They would make a very interesting "artificial reef" in the New Jersey state aquarium...

Actually, the artificial reef comment is not a bad one, although water pressure, temperature, and salinity, would have to remain the same as where they are now. The other side of that is that deteriroration would continue to progress. Nevertheless, it is an option.I think stabilization in a chemical bath is the only real preservation option, and trying to "restore" these locomtives will be virtually impossible. The details that can still be rendered from the hulks will be analyzed by present and future techniques, while artists interpret them in drawings today. The brass needs to be cleaned, either in place or after removal, as this may be the only possibility for identification. Maps and possible scenarios of how they got where they landed could be presented OR made part of the exhibit for visitors, particularly children, to speculate upon in a written log. Also, take the haddock out of the firebox.

I am only raising these questions because it appears that recovery and preservation will go forward, and I can see a variety of possible approaches, some of which may not be advisable. Using a metal detector, I dug up a crank pin oil cup from an 1882 Manchester 4-4-0. It is solid brass, oxidized to green, and is still oily inside. What is most striking is the weight density, and the micrometer-like precision of the threaded elements which still work perfectly after more than a century underground. I had a real temptation to polish it to a high luster. Now I am really glad I did not. That patina speaks volumes. In my opinion, this is polishing up is one of the most common misjudgments that is made with old artifacts.

I recall that two Stephenson single truck streetcars were "discovered" sometime in the last 10 years and are now in the collections at the Ohio Historical Society. If I am correct the Society was to restore one car and leave the other as-is. Perhaps someone can fill in details as they relate to this discussion?Wesley

The two cars in question were from Lancaster Traction, and one or both contained some of the oldest electric railway equipment known to be intact: open frame Tomson-Houston motors and early electrical equipment including Type E controllers, which actually pre-date the K-controller. One car has apparently been left alone by OHS, but the other was basically disassembled and completely rebuilt (probably largely a replica) - as a horsecar, which it had originally been built as. I was told that the electrical equipment, which was extremely historic, was discarded (the controllers were salvaged by a member of the restoration crew and are now in the BERA collection, but the open-frame motors may have simply been scrapped by OHS - I hope not).

The cars indeed came from Lancaster, Ohio. There was a closed car and an open car, both probably built by Stephenson. The closed car apparently was a horse car originally, but I believe the open car was built as an electric car. Both were stored in an east Cleveland warehouse for many years where I first saw and photographed them. Probably thru rough handling while in storage, the frame of the closed car was badly wracked. Interestingly, the closed car was equipped with air brakes, but the open car was not.After the death of the daughter of the owner of the Lancaster street car system, the Ohio Historical Society acquired the cars and moved them to Columbus and converted the closed car back into a horse car, which was unfortunate. The traction motors were donated to Trolleyville, USA, wherer I saw them shortly after they arrived. They may still be there.T. V. Prowell

That’s much the way I feel about the three New York elevated locomotives in Solomon, Alaska. They are much too deteriorated to ever become locomotives again, and have much more value interpreting the boom and bust nature of Alaskan development than they do interpreting the elevated railways of New York. As they sit now, they give the viewer a powerful feeling of desolation that could never be captured in an indoor setting. They have survived close to a hundred years on the tundra, and likely will last several centuries more.