It is indeed an H. K Porter fireless loco, b/n 7240 and originally owned by Texaco Oil at a refinery in NJ or PA. At one time it was the subject of a restoration job at a trade school in NJ. Looks like it has fallen on hard times since then. It would weigh around 22 to 24 tons drained, and given its height, transport would be expensive. A short move might run $2500 and any distance gets to 5 figures quickly. This loco is erroneously shown in Porter builder's lists as a geared loco. The preceding b/n 7239 was a geared fireless and Porter's notoriously bad record keeping just put in too many ditto marks for 7240. Cyl. size is shown as 18.5"x16". Fireless locos by Porter typically had a larger bore than stroke as the cylinders worked on 60 psi thru a regulator regardless of tank storage pressure so the tractive effort would remain constant as the storage pressure dropped after a recharge.
Compressed air locos, of which Porter built many, were typically "wart hogs" with big heavily riveted storage tanks that, as remarked, were not insulated as were fireless storage tanks. Smaller air locos would have a single tank and stored air at up to 6000 psi. Bigger air locos usually had 3 separate tanks stacked and were easy to tell from a fireless.
It is a good guess that whoever's selling this loco hasn't a clue what it is or what it might be worth. Depending on the buyer's luck, they could get a relative bargain.
I'm always interested in news and info on fireless locos and would welcome any communication on the subject.
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