The Schuylkill County (PA) Zoning Hearing Board has unanimously rejected a request for a special zoning exception for Minersville's Railway Restoration Project 113. The engine is CNJ 113, an end-cab 0-6-0 that was the switcher at the Locust Summit coal breaker after its CNJ career.

Follow the link to the story.



http://www.pottsville.com/pub/2002/May/6/E526332A.htm

There is a special place in the Devil's most foul and insidious Hell for most NIMBYS.

Is live and let live dead?

Gosh, I think there's a major RR museum close by that's without its own 0-6-0 right now. Even has an old CNJ depot close by. If I were those guys, I think I'd consider a road trip where their jewel is appreciated.

my 2 cents worth -jim

Wrinnbo@aol.com

I see the trees, now lets look at the forest...

You would think from this article that the Minersville spot was the only place in all of Schuykill County this project could be carried out.

Of course, there's a list of "could have's" that are long gone, like the remote PRR engine terminal in Port Carbon.

However, there are some wonderful rail/industrial history sites in the county including one ear-marked for the Reading Railroad museum.

Is it ever possible that some NIMBY's may be right? Or is anyone who runs afoul of preservationists always wrong?

I'll suggest the Reading museum site, the St. Clair yard site and the yard site in Pottsville as alternatives.

This should not be a one-shot kinda deal. Obviously, it would be nice if Minersville found a way to keep Mr. Kimmel's project in town consider the fine work done on the depot there.

Rob


trains@robertjohndavis.com

I don't want to bash the NIMBYs yet as I have not seen the location. They could have a very good point. This is a very neat locomotive, a true anthracite burning locomotive and the biggest 0-6-0 I have ever seen. It very well might be the biggest 0-6-0 ever built. I hope to see her run one day but I do admit that her massive size will be very unkind to the tracks.

Tom Gears

Forgotten Delaware
tgears1@comcast.net

There's a number of places where the engine would be appreciated. In Schuylkill County, Ashland has a mine tour using a battery motor going into a drift mine, with a steam train outside using a narrow-gauge lokie; also, there's talk of restoring the old St. Nicholas breaker, sister to Locust Summit. All it takes is $$$

And of course Steamtown is in nearby Lackawanna County. The CNJ freight station in Scranton is being fixed up as a restaurant, and it's across the street from Steamtown and the Trolley Museum.



Electric City Trolley Museum Association

The key in picking an appropriate site for a railroad operation is determining what type of operation you intend to have in the long term. It might turn out for the better that the community prevented the rezoning of that area. That might lead the group to locate a more suitable location.

A good example is Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum here in Chattanooga. Today's operation is nothing like what our members could have imagined forty years ago. The first plan, at the invitation of the City of Chattanooga, was to locate the museum's collection under cover at the city's Warner Park. We had gone so far as to have a groundbreaking ceremony but never laid a rail in the park. The reason for that was not community opposition but the fact that our organization's leadership had the foresight to see that the small space available at that location would be a hinderance to future development and enlargement of the museum.

Once the initial site was rejected, two other sites were considered simultaneously. The first was the Craven's Yard of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway near downtown. The benefits of this site were that it was just off a major interstate, was close to downtown and had all of the facility buildings (including a roundhouse) at the time. Detractors were the cost of keeping up the structures and that operations would be limited to running in the yard.

The other site was a section of the old Southern Railway Chattanooga-Atlanta/Knoxville main line that was bypassed when the new railroad yard was completed in 1954. The right of way potentially available was three miles with no structures or facilities other than Whiteside Tunnel (through Missionary Ridge), and three of the four bridges that date to 1912 (one was removed in 1954). Southern Railway offered to donate the property to the museum and the property was accepted by the museum in 1971. Even though the property was unimproved, the museum's leaders had the forsight to see the location's potential and developed it into what we have today. It's not a perfect site, but then again, no site is totally ideal. By being slow and methodical, we picked the site that was best suited to our particular needs and it has serrved us well.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
envlink@voyageronline.net

>Went to see this engine about five or six years ago-even then it was in tough shape. Unfortunately, as I understand it all of the jewelry has been purchased by what left-wing social thinkers refer to add "non traditional shoppers", er uh thieves.

I wish these guys luck. They are long on ambition, short on cash and options. I don't know if they applied for TEA-21 money but if there was a deserving project this is it. Anthracite RR steam locos are tough to come by. CNJ has 2 and only the Reading did better preserving-although they should've kept one G-3 and one 3000 series 2-10-2 along with the T-1's.

For reasons good and bad-I can't see this engine ever coming to Steamtown unless the present owners give it to SNHS and then agree to pay for its transport-or if some patron did those things.

The fact that the current 0-6-0 has been inoperative for 2 1/2 years should tell you a little about the money situation. Although I think the new management has made it a priority and it does appear that work is being done.

As long as we're dreaming, there's an equally good location that it might be perfect for. The huber breaker in Ashley Pa.. 25 miles South of Scranton on and visible from RT 81 Just south of Exit 165 was served by the CNJ and the CNJ had a yard and engine house nearby. THe breaker stands and is the object of preservation efforts-all thats left of the ashley shops is a few pieces of rail here and there. 113 woulld look good with some hoppers full of anthracite.. sighhh

> I wish these guys luck. They are long on
> ambition, short on cash and options. I don't
> know if they applied for TEA-21 money but if
> there was a deserving project this is it.

No offense, but you're correct, you don't know. I do and the money is lined up for the restoration, along with a place to run her. The reason for the local, temporary shop, was that it was an easy move, close to where the core group lives and works and the friendly suppliers are located.

> Anthracite RR steam locos are tough to come
> by. CNJ has 2 and only the Reading did
> better preserving-although they should've
> kept one G-3 and one 3000 series 2-10-2
> along with the T-1's.
I guess the 1251 and 1187 don't count on the RDG side. How about the 952 in St. Louis of the 565 in Scranton? And all those coal mine lokies. The Wanamie engines burned mine-run hunks almost as big as the firebox. But they're not "real" engines I guess.

Again, no offense but wild rumors on the Net can kill projects. The 113 project has been going on for years. The leaders have been involved with steam railroading for more than 30 years and know all too well what works and what doesn't. It might surprise you to learn that:

1. 113 has been completely Ultrasonically tested by a very competent individual and a repair plan has been formulated. The boiler is in very good condition though the firebox will need major surgery. Nothing short of total replacement, a job actually easier than piecemeal patches.

2. Virtually all the missing parts have been located and purchased. Some are not the exact, original piece but an identical part. When word got out of her actual refurbishment, some of the "finer" parts, like whistle, builders plate, etc. suddenly surfaced. Even the original number board was located. Injectors, air compressors, turbos, etc make a steam locomotive run, not whistles and number plates.

3. The plan to run the 113 is off in the distant years. Not an overnight rebuild then run her until she fails and THEN the correct rebuild. Completely opposite another local locomotive that may run in my lifetime. And remember, as one old-timer told me, you can make anything run, once!

Again, no offense is intended. Just think before you click!

hpgil@aol.com