (J. David Conrad. This also corresponds with the closer of rail service by Glen Alden in 1958 reported by Gary.)1959 #28 transferred to Route 9 (later NJMT). Sold to Jean Ledford a fewmonths later.1960 #8 transferred to ??? (J. David Conrad)196? #28 photographed at Jean Ledford's farm in Clinton, MD.1966 #4 and #9 transferred to Pine Creek RR. (J. David Conrad. This alsocorresponds with the end of steam at Wanamie reported by Gary.)1970 #8(???) photographed in Shenandoah (Jack Edwards)197? #8 photographed at Wanamie by Paul Shiptoski c.a. 1972 #28 seen at Rocky Hillc.a. 1975 #28 moved to Klamath Falls, OR by Kepner.198? #8 seen at Wanamie (Rob Davis)1990 #4 transferred to Stan Matthews, Mount Pleasant, Iowa.1991 #9 transferred to Stan Matthews, Mount Pleasant, Iowa.Today #4 and #9 at Stan Matthews, Mount Pleasant, Iowa.Today #8 still at Wanamie????Today #28 at Fred Kepner, Train Mountain, Chiloquin, OR, USA????As you can see, #8 has not been seen since the 1980s or early 1990s. No-one knows if it was scrapped as part of the superfund cleanup or not. Also, Jack Edwards photographed a Vulcan Iron Works engine with a number on it's side in Shenandoah in 1970; I don't know if it is a different #8 or what.Also, a Glen Alden Coal #28 is now part of a restraurant in Bayville, NJ; it might be the one that went/was supposed to go to Fred Kepner.The details:#4 Vulcan Iron Works 3585 1926 (Gary Crawford stated 1914)#8 Vulcan Iron Works ? ?#9 Vulcan Iron Works 2484 1916 (Gary Crawford stated 1924)#28 Vulcan Iron Works 4311 1937-James Hefner Hebrews 10:20a Surviving World Steam Project

Hi James,I do not believe the engine formerly at Bayville and now at Allaire State Park was ever Glen Alden #28. All the data on her I have seen has her wearing #117 her whole life. First as Lehigh Valley Coal, then Jeddo-Highland and then the Carroll Park & Western. She's been moved around a lot sicne then, but the Pine Creek boys have her relettered CP&W now!Rob Davis

ADM,DL&W Coal became Glen Alden after the anthracite railroads were forced to divest. So she never really changed hands, but her corporation transformed.Of all the major coal companies, Glen Alden probably has the most "stuff" left. The Wanamie engines, as noted, along with the wonderful Huber Breaker (now a preservation project) and the company's Scranton headquarters (one of the few historic buildings my alma mater the University of Scranton decided to rehab rather than demolish!).Rob

ADM,There is probably a lot of secret steam in PA, with much of it being anthracite lokies never really preserved (like the "ottonger" LCN fleet around Phoenixville - always heard about em, don;t know anyone who has actually seen them) and the quantity assumed to be under culm banks.I have not heard how progress is going on the one dragged out of the culm pile near Girardville a few years ago.And what heppened to the Solvay engines in Mann's Choice?Rob

I'll make you a deal. Pay my auto's gasoline bill, and I'll go up there and find this stuff for you. I'm serious. I've been out searching for this stuff before, often on the same tracks and routes. We're talking $40-50, and I pack a digital camera.

I am not aware of any steam locomotive in the Bayville area at this time. The only link I could imagine is the #117 which is indeed at Pine Creek today.Just to confuse things abit...Data I have shows Wannamie #9 as Vulcan Iron Works 2484, built 1916. Not sure I believe this next part or not, but it was built new for DL&W Coal Mining Department as #28 (of all things) for use at the Loomis Colly. It then went to Glenn Alden in 1921. It received a new boiler in 1949 from Vulcan. It was later renumbered as Wanamie Mine #9. It would be nice to know where these two engines ended up today and in what condition. With their high drivers, they must have been a blast to run as built, but would have made a nice looking locomotive rebuilt with a normal cab and tender.

While rooting around for something else, I came across some photos taken by a friend on Jan. 23, 1967 at Wanamie, showing #8 alive and well on that date. I believe the railway ended operations later that year, perhaps at the time of the annual miners' vacation in July.

While rooting around for something else, I came across some photos taken by a friend on Jan. 23, 1967 at Wanamie, showing #8 alive and well on that date. I believe the railway ended operations later that year, perhaps at the time of the annual miners' vacation in July.By the way, I believe the photo mentioned below as having been taken in Shenandoah was in fact taken at the Gaudiano scrap yard in Hazelton. I spent an awful lot of time poking around in junkyards in Carbon, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in the mid-1960s, looking in vain for a lokie to buy, and I remember the Lehigh Valley Coal Co. engine in Hazelton quite well. I do not know of any lokies in Shenandoah during that period. I do have childhood memories of seeing lokies around Yatesville and Maple Hill in the very early 1950s, but I don't know where they were scrapped (or buried).Anyone know what happened to the LC&N lokie that was in the junkyard in Nesquehoning as late as 1970?