Ran across this, said to be the damaged crown sheet from the CP 1278 explosion on the Gettysburg RR:

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?n ... nsheet.jpg

Dear Bob:
Yes indeed!
I removed that section as part of the NTSB investigation.
J.David

J. David,

I was in the Smithsonian a couple of weeks ago and I thought you'd be glad to hear that the narrow gauge JUPITOR of 1876 and the Santa Cruz Railway is still on diplay in the fairly now America on the Move exhibit.

Ted Miles

Hey! That's my picture! :) The good people at the Ohio Central were good enough to show it to me in 2001.

Sorry for the lateness of this, but I didn't feel that I needed to start a new thread on this subject. I recently re-read the NTSB report on this and I can't help but wonder a few things. First off, how much work would it need to run again? Wouldn't it need a totally new firebox (maybe even a boiler)? Also, what ever happened to the engineer and firemen? Did any of them ever work on steam again after this? I don't want anyone naming names, just curious whatever happened to them.
Also, I'd thought that the side of the firebox was blown out, but I've seen photos of each side of the engine after the accident, and I can't see anything. Here's one of each side: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... x?id=77410 http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=96969

Thanks for the link Bob.

Robby

The sides of the firebox were not "blown out". The crown sheet is at the top of the firebox, and that failed, blowing high-pressure steam into the fire itself and burning/scalding the crew. It's actually a miracle--and a credit to the CP design--that the loco didn't have more serious damage. Usually an explosion of this type sends the boiler cartwheeling down the track in front of the train.

The crew? Those supposedly familiar with the case said the one crew member was critically injured and might still be in rehab; the other two were burned but recovered. What railroading they've done has been on a precipitous decline ever since. (I could get more specific, but you said you didn't want names.)

The engineer, who was the son of the owner, recovered somewhat from his injuries. However he has since died from other causes.

Greetings:
If any one knows the whereabouts of the section of No. 1278 crown sheet that I was allowed to remove, and was stored at Valley Railroad and used in conjuction with our "Shop Skills Seminars", please let me know via email or phone.
It went missing in 2003...
Thanks!
J.David

Rebuilding 1278 will involve total disassembly and cleaning of the locomotive, yes? Then there is fabrication of a crown sheet, integration of parts. I wonder if she's destined to simply become a parts source for 1293? Sad demise for a promising locomotive. I'd rather see her come back to life one day.

I haven't heard to what extent the boiler was surveyed with an eye towards restoration to service, rather than to forensics regarding the incident. I would expect there may have been some additional distortion and damage beyond that limited to the crown sheet and braces - to what extent, perhaps somebody knows, but I've never seen it published anywhere. Given the cascading appliance malfunctions involved, there's a lot of accessory work to be done minimally. No doubt somebody at OC can relate the extent of running gear wear.

They are sweet little commuter engines of a nice size for medium weight and length hauls.

dave

The running gear on 1278 is high mileage and would require everything. Even with the worn out running gear she is still be best engine I have ran and fired. I hope someday to see the 1278 run again.

John Bohon

Wow, sorry to hear that and I didn't even know the guy. I can't help but wonder if any of these folks were ever really allowed to operate anything after that. Alex's post suggest something along those lines, which is what I would have expected in general to be the case. A good friend of mine swears that he got a cab ride the weekend before this happened. He also said he had a tough time sleeping for a while after the explosion, thinking of the bullet he'd dodged. On one of my many treks to Gettysburg in 1998 (when I was in the Army in Maryland), I found myself at the grade crossing the explosion took place at, trying to get some photos of a freight. A local guy driving by asked if I knew what had happened here and told me this was where it had happened. He'd come up on the engine that evening, just as the ambulances arrived and the train was still blocking the crossing. According to him, the locals kept their distance from any trains for a long time after that. I was in a Civil War re-enactor's store downtown one day soon after that and someone came in asking for directions to the station. The people at the counter told them to steer well clear of it. "The people who run that thing are nuts, they'll get you killed," they said and then launched into a pretty twisted (yet entertaining if you didn't know the true version) story of the "deadly" explosion in 95. I can't help but wonder if the locals still dissuade riders, even though it's a totally different operation now.

Look no farther than the RyPN Flimsies for the answer to that question.

Riders hear allegations railway unsafe
Stewart Sifakis, a former employee of the Gettysburg Scenic Railway, hands out flyers to customers Saturday along Washington Street. Stewart and other former employees say the trains are being operated unsafely.
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_9869451

A word of clarification here--the current operators of the Gettysburg line, Pioneer Railcorp, are a completely different company from the operators at the time of the 1278 incident--that was Sloan Cornell and family. If memory serves there was also another operator in between the two.

So, other than it being the same right of way and associated physical plant, there's no reason to draw a continuous thread from anything that happened in the Cornell era to anything happening now.