Some engines at museums don't look much better, but the four steam locomotives left in the Roanoke scrapyard are about the last in the US that are not considered "preserved". What their ultimate fate will be is yet to be determined, but at least it looks like they have a chance now.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=90610

Certainly trying to make the claim that these are "the last" "unpreserved" steamers in America is liable to open a nasty can of worms. Certainly we can all cite instances of museums "preserving" equipment that was later scrapped--the B&O Museum and the RR Museum of Pa. have both done it. And the Roanoke "Lost Engines" are technically now in the ownership of a rail museum, so in a strictly technical sense they are "preserved".

Unpreserved? As I recall, Edgemoor & Manetta's 1917 Porter saddletank 0-4-0T #5 is still sitting alongside the mill in Lando, SC right where she failed her boiler inspection in 1971. Just recently we lost an "unpreserved" Vulcan 0-4-2T at a quarry in College Park, Md. I'm sure those on this forum can conjure up another 25-30 steamers that are still rotting away at their last place of use, where the owner left it after he died, etc.

If I were to really attempt a philosophical argument, I could argue that UP 844 is technically still in service and not "preserved" even though the actions of UP (especially with its other steamers) certainly look, act, and smell like preservation.

Somehow I knew our resident semantics expert would catch this. Never try to fool a genius!

You have me curious, what was scrapped at the B&O Museum and the RR Museum of Pa.?

RRMPa: An MP54, died from terminal body rot. There may have been other piecess I am unaware of. There are other MP54's out there in better condition if they want to pursue such an acquisition.

B&O Museum: We were told here of a CSS&SB interurban, and I witnessed in the past few months at least two boxcars and a silver ex-MOW B&O 3500-series coach being cut up--the most recent batch both surplus and in horrible condition, fit for parts salvage only, I believe part of the "send it to the B&O Museum and let them figure out a use for it" CSX house-cleaning of the 1990s.

And some clapped-out SW and NW-class switchers in the early 90s, donated to the museum by Beth Steel's Baltimore operations, all formerly various class 1s (at least one was an ex-UP loc as I recall). I helped pull off handrails, cab geegaws and other parts before Shorty Rail and Truck delivered the coup de grace; some of those hood-side high-mount handrails were used to restore the museum's SW-900 B&O 633 to its as-built configuration.

Much of what the museum has disposed of in this was was never accessioned into the permanent collection, though a few items might have been accessioned and then de-accessioned prior to ultimate disposal. Some of the items scrapped, like the CSS&SB car, were shopped around the community before scrapping--no takers given their condition and hardly unique status.

Nope. The 5 is under a shed adjacent to the Lancaster & Chester main in Richburg -- has been for at least 10 years now. It's at the edge of a small community rec park right on US 21. SCRM tried to get her but there was something about the engine remaining in its home county. Also, at the time she was moved from the mill (which was demolished shortly after the engine was moved), we were still getting our act together at Rockton (I don't think everything was out of Charleston yet, in fact) and not many folks took us seriously yet.

At least one "Shay in the woods" story is true, and this particular hulk has not yet been rescued -- the 3' gauge engine near Sumter, SC. I doubt it ever will be preserved, either, as there's not much left. Any "restoration" effort would actually be more of a replica. I doubt that much more than the cylinders and wheels can be salvaged.

Matt - i always thought the Swamp Shay from Sumter would be a wonderful display simply moved in as is condition to your site and set up out in the woods to show people a "before" picture. Sure, some unobtrusive conservation work such as rust converter could be used to help preserve it from further fast decay without changing the picture too much.

dave

Did I ever send you the pix I took of that thing?

Moving those remains would be a difficult undertaking. I suspect that's why it's still there -- the fellow who took us to it expressed some interest in pulling it out of the woods but AFAIK he hasn't done anything. The only thing holding most of those remains together is gravity. You'd have to build the same sort of rig for that thing as they built to raise the Hunley -- something that would keep all the pieces together during the move. It's so small you could probably move it on a rollback truck -- the hard part would be keeping it from disintegrating when you loaded it. Frankly, I think that engine is better off doing the "dust unto dust" thing right where it sits. Any attempt to move it now is going to inflict more damage.