"Too many in the Roundhouse" is the title of a railswap ad that reads simply:

http://railswap.org/cb/cl/classifieds.cgi?search_and_display_db_button=on&db_id=14316&query=retrieval

Might these be some of the diesels that sit near the Jerry Jacobsen project in OH?
O.

The dealer is Vintage Locomotives, Inc. of Pearland, Texas (which is just NW of Houston.)

????

Vintage Locomotives, Inc. is the business name of Ed Bowers, a diesel collector of note. He seems to have stuff stashed all over the place.

I wonder what is the location and pedigree of the two Alcos? One of his C420s is the ex L&N unit down in Tennessee that derailed last summer. I think he has an ex Monon high-hood C420 as well.

The SD-18, if I remember correctly is an ex-C&O locomotive, complete with the Alco trucks and GE traction motors. It was stored for a time on/near Hoosier Valley RR Museum in North Judson, IN.

Pearland is south of Houston.

CD

That's right; been awhile since I have been in that part of God's country.

Again, my pet peeve of those style ads bothers me. It gives no real info but asks for serious inquiries only. That should be an oxymoron.

I would be hesitant to call, they don't seem to want to deal with many questions but there's no info on the condition of any of those locos. Are they blue carded and ready to go or are they simply parts engines or needing major work to be serviceable. Too bad, I have 50k sitting here I don't know what to do with and I was thinking of buying an RS-11.

If you start the conversation saying you have 50K in your pocket, I'll bet you get some attention!

Is it possible that of those, the U-Boat is the rarest?

Steve

Yeah, it would get attention.......unfortunately I'm not serious, it was to get a point across. Poor ads don't help when selling something. You could have a buyer for something you're selling but lacking details with what you're selling doesn't help bring it's attention to that buyer.

David -

For the record, the only Monon C420's built with high short hoods were numbers 501 and 502, which had steam generators in those short hoods for use in passenger service. The rest of the Monon Alco's (503-518) were all built with low short hoods. A couple of the Monon units reportedly still survive and although Mr. Bowers owns one of those Monon C420 survivors, I doubt it is one of the two that the Monon assigned to passenger service.

Les

I *think(?)* he has two Monon units, but I don't think either are High Hood units, and whether its two or one it/they won't be for sale. The 424 is GB&W. The F7A is MILW, and I think the F9B is NP. The 420 is most likely Erie Mining.

I would guess that the U23Bs are not as rare as you think. In fact of all the units listed, the boats may be the most common. And as U boats go, the U23s, especially the late model ones are good power -- still not as good as either of the Alcos, but sill good.

For some reason I thought saw one of the ex Monon high hoods in the mid to late 1990s at a reseller in Evansville, IN. It was paired with another C420 that was an ex L&N unit. Hmm, more research needs to be done...

David -

All of the Monon C420's went to the L&N and were renumbered consecutively 1318-1335, meaning that the two high hoods were 1318 and 1319. All of the units ended up in L&N gray, including the two old Monon passenger units. So, anything is possible I guess.

Les

I might well be wrong on this, but isn't one of the C420's an ex-Long Island high hood? It would be a great catch for a museum, especially if donated to RMLI or OBRM.

Two Things:

First, I agree with MEC_557: Listing scant information and then saying "serious inquiries only" is just silly. I wouldn't be "serious" until I knew if the units: have FRA glazing?, cab cards?, oprational prime mover? working generator?, car body condition?, location (Ed Bowers has stuff all over creation)? That's even before you get into heritage, steam generators etc.

As for Monon C-420's, we had one low nose unit at the DL, it was kind of an odd-man out for the company (no dynamics) and is now working for the Northhampton Developement Corporation in SE PA as their number 2034.

There was another C-420, privately owned that may have been ex Monon or L&N, it was stored here but never ran and has since left the property.

Of course we have two LV 420's, the operational 405 and the LV liveried 414 waiting for its return to service.

There's also a former Long Island high hood C-420 here, stored unserviceable, not sure who owns that one.

Dave Crosby

ALCo, Pennsylvania