"Lost Locomotive" discovered - in China!

survivingworldsteam · **Posted:** Sun Mar 27, 2005 12:47 am

All;

The article (in Chinese) on the HASEA website at:

http://www.hasea.com/cgi-bin/lb5000/top ... 186&show=0

has pictures of a Baldwin 2-8-0 unearthed during construction activity on a bridge in a river near Fuyu, Jilin Province, China.

A photo of the builder's plate shows that it is Baldwin 16117/1898. It is a four cylinder (Vauclain compound!) engine five feet in guage. It is thought to have been from the Chinese portion of the original Trans-Siberian railroad, and may have been carrying rail as part of a construction train when it fell off a bridge and was lost.

While several engines originally built as Vauclain compound engines have survived; most have been rebuilt into simple engines. There are only five other examples still in compound configuration known to exist. Four are the cog engines from the Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway in Colorado. The fifth one is White Pass and Yukon 2-8-0 #57 (Baldwin 16456/1899) on display at Minto Park, Dawson City, YT, Canada. So if it's sheer age and the fact that it is the second oldest locomotive in existance in China is not enough reason to preserve; that is yet a another reason to do so.

It is reported that a representative from the Shenyang museum has been visited the find and wishes for the locomotive to go to the Shenyang museum. It is said to be in remarkably good shape for having been buried for 70 years or more.

The webpage has pictures of the find; the picture below showing it's original appearance was uploaded to the "Steam in China" group on Yahoo where it was first announced; I have uploaded it to my website so I can share it here:

My best wishes to those hunting in a particular quarry and elsewhere for lost locomotives; may you all find what you are looking for.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project

nathansixchime · **Joined:** Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:03 pm **Posts:** 949

Jim,

Very interesting find, both on the part of the Chinese and yourself.

Now, I can't read the Chinese, but below the photos of the unearthed locomotive, there's a giant photo of a particularly familiar Northern.

A poster isn't suggesting that a 4-8-4 was buried there, was he?

survivingworldsteam · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:05 am

nathansixchime wrote:

Jim,
Now, I can't read the Chinese, but below the photos of the unearthed locomotive, there's a giant photo of a particularly familiar Northern.

A poster isn't suggesting that a 4-8-4 was buried there, was he?

I doubt it; though like yourself, I can't read Chinese. I tried to translate the forum with Google, to no avail.

Here are some more details, as posted to the Steam in China group on Yahoo by Roy Bowden:

Quote:

Many thanks to Mike Laplante for forwarding the details to Bob Koch.

Bob has kindly contacted me and has been able to fill in many of the
missing details which I have taken the liberty of summarising for the
group as follows:-

The loco is one of 121 Baldwin 4-cylinder Vauclain compound 2-8-0s
built for the Chinese Eastern Railway between 1898 and 1900 (running
numbers 151-271). The Baldwin plate 16117 would put it in the batch
of running numbers 176-200. (If the running numbers are sequential
with the works numbers the loco would be 178 - Roy).

Bob confirms that Fuyu County is in Jilin Province and believes that
the incident took place at the Lalin River bridge on the mainline
between Changchun and Harbin at which point the river forms the
border between Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces.

It would seem that this is an incredibly significant find and we can
only hope that the intention to preserve the loco at the Shenyang
Railway Museum comes to fruition.

It would seem that the relevant authorities are aware of the loco's
significance, but if any group members have any useful contacts, it
might be helpful to stress its historical importance.

Thanks to everyone,

Roy.

survivingworldsteam · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:11 pm

This is from the Steam_in_China group on Yahoo, and was posted again by Roy Bowden:

Quote:

Reported today (April 6th) that retrieval of the loco will begin
tomorrow at 10:00 hours and the event will be covered by Heilongjiang
Television. It would appear that the key players, including the
manager of the Shenyang Railway Museum, will be present. For more
information, it is reported that there is a hotline 0451-8289000
(don't know if this can be accessed outside China) and info on the
Heilongjiang Television website.

Let's hope that there aren't any last minute problems!

Another group member posted a scan from a newspaper article; it looks like it is still configured as a Vauclain compound. What a find!

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project