Morehead & North Fork 0-6-0 No. 12, when still in service. An ex-Southern Ry. engine, I think it is still stored in a shed at Clearfield, KY. Last I knew, most of the rails were still down, but dormant, with the ex-C&O connection long removed. What is the status today?

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-m/mnf-s12s.jpg

Back in the early 1990s a couple of people cosmetically restored the 12, but it still sits in the shed in Clearfied. The town of Moorhead had a coule of "Railroad Days" events, but the railroad, like East Broad Top, just slumbers, albeit in much worse shape. There are also three Baldwin diesels on the property, a rotten wooden box car, and some other stuff. I'd like to see the 12 in a museum somewhere, she was in good shape cosmetically.

I think it would be great if the whole railroad could be preserved, rther than all the equipment going ot different homes accross the US. True there isn't much left of the railraod and the interchange with the outside world is gone, but there is enough buildings and track to make a great little museum. It would be able to not only interpret the train, but also the shop poeple that kept the railroad going and the office that ran the railroad. That just my wish.

Stuart

The M&NF's main line was taken up between May and August 2001 in order to allow US 519 to be widened. The yard is still mainly intact with the scale house track and some of the shop track removed. In other words, there no run around track. The main line consists of only a small stretch between Tripplet Creek Bridge and the first major crossing. The spur into the former LEE Clay plant is still intact but will require some work to be made servicable.
I was one of the two men mentioned about the cosmetic restoration of #12. Not only did we do a cosmetic but also an evaluation to operation. It will need new flues and form 4. The tender will need to have a new deck under it as well as some patches in the tank. One of the wheel sets under the tender will need some new wheels.

The Baldwin RS12 #1200 was revived. It needs all traction motors rebuilt and the turbo rebuilt.

We tried to put in a museum in this wonderful place. Unfortunately our plans did not work out and I moved my machine shop out of the engine house in 1996.

There is also a B&O caboose located on the property. It belongs to the Kentucky Central Chapter of the NRHS in Paris. It was saved from scrap.

The rotten boxcar may be the most historic piece because it is the last piece of rolling stock for not only the Morehead and Northfork, but also the Flemingsburg and Northern. There is a photo of it in front of the Flemingsurg depot in "Ghost Railroads of Kentucky" by Elmer Sultzer.

I wish that the railroad could have been saved. The railroad office is falling in now. It can not be saved.

I may write a brief or an article and post it with some photos in the future. I am currently writing a book on the railroad.

JD

Wow, I wondered what ever happened there. Both to the equipment and to you. Feel free to contact me offline sometime as we changed company names and locations in 1996 ourselves. I'm glad you responded to this, as you're the guy that would know the true story and respond to this question.

For anybody else that looks at this, nobody tried any harder to make that project work there in Morehead.

Spencer needs this locomotive. There is an existing photo of it in Spencer and it would be perfect for their train ride. It is a home road locomotive that is small enough for them to operate and maintain. Perhaps someday it will find a better home in North Carolina.

John Bohon

Bob,

I just wanted to throw in some historic trivia about the photo you posted.

The tender behind 12 was the tender that 10 had. When 10 got cut up in the 50's, the tender went behind 12 for a while. The tender then ended up behind 11 and went to the Everet Railroad in 1964.

Just some trivia.

JD

To take the triva a little further, we recently picked up the builder's plate from M&NF 2-8-0 #10. It is a very late cast iron Alco-Cooke builder's plate that has just been cleaned and painted after many years in storage. This plate is available for sale as well as a host of others. All original plates and none removed from museum locomotives. Please email me and I would be pleased to send out a copy of our current list. Ron Muldowney and Tim Moore - M&M Enterprises.

jd johnson said, "There's a B&O caboose located on the property. It belongs to the Kentucky Central Chapter of the NRHS in Paris."


Hi,

Does anyone know the number of this caboose?

Thanks, Roger