I surfed my way onto these photos. I'm not sure if they have been posted here but I've not seen them.

http://www.pbase.com/kjosker/reading2100

Has there been any news on the old girl?

No news.

Still stored someplace in/near Richland, WA. No plans for operation at this time that I'm aware of.

Interesting and sad photos.

It's a miracle that she was not cut up. Anyone know the story why?

I'm sure Ross can (and hope her will) add a lot of details but she came as a package deal with the 2101 for the American Freedom Train.

For one thing, I believe the dates are wrong.

As I remember, Ross Rowland & the American Freedom Train crew pulled both 2100 and 2101 out of Striegel and dragged them to Hagerstown, where parts were robbed off of 2100 to restore 2101 to service, around February 1975. I know 2100 was in Hagerstown when 614 was fired up in 1979.......

As for why they weren't cut up? The owner of the scrap yard had a soft spot for majestic old steamers, and in fact personally intervened to prevent the scrapping of B&O 2-8-2 4500 and 4-6-2 5300 when they arrived in the scrap yards in the 1950s. That is the ONLY reason the B&O Museum has them now.

Id love to know the identity of some of the background locomotives in image #3

The 70 tonner very well might be one of the W&OD engines that were sent there.

Steve

We puchased both T-1's from Mr. Striegel in late January 1975 after I had them both looked over in detail by two senior locomotive inspectors who between them had nearly a century of service. The senior boilermaker, Mr. Joe Karal, said that of the two, the 2101's boiler was in substantially better shape than the 2100's so that's why we decided to restore the 01 and use the 2100 as a parts source.

Upon removal from Mr. Striegels yard we moved them both to the Riverside shops of the B&O who had graciously approved our short term lease of 3 stalls. There, a full time crew of approx. 51 men&women aided by a volunteer corp. that at times numbered well over 100, led by Bill Benson of Akron,Ohio went to work 24/7. 31 days later the 2101 now rechristened AFT #1 entered service!! She met the AFT consist outside Alexandria, Va. with 5 minutes to spare and some of the paint on parts of the engine/tender was still tacky!!! There are lots of sub-stories within that 31 day "miracle" such as when we had the then Chairman of GM call the CEO of Babcock&Wilcox to ask him to do us a favor and put the AFT's order for new superheater units at the front of the line. B&W had told us that it would be at least 6 months wait for us to get the units back. After the call from the GM CEO the units were done and back to us in Baltimore 6 DAYS ( yes DAYS not months) later!! AND the bill from B&W was $ 1.00 !! Another strong example of the old adage " it pays to know people in high places"!!


There are lots and lots of other sub-stories within the 31 day effort. Suffice it to say that many many good people lent a hand and without them it couldn't have gotten done. Nearly all of them have never recieved the public thanks they deserved but that's ok since they didn't pitch in for that reason!!!

After the 2101 ( AFT 1) returned to service we moved the 2100 to Hagerstown where she stayed until Bill Benson restored her in the late 80's for Mr. Richard Kughn of Detroit. Upon her successful restoration Mr. Kughn got cold feet about running her due to his lawyers adviceing him to avoid the potential liability issue.

Then, she got sold to Thomas Payne of Canada who proceeded to install his rube goldberg oil firing apparatus in her which raised havoc with the firebox, combustion chamber etc. And, he organized an excursion operation out of Tacoma that involved a 3.5% grade, junk yards and backyards for scenery, and virtually no ridership. Other than that, it was a great idea!! IIRC she now sits outside on the back 40 of a shortline somewhere in Washington state.

Darn shame as she was like brand new when she went north of the border in 1995.

As in the case of the 1361 another glaring example of " a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing" !!!

Ross Rowland

Ross,

Thanks so much sharing your stories.

Here are some more pictures of 2100 at Striegel's. These are Instamatic prints I found in a dollar box at a model train show about 15 years ago:

http://www.chrisjacks.com/2100baltimore.html

With the restoration, the move out west, the conversion to oil firing, etc. I would estimate $2,000,000 has been spent on this engine. Mr. Kughn also spent a large six-figure sum restoring Henry Ford's PV FairLane, which I think he used once, and today sits forgotten behind the shops at Henry Ford Village.

Kughn did evidently convince Conrail to run excursions with the engine, but shortly after that Conrail's Mr. Sanborn passed away, and Conrail turned against doing trips for anyone, so that ended that. He donated the engine to some group in Portage, OH who never did anything with it and sold it at auction. Jerry Jacobson did bid on the engine, but was outbid by the mysterious Mr. Payne, who moved the engine to St. Thomas, ON with vague plans to run Toronto to Niagara Falls service with the engine. When that went nowhere fast, and after he antagonized CN and others over various issues, he moved the engine out west. His operation in Portland was so far-out the locals wondered if it was some sort of a prank or joke.

The interesting thing about Tom Payne is that he was a very succesful shortline railroader, and when you speak with him he is a smart guy who knows what he is doing. I hope his future ventures do better.

Chris.

Question: How to bring her back east and revert to coal firing? Isn't that what we are all really interested in?

Ross, thanks for your input on the 2100 and 2101. It was enlightening and enjoyable to hear it from the source.

Judging from the fact that nobody has managed to do anything of late, or for years, with an all-but-operable 2102 in a roundhouse in Port Clinton, Pa., or sister 2124 at Steamtown........... your presumption that "we are all really interested in" seeing a Reading T1 in operation is demonstrably false.

Or, more accurately, the interest may be there, but not the magic combination of cubic dollars, a place for her to operate, proper administrative oversight, etc.

With all due respect to ctjacks, I strongly disagree with your comments on Tom Payne. My guess is that his shortline success was largely being in the right place at the right time.

He then totally alienated nearly everyone at both CPR and CNR to the point that the only way he was able to get the 2100 moved out west was on a depressed center flat car. He then set-up that disasterous Golden Pacific operation which mercifully went bankrupt in a hurry before someone got seriously injured or worse. He borrowed big bucks from a wealthy close friend ( ex-friend??) and issued liens on the engine in return. When the whole thing went belly up the liens got called and the lender now owns the equipment, which is basically unsellable at a price anywhere near to what hes got in it.

I highly doubt that there will be any future railroad ventures involving Tom Payne, but never say never!!

If he's the definition of a "smart guy", Lord help us!!

IMHO-Ross Rowland

ctjacks:

The private car Fair Lane has been on display indoors in Henry Ford Museum for many years.

Ross, I don't disagree with your assessment of Tom Payne. I could go on and on...One of the people he tried to borrow money from for his Golden Pacific operation is a person just about every operator on this Board depends on every day - just about the worst person in this industry you would want to offend. And when he moved the engine to Ontario he alligned himself with the outfit in St. Thomas, which has had its own sad history of infighting and lawsuits - just about the worst organization to be a part of. I also once saw him wipe out on a track speeder in the yard there. I'm just saying that when you speak with him - and I had several long conversations with him back in the St. Thomas days - he is actually a pretty reasonable person.

I have been approached many times over the years by characters with the usual dreams in this business - that they will haul all these passengers, and make all this money, and of course they know everything so they won't listen to anyone. These people are usually a combination of television-infomercial consumer and pipe-dreamers. Payne wasn't one of these people, which makes his strange journey with the 2100 even harder to understand.

As for the Fair Lane: I stand corrected, it is indoors now, after about a decade sitting outside and out of sight. That's better, but still not that great for a car that just had a wheels-up mechanical restoration.

Chris.