Just ran across this:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ay05m.html
The two may not be connected but may help explain why a Reading Northern is slowly deteriorating in the state of Washington.

Anyone know where the C&O "Chessie" Budd combine that was seen with the locomotive when moving west ended up?

Just Curious.........

I've worked on red and green tractors that have spent decades sitting outside just a few miles from where 2100 is and they've fared amazingly well. It could be in a worse climate, but it would be nice if they would secure it from vandals.

Bob

Tom Payne's combine WAS stored at Warden, Alberta for years. I assumed it was still there. If it moved with 2100, it only moved with it from Alberta to Washington.

I recall seeing photos of the car (C&O 1402 - if I have the right one) with the 2100 at some point in the not so distant past.

Hoping for a Chessie re-union one of these days......

Interesting that they're looking for funds from the FRA. Seems like a catch 22 in that they may only get it if the county extends their contract. And then I wonder if receipt of such funding from the FRA would have any bearing on the STB decision...

It's my memory of this whole sad saga that the locomotive now carries a 7 figure lien against it by the wealthy ex-freind of Mr. Paynes who lent him in monies for the ill fated excursion operation with the engine as security for the loan.

The curious thing is why it has taken so long for the lien holder to auction off the asset in order to get at least some of his money back??

Guess someday all the facts will emerge??

Ross Rowland

I hope there are contingency plans for preservation of this historic locomotive.

The last picture I saw of the engine had it looking in fairly good shape. Does it still have boiler time left? (provided that sitting outside in Washington hasn't ruined anything)

Industry standard of 35 years for a contract? I almost fell out of my chair with that one.

Dave

The locomotive was re-tubed at Ceeco in Tacoma in about 2004 or '05 IIRC, so it does have tube time, but it also has some firebox issues stemming from a....let's say an unusual conversion from coal to oil. It is parked over in Eastern Washington in a climate comparable to a cooler Phoenix Az. so it's not in the usual rain-soaked terrarium that is the Western Side and has only been mildly vandalized in its Time of Storage....

Cheers, Dave

Maybe the 7-figure lien explains the apparent "who the hell cares any more" attitude of the owner about securing his poor locomotive against vandals and thieves. It doesn't take much time for an unsecured steam locomotive to go from "mild vandalism" to "totally stripped and trashed." Photos of #2100 in open storage at her current location from 2009 show that the headlight(s) and ditch lights are broken out and the cab's wide open. Who knows what's happened in the mean time. Sad!

A year or so ago, a photo of 2100 was posted on Trainorders that showed the bare boiler barrel visible between the running boards and drivers. No lagging, no jacketing, just the boiler barrel, rivets and all. I wonder if they lagged any part of the boiler, or just applied some cosmetic jacketing above the running boards? Not having anything to keep the heat in the boiler might account for some of its performance issues, too.

Walt Lankenau

I do not recall any C&O combine showing up with 2100 in Washington. They did have some Canadian single level commuter cars, but I think they were all the same (looking a lot like a school bus inside) and no C&O stuff that I ever saw.

That was the way it was jacketed in St. Thomas, Ontario. Only lagging and jacketing on the top and sides of the boiler. Nothing underneath. Don't ask me that the reasoning behind that was.