No slight to the fine folks rebuilding 2926! Of the rebuilds in progress, I am beyond impressed with the dedication of the NMSLHS team. Reminiscent of the effort that brought back NKP 765 in 1979. When complete the 2926 will be the largest operating steam locomotive - well heaviest.

No slight was given, so no apology needed. I will point out, however, that of the locomotives you mentioned in your first post, only 2926 is undergoing a full restoration; the rest have already done so and (except for 611) are merely going through the overhaul/rebuilding process that is normal for operating steam locomotives. 611's having been out of service may cause her to need more work than the others, but all three have been in excursion service since their respective retirements, while 2926 hasn't yet run under her own power since being pulled out of Coronado Park in 2000. That should be happening fairly soon, though...

When these fine examples of modern steam power (not limited to northerns) all get under steam, I hope a gathering can be organized along the lines of this weekend's streamliner event in Spencer.

Not to pick nits, but 2926 hasn't run under her own power since 1953 (maybe early 1954, tops).

Regarding the 4449, to be more specific, looks like the goal is to have the work done by the end of November according to this thread over on Trainorders:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3422614

Some work is scheduled for next year:

Just saw a set of photos of the tubes that were removed from 844 on that other board. Yikes was the reaction in the thread before it deteriorated into a giant I told you so - again I will reiterate that this thread is not meant to be a discussion of personalities. How long ago were those tubes put in 844? Is 844 in fact undergoing a 1472 inspection? (If so recent photos of her in the shops still show a cab on and jacket. All of that would all have to come off to do the visual and UT survey.)

Anyhow from the info available it looks to me that 611, 4449, and 844 will all be re-steaming at about the same time. As to 611, 9 months is aggressive, but those that put that 9 month number out also have a pretty good idea what work was upcoming in the winter of 1994-95. Assuming they don’t find a mess inside or that major work on the firebox is not required, it’s probably quite feasible to get her in steam by next April.

Bit of a digression but I’m just full of curiosity today. It’s been 14 years since the new rules went into effect. Has anyone studied the effectiveness of the rule change. Yes steam locomotives today are not subjected to hash operating demands as back in the day, but steel deteriorates - fire in the box or not. Water treatment appears paramount and there was a thread recently that detailed many treatment approaches. What are the best practices for controlling deterioration inside the boiler between service periods? O2 is kind of everywhere and it isn't a friend of steel.

In regard to 611, it would have been really neat to see her first steam-up on December 7th of this year which would have made it exactly 20 years since her last run.

I saw the 2926 a few years ago while visiting Albuquerque and let me tell you, that is one very large locomotive! I can't wait to see that thing running! It's going to put quite a show on when it's done.

On a somewhat related question...

What's the largest gathering of operational Northerns in the last 50 years or so?

Double headers happen on occasion, 4449 & 700 as well as 4449 & 844 come to mind, and I'm pretty certain there have been others, but I can't think of any specific ones aside from the Reading Rambles, which is a bit further back than I'm discussing.

Has there been a gathering or 3 or more Northerns under steam recently? I can't think of any. Steam Expo 86 had a huge collection of steam but not even one Northern. The Sacramento Railfairs pulled off two, 4449 & 844.

Did they manage it at one of the Train Festivals?

Getting 844 to Portland while both 4449 and 700 were steamed up would do the trick, but that's apparently somewhat unlikely.

As to a gathering of Northerns, Kansas City seems to be on several system maps. CP, BSF, UP, and NS. With that combination a good number could get together. Still a very expensive thing to do.

Agreed, Tim. Let's do it with Berkshires and Kanawhas!

Portland would be by far the easiest place to gather three of them. 4449 and 700 share "roundhouse" (OK, it's rectangular now) space in Portland at the ORHF.

The Union Pacific mainline passes less than an engine length away from the building. They'd need permission from the Oregon Pacific to use a short length of their line to get to the site, but that probably wouldn't be too difficult.

The main issue is that visits by 844 to Portland are rare. Not unheard of, they visited in 2010 but very rare. The other issue is finding a time when all three can be steamed up. Usually that wouldn't be too difficult, and 4449 will be long done with her overhaul before there's any chance of it happening, but I'm not sure when 700 is due, or what the future holds for the 844.

That would be cool too, but then again they don't exactly count as Northerns do they?

Heck, do like the Brit's did with the A4's, gather up all the Berks and send them to Spencer. What a show that would be!

The preceding post was a "Foamer Fantasy" No, it won't happen any time soon.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality, already in progress.

Bob, I believe the 700 expires about this time next year.

Scott

I would be surprised if AOSR was actually working 6325's troublesome bearing problem but I would love to be proved wrong!

Rob Gardner

No need to reinvent the wheel, Spencer now has a track record of being able to host events for 20+ visiting locomotives (granted steam requires more facilities that Diesel). My suggestion would be to couple the event with the re-introduction of 611 to operating condition, and get as many operable mainline steam locomotives there as possible. They have a friendly connecting Class I that has proven willing to help move the equipment on it's own wheels, if not under steam. Possible roster for participants (from what is supposed to be operable next year) might include:

Both current NS steam program locos, NKP 765 and SR 630 (and 611)

One of each major Class of Chinese steam in the US: An IAIS QJ, the Boone JS, and one of the Eastern US SY's.

PM 1225

R&N 425

Possibly an AOS locomotive

UP 844

SP 4449

ATSF 3751

That's 11 operable mainline steam locomotives off the top of my head.

611 is the star of the show, runs it's first excursion(s) in 20 years as part of the gathering; 630 and 425 handle any short excursions; and maybe 765 or 1225 run a photo freight. Ambitious, but not outrageously so. Would suggest marketing heavily to the UK/European/Japanese fan market for maximum participation. I think they could easily break 5-6K attendees.