Does anyone know what is the future of these two CP Pacific's of Jack Showalter? It would be nice to see them restored in a museum or to operation somewhere.

Thanks.

Martin Moorefield

At one point, Mr Showalter owned a rather large set of passenger cars. Most of these were roller bearing equipped, from the pictures I've seen. Anyone know how large his current car fleet is and what in what condition said equipment is?

Andrew Durden
SRM
Atlanta, GA

Maybe they'd be good steam candidates for Jerry Jacobson's fleet, to go as matches to 1293 and 1278. He'd own all the survivors in that case, excluding 1201, in Ottawa.

Um, not quite, Richard. You are in Maine, I see; are you familiar with the Railroad Museum of New England? I know most folks living north of Boston think Connecticut is a suburb of New Jersey, and don't pay much attention to the Nutmeg State.

But, please note that a CPR G-5c, number 1246, makes it's home in Thomaston, CT, owned by RMNE. No, it's not operational.

And while the OHCR/JJJ Steam Enterprises website states CPR 1246 is owned by another CT museum, and is located in another CT town, that is simply erroneous.

Howard P.
Slotted Dry Pipe, CT

Wait a minute.... Connecticut is located in New England????? No way!!! ;-)

Someone should also clue in the folks over at Railfan Magazine, as the 1246's location was noted incorrectly in the latest issue of that magazine. 1246 has been living on RMNE home property for well over a year now....

You know Howard, every winter, our friends tell us to go south. "Oh, you'll love it in the south!" Let me tell you, mister, don't bother. Mother and I spent the entire of last January in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and it didn't seem that great to us.

Yes, I neglected 1246. I have been there and seen it, static, of course. She operated at Steamtown, when it was located in the real New England. The drawl, once you cross the Mass/Conn line is a bit too difficult for us to comprehend. But as long as we are on the subject, why is 1246 down? Shouldn't she be an operating locomotive?

"why is 1246 down?"

"shouldn't she be an operating locomotive?"

Well, yes, 1246 should be an operating locomotive. It last ran in early 1986, at Scranton. Inspection at that time revealed that there were some bad spots in the firebox-- much grooving around staybolts, etc. At Steamtown in Vermont, for many years 1246 had been subjected to a regimen of no water treatment, standby layup with a full boiler of water, and 45-minute 0 to 250 psi fire-ups. So, the firebox took a beating. We figure a new firebox will be needed; not patching. The boiler and wrapper sheet were UT'd in 1991 to get an idea of the condition/thickness. No problems were noted then. The old tubes are still in.

Most of the rest is OK, with the usual things needed ("general repairs to machinery and tender")--- a full set of valve bushings, hub liners, pair of trailer tires, etc. The lead truck was really nice, and was swapped with the not-as-nice one from 1293 a few months before Steamtown put 1246 up for auction. They also took out the grates, so a set of them will be needed. We have found no show-stoppers anywhere (yet).

So, that's why it's "down" now. To get her "up" will take the usual "application of cubic yards of hundred-dollar bills, repeat as necessary until the desired results are obtained (tm)". At least we have a good shop facility to do the job in, when the time comes.

1246 is another example of "it ran when it was parked", as has previously been mentioned on another thread. She really didn't have another 100 miles left in her in March 1986.

Right now, she's nicely on display for December at our Thomaston Shop facility, strung with lights and spot-lit as well.

Howard P.
All-Weather Cab, CT

Well, you guys could come to NC like virtually everyone else has and experience the joys of a 6hr traffic backup when 1" (that is inch, not foot!) of snow falls. The south is not all it's hyped up to be...

Of course, we consider central Virginia to be going "up north", so arguing over semantics when you're above that line that is just silly!

The 1246 got sold off in a large auction the Steamtown Foundation had after it shut down and before the NPS came in. My understanding was it was put on the block for monetary reasons - they needed the money - is that correct?

Chris.

It's been over 18 months since the last time I talked to Jack or his daughter and things were still just in a holding pattern. all the equipment (2 locomotives 8 passenger cars, and one caboose) are all still storied on the Shenandoah Valley Railroad waiting......

I actually have the entire booklet/list of everything for sale, as I had someone interested in obtaining some passenger equipment, and preferably a steam engine or 2. It never materialized, but in addition to the 2 steam locos, passenger cars, and caboose, there is also a diesel, 2 turntables, machine shop, and enough parts to fill at least 2 or 3 boxcars. I think there was also a burro crane in there, but since I don't have the book in front of me, I can't say for sure. There were some passenger car bodies (no trucks) as well in the book. This is a ready made passenger operation for anyone that could afford it, and had room to run it. If you had a large enough shop building, you would have all the machine tools to maintain the stuff too.

Well, Mike,

The Isle of Long is actually the top portion of New England--- that material which was scraped off the hills and mountains by the last glacier, and deposited as the ice melted. I think the geologic phenomenon is called "terminal moraine".

Last time I looked, Long Island was part of New York state (reluctantly?), and NY is still not "New England". Heck, some folks from west of the Hudson River don't think NY is part of the United States....

Howard P.
You-Know-Where

For that matter, does western Connecticut actually count as part of New England? There's an awful lot of Yankees fans out there...

Do you really want to start a riot???

Howard P.

neither a Yankees or "SAWWKKS" fan....

Fight Fiercely Haaahvahd.

dave