When most Park Locomotive Displays were installed in the 1950s they tended to be whatever the railroads had around from the 20th century.

I found that the Cody & Moore Lumber Co #1 a 2-4-0 lumber locomotive built by Porter Bell back in 1878 was in a park in
Traverse City, Michigan from 1933 to 1965. There are some nice post cards of her in my collection.

Then J. David Conrad tells us that it went to somthing called the Edison Institute at Navarro, Ohio in 1981.

Does anyone know what the Institute is about and the status of this elderly steam locomotive?

Okay...did a little research. There is no Navarro, Ohio. There is a small town called Navarre, OH, near Brewster. Talked to their historical society today. There has never been an organization called "The Edison Institute" or any variation on that name in Navarre, nor does anyone remember a steam locomotive coming to town in 1981.

I don't have any Porter Bell 2-4-0s listed in steamlocomotive.info but that doesn't mean anything. Will continue to dig and see what I can find.

Doug

A restorationist in Nararre OH worked on this locomotive for the Henry Ford Museum, whose formal name is " The Edison Institute". The locomotive is presently in Port Huron, MI; and is in incomplete restored condition.


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... 0%26um%3D1

(Read particularly the Light Iron and Short Ties magazine article under "D. B. Harrington")

Steve

ps: The southern terminus of the Cody and Moore operation was seven miles up the Clam River in Missaukee County, Michigan from the dairy farm that I grew up on. This railroad was known in Poor's Manual as the Muskrat Lake and Clam River Rail Road.

Outstanding...

http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... isplay=659

I thought this was an interesting idea for a thread; I think the candidates are:

Luraville 4-4-0 #153. This is the Danforth, Cooke, & Co.? locomotive of 1850 that was pulled from the swamp, and I believe is still on open air display at the State Agriculture Department Offices, Tallahassee, FL.

Stockton Terminal and Eastern 4-4-0 #1 of 1864, I believe still on outdoor display at Traveltown. It is a museum, but also part of Griffith Park; so I am not sure it would qualify.

To me, the EP&SW 4-4-0 on display in El Paso no longer qualifies because it is in a sealed display at Union Plaza Transit Terminal; it was built in 1857.

Stockton Terminal #1 is under the roof of the train shed on the North side now, but since there are no walls guess it is still "outside". And not to nit pick, but Travel Town is correctly two words. Makes internet searches a lot easier if we're consistent.

Brandi

I am not sure if the question is the earliest outdoor display of a locomotive, or the oldest currently in the weather. For the second category, I think I would vote for this little 0-4-0T in Negaunee MI at the Michigan Iron History Museum. Built 1868 by Cuyahoga Steam Furnace, Co.


http://www.railroadmichigan.com/steamjacksoniron.jpg

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17447_18595_18611---,00.html

Up until 5 - 7 years ago there was a guy in Navarre, right on one of the main drags on the South side of town who had a number of steam artifacts in his shop - rail, stationary, and I think steam traction. He had what I thought was a Henschel tank engine sitting outside for a number of years in the 80's. He very well could have had a small American engine sitting inside his shop, I never tried to get inside, just looked at what could be seen from the street.

Now, South of Navarre there is a private 2 ft. ga. railroad that you can sort of see from the main road South out of town, down in a valley off the main road. I believe that they use a steam engine that was restored by the person who owned the shop in town.

Ok, that sounds like the Thomas Diehl estate. According to my combined records, he owns a 2ft 6in gauge Butler Consolidated Coal 0-4-0T; H.K. Porter 5452/1914. He also owns two 6HP Russell traction engines; #5452 and 5985/1891. He is a member of another board, which still shows him registered there.

You did not specify locale, but I'll bet this is one of the oldest stuffed-and-mounted outside exhibits in the world. . . .



(with kudos to friend Peck)

Steve

The oldest steam locomotive worldwide on outdoor display appears to be "Bradyll"; an 0-6-0 built by Hackworth in 1835. The photograph I have of it shows it on outdoor display at the Timothy Hackworth Museum, Shildon, Durham, Co. Durham, UK.

Next might be "Saint Pierre", a Buddicom 2-2-2 built in 1843, and on outdoor display at the French National Railway Museum, Mulhouse, France.

The subject of your picture, "Copiapo", was built by Richard Norris & Son in 1850; about the same time as the Danforth, Cooke, & Co. 4-4-0 on display in Florida. Both are definitely among the oldest on outdoor display in the world.

But if you're asking the longest displayed locomotive (park or otherwise) is becomes a candidate. The locomotive was placed on display beside the station prior to 1910.

Another that's been outside a long, long time is Duluth & Iron Range 2-6-0 No. 3 at Two Harbors, MN. She was placed on exhibit in 1923, and is still outdoors. The tops of her drive wheel tires have eroded due to the snow that used to cover them every winter (she's been covered since the mid-1980s).

Here's D&IR 3 on August 13, 2009...looking pretty good

Thanks folks1

Those are some wonderful old locomotives.

I am glad that most of them are getting covered storage as time goes by

another one that was outdoors for a long time but is now indoors in the Central Station in Havana Cuba is an american type that my be the the oldest locomotive built in the United states and exported to Cuba. John H. White wrote a history of her called Yankee Come Home.

Ted miles