I was recently searching the internet when I found a website on railroads in the northeast.One of my many favorite railroads featured on the site is the Lehigh & New England Railroad.I am a railfan of the LNE because it was one of the two railroads that operated in my town (The other was the Reading railroad.).There are many great photographs on the website of the LNE!They have a photo-roster of there locomotives diesel and steam!My question is did any locomotives from the LNE survive over the last 52 years?I am interested because I am thinking of writing an article on the LNE soon.

I thank the authors of the site for their wonderful work and hope they add more photographs soon!Below is a photo from the site and below the photo is a link to the site.They have a lot of very interesting railroads on the site.I recommend RYPN message board users to take a glance at the website.



http://www.northeast.railfan.net/home.html

Norfolk_Western_611@hotmail.com

The Illinois Railway Museum has LNE 0-6-0 #207. I believe it received a paint job in the late 70s or early 80s. Nice looking engine. Below is the roster link.

LNE #207

> The Illinois Railway Museum has LNE 0-6-0
> #207.

This is, I'm pretty sure, the only surviving LNE locomotive. It's not a standard design; it was built for switching on sharp curves in the streets (of Catawissa, NY if I remember correctly, but I'll check) and the center drivers were originally blind. It was later used on dock trackage in Detroit and the center drivers now have flanges, however.

This might seem obvious, but why is a LNE locomotive in Illinois?

rickrailrd@aol.com

> This might seem obvious, but why is a LNE
> locomotive in Illinois?

Well, you could consider it a Detroit locomotive, since it worked quite a while at the Nickolson Terminal & Docks facility and River Rouge--longer, in fact, than on the L&NE. And yes, it is the ONLY L&NE loco left.

We've had several "offers" to "take it off our hands"--generally without any type of compensation or equivalent trade. No thanks.

As it stands, it is a unique locomotive in the collection, with its wide firebox and double firedoors. It is otherwise a good representative of a modern 0-6-0, with state-of-the-art components such as automatic axle lubricators and a front-end throttle.


Kevinmccabe@avenew.com

#207 is the last steam locmotive left to have run on the LNE. Some of the narrow gauge steamers of parent company Lehigh Navigtion Coal Co. still exist (also known as Lehigh Coal and Navigation or the "Old Company").

At least one LNE Alco S-1 exists in Illinois still in service.

Several LNE cabooses, boxcars, gondolas, covered hoppers and hoppers are around. One observation business car remains in central PA.

At least one sister to the Pennsy 2-10-0's rostered by the LNE exist and could be cosmetically restored as one of the LNE engines. I wish one the LNE's own HUGE decapods lasted.

The Pen Argly engine terminal remains largely intact, though it is under assualt from railfans who want to piecemeal it rather than keep it whole.

The Arlington (Tamaqua) roundhouse still stands, as do several stations including one that is planned for renovation (Andreas, perhaps.. or Chains... I forget which).

The Allentown frieght house is one of the most significant LNE buildings left.

All in all, the LNE lives it bits and pieces. Get out to see them now!

Rob Davis

> I was recently searching the internet when
> I found a website on railroads in the
> northeast.One of my many favorite railroads
> featured on the site is the Lehigh & New
> England Railroad.I am a railfan of the LNE
> because it was one of the two railroads that
> operated in my town (The other was the
> Reading railroad.).There are many great
> photographs on the website of the LNE!They
> have a photo-roster of there locomotives
> diesel and steam!My question is did any
> locomotives from the LNE survive over the
> last 52 years?I am interested because I am
> thinking of writing an article on the LNE
> soon.

> I thank the authors of the site for their
> wonderful work and hope they add more
> photographs soon!Below is a photo from the
> site and below the photo is a link to the
> site.They have a lot of very interesting
> railroads on the site.I recommend RYPN
> message board users to take a glance at the
> website.


Inlinebob@aol.com

> At least one sister to the Pennsy 2-10-0's
> rostered by the LNE exist and could be
> cosmetically restored as one of the LNE
> engines. I wish one the LNE's own HUGE
> decapods lasted.

The PRR locomotives were L-1 2-8-2s used primarily in road freight service to Maybrook. I think they (four of them?) were bought second hand in the late 1930s. The 2-10-0s were LNE's own, quite similar in appearance to Western Maryland 2-10-0s, but a bit smaller.

hpincus@mindspring.com

> My question is did any
> locomotives from the LNE survive over the
> last 52 years?

Aaron,

here's what I found digging a little on the net (i.e., just searching for "+Lehigh +New +England +Engine" at Yahoo) in about 45 minutes:

http://www.homestead.com/puttnut/mtc2.html
shows a Fairmont M19C speeder of the early 1930s.

http://lehighvalley.railfan.net/photoII.html
reports a 1996 sighting of a former L&NE Alco S2 in Indiana.

Historical societies where you might learn more:
-> Anthracite Railroads Historical Society Inc. - http://arhs.railfan.net/
-> New Jersey Midland Railroad Historical Society - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/njmidland/

The 207 now in Union, IL, showed up, too. Whether the S2 mentioned above and the S1 mentioned by Rob could actually be the same I cannot tell. It looks curious that two quite similar engines should live so close to each other, given how far they are from their original home.

Cheers, Jochen

JochenTrost@cs.com

While the locomotive might be more appropriate in the northeast where she was originally used, wishful thinking not backed up with funding or trading material will not get it moved back there, and rightly so. IRM is a good interim home for the engine until the "right" plan comes along that would return the engine to its native territory, provide IRM with compensation or trade, and ensure its well being.

I learned my lesson regarding the preservation of industrial equipment a few years ago. I was one of those "gimme everything you can get and we'll figure out what to do with them later" type of guys, and the two groups I was a member of acquired over 30 pieces of equipment, which I am sad to report NONE of them are assured a long term future and neither organization has a permanent place to keep the equipment.

Nowadays I have one piece of equipment to care for, and one piece only, and it will be placed on property we own and housed in a climate controlled building and eventually will have a small endowment helping support its continued existence. I would rather have one stationary steam engine in a building lovingly restored than 30 rusty old railcars on rented trackage any day.


rickrailrd@aol.com