Howard's post reminds me of an article in the late and lamented L&RP magazine. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why it was in there, since it wasn't about preservation, at least not as far as I could determine. It was about the Boeing LRV's used in San Francisco and elsewhere, and all the problems they had.

The list was long and extensive. Controls, heating and A/C, doors, pantographs, motors, trucks, controls, etc etc etc. Once I got done reading it, I was wondering what worked right? I think maybe the seats didn't have any major malfunctions. :)

Apparently airplane design doesn't transfer to railroad design all that well. Many of the problems appeared to be related to body flex and all the vibration and rough ride typical in service.

This thread got way of topic!

Has anybody confirmed whether or not there is a locomotive in Uxbridge?

Later!
Mr. Ed

Reminds me of the attempts to use high pressure water tube boilers in locomotive service. What worked just fine in the comparitively steady-state world of stationary power generation and marine service did hold up in railroad service; besides the jolts, shocks, bouncing and dust, locomotives were constantly speeding up and slowing down, inducing thermal shocks to the boilers. They leaked constantly, and spent most of their time in the back of the shop waiting to be repaired.

As of today, I'll be out there in three weeks at the earliest, unless I can convince someone to drive me out there. I'm going to see if I can get in contact with my cousin's friend who found "the train" and try and get a better description.

Don't you have a bicycle?? How far away is it? If there's a will, there's a way. Get up from the computer, get out into the fresh air and go look for that engine!

Howard P.

Well, I do have a bike, but I'm in Leicester, "the train" is in Uxbridge. By car that's a 45 minute ride. Not that I couldn't do a ride like that, but it would take me the better part of a day. I was hoping that I could get out there earlier, but (sadly), my cousin is busy for the next two weekends, and I was going to stay over to go search for this thing. Plain sad. I want to get there before anyone else get there so I can say I found out what it is :(

Alright, so the big day of discovery should be in mid may, unless I can get there earlier. Now, anyone have an idea of how to get whatever this thing is out of the woods?

Good God, man. Let's see if it's even there, and if so, is it worth salvaging?

However, the Goodyear blimp comes to mind...

There is always a way to recover abandoned equipment. Those guys that rebuild old Caterpillar tractors for a hobby are always finding them abandoned and overgrown. A lot of times, they are able to get them started to load onto a trailer, once they get the engine free to turn.

I think the main concern you have before forumlating any plan of recovery is to see what is actually there. An abandoned locomotive seems like a longshot, but anything is possible.

While you are waiting for the time to go there, you could do some computer research and find out who owns the land. Then try to contact them. That might lead to a dead end for some reason, but you could find out who owns land near the site and contact them. Anybody in the vicinity is going to know the details, and you will be able to get a hold of at least one party, given the probable number to choose from.

Let's wait and see what is actually there... hopefully this will result in an actual "find" rather than the disappointment that surrounds the vast majority of "lost engine" searches.

Be sure to take a good camera, and if necessary take another friend who has a good camera. If there really is an engine there, take lots of good photos from all possible angles. If there are builders plates, record them photographically as well as transcribing the info in note form. Take a tape measure to record such vital info as track gauge, wheel diameters, wheelbase, overall length, etc.

Best to get out there as early as possible, before the foliage gets too dense.

Otherwise, even if there really is a locomotive, you might not find it and photography might be impossible. I'm thinking of a couple of old farm tractors I pass every day on my way to work, which are totally covered with lush grape vines. They are only visible in the winter and early spring!

A machete might be useful, but I wouldn't want to explain to the police why I was carrying one, LOL. Lopping shears might be a useful alternative.

Good luck out there- and please report back what you find. A traction engine or other piece of equipment might be of great interest to other, non- rail, preservationists.

As for getting "it" out of there- that is probably the easy part, once "it" is identified and is deemed valuable enough to be recovered, and permission is obtained from the owner, and any landowners who might be affected by a recovery operation.

This seems to be a fairly urban area, so unless the terrain is boggy or rough, moving "it" shouldn't be too hard. Again, once it is determined that there is indeed a preservation- worthy locomotive (or other rolling stock), I'm sure lots of advice will be found on this forum. Many of us have moved locomotives, cars, buildings, and heavy machinery, and there's usually more than one way to skin a cat.

Steve Hunter
Cardinal, Ontario

Good to know that I could tap the railfan universe should a recovery effort launch, but this could be a hunk of scrap metal. I plan to try and call my cousin's friend today and get a description. By the way, just because most "lost engine" stories end in failure, this might just be the day.

Foliage definitely makes a big difference. I paid my first visit to the Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal yard in Roanoke in August of 1997, and coined the term "The Lost Engines of Roanoke" because of the jungle-like vegetation surrounding the vaguely steam-locomotive-like silhouettes I could make out through the trees and vines. Needless to say, my next visit was during the winter, when I could see them better!

Looking at the aerial views of Uxbridge on Bing, they were taken while the leaves were off the trees, which should theoretically make the Uxbridge engine (or whatever it is) easier to spot. I didn't see anything obvious when I was poking around on there though. Perhaps your cousin could take a look on Bing since he seems to know the actual location, and share the link with you.

daylight 4449,

I don't see why this has to be a big ongoing mystery. Get the location from your cousin, and contact the owner. You could solve the mystery in a hour. If it is anything that is worth going after, you are going to have to contact the owner anyway.

Its hard when your a high school student. At the same time, life gets in the way of detective work. At the same time, planning for the East Brookfield depot is a priority right now. I'll talk to one of my friends and see if we could go find it. Makes life easier.

Not to sound to off, but considering how much I did in high school while having a job for most of it I don't understand the mystery here either. You seem to find plenty of time to post here and that being the case I'm sure you can find the time to do a little research. I know if I were in your position I would not have posted until I knew more information. I also know if I was genuinely interested and motivated that if I were only 45 minutes away by car, even if I couldn't drive, that I'd have probably been there by now. Thus it seems you are just lacking motivation.

To perhaps make you feel a bit better I currently am a full time Physics major at Kutztown University and I work two jobs in addition to working on having a girlfriend and a life. It is possible and all you have to do is ask your cousin, and get motivated enough to find out what is there.

This post wasn't meant as a personal attack, just simply putting it out there since I keep hearing younger people than myself make claims that they can't do this or that when all it is is a lack of motivation. I'm still impressed what I can do when motivated.