The recent topic on WMSR got me thinking about several other locomotives in Western Maryland. There were two sold to a private collector in Eckhart Mines, MD for restoration plus one or two that ended up at WMSR, maybe for possible restoration. Does anyone have any news on these projects.

There are 2 US Army locomotives in Eckhart Mines owned by Bill Miller.

Lets start with the 0-6-0. It was built by Schenectady in November, 1942, #70420, as USA 4038. It was renumbered 618 in 1954 at Ft. Eustis, de-aquisitioned and sold to Virginia Blue Ridge as their #8 on August 15, 1958. It later became Delaware-Otsego RR 2 and then later Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley 2. It ran the "Delaware Otsego" excursions out of Oneonta, NY on the old Delware and Ulster branch of the NYC before being transfered to the Cooperstown branch of the D&H (Then owned by Walter Rich). When excursion service ended on the C&CV, it was moved from the engine house in Miford, NY to the end of track in Cooperstown and "fluffed and stuffed" there. 1974 sounds about right for the engine being taken out of service.....

The other locomotive there is #611

#611 was built as a standard USATC S-160 2-8-0 by Baldwin as their shop #69865 in 1943. She was accepted by the army into domestic service and numbered 2628. I don't have the exact date that she was transfered to the shops and training company at Eustis, but I believe it was in the mid to late 50s. (Please correct me if I'm wrong). She shows up in photos there at the steam shops in 58ish already converted to the popet gear and tested. After being fitted with the Franklin gear, she shows up at the M&PA for heavy load testing...but I don't know the exact dates that she was there. I know it had to be before November 29, 1956 because that was the last day of steam operations on the M&PA....and there is rumored to be pictures floating around somewhere of here as #2628 in the Baltimore yards in 1951.



Now that that is done. Both of the engines are at Ekhart Mines. One of the people working on the project posted on another forum that they are working on the #611 first. Right now they are trying to stabilize what they have after years of it sitting outside at TVRM. They have manufactured a new smokebox cover, stripped the boiler, and have thrown on a temporary coat of paint to at least try and curtail any new rust. The plan is to keep working on her as time and funds allow and hopefully get her running agin someday. They plan on putting her back into the "bumblebee" paint scheme that the army was fond of during it's steam days. They are working on some things with the valve gear, but I don't know what all for sure. I'm not sure what the short term plan for the #4038 is, but I will ask. I have contact with them, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind me passing that along, but I should ask first since both of the engines are privately owned.

In George Hilton's MA & PA book, the photos of #2628 say that the engine was there in 1950.

Les

Les,
Does it say when the Army took her back? I don't have access to that book, and am working off the less than complete Army paperwork on the engine.

Thanks,

Brett -

There are two photos in the book (both on the same page). One photo is a great "3/4 wedge" of the locomotive sitting (possibly cold) in a yard which is not identified. The other photo shows the Consolidation on a freight with diesel #81 helping it up the grade out of Baltimore. There doesn't seem to be any text about 2-8-0 #2628 at all in Mr. Hilton's book. And no, there is no information as to when the engine left the railroad.

It's rather ironic I think, that the only surviving steam locomotive that actually operated over the historic MA & PA is this U.S. Army engine.

Les

Personally, I'd like to know the precise status of work on 611, as I have been trying to determine the technical details of the type D valve gear, and the configuration and sizing of the steam passages.

My belief is that the type D was intentionally simplified to make it robust in the field, and perhaps easy to service with 'minimal resources' when necessary (for example, under combat conditions). To my knowledge nobody has either reported on this gear's details or described its development.

I think it would be valuable to do measured drawings and perhaps some more advanced measurements, such as pointcloud measurement of the passages in the intake and exhaust tracts and detailed description of the valve and seat detail design. This is one of the last installations of the Franklin System, and even though elements of it were simplified, that is no reason not to expect that some of the notable issues with type B, for example the cause of the drifting failure observed on 3752, or the general issue of valve seating, may have been solved.

I was also told there were 'about two boxcars' of parts for 611 and the special valve gear, which I presume went with the engine when Mr. Miller bought her. Can anyone confirm that these parts were saved, and if not, where they presently are, what their general condition is, and if there is any sort of inventory of what's there?


RME

First, I want to thank the people who bought the 611 and the 4038 to give both good homes, and who knows, perhaps operation. And if the 611 were to run again, would she be the only poppet-valved locomotive to currently run in North America, outside of a live-steam model?

I didn't talk to anybody about what I saw because there was no one to talk to, but I also recall seeing an ex-US Army steam crane in the Frostburg area some years ago. I believe this crane may have once been on the South Branch Valley in West Virginia, but I'm not totally positive of that. I also wonder if the crane might be owned by the same people who have the two Army locomotives mentioned. That would be an interesting collection!

Finally, although technically not in Maryland, but on the trackage of the the Western Maryland Scenic in Ridgeley, W.Va., is former Bath & Hammondsport 2-6-0 No. 11, undergoing restoration on what may be a time-available schedule (corrections requested if in order), and under some sort of a contract. When I saw the engine at least two years ago, it was largely stripped down, the tubes were out of it, and it had the grid markings for the ultrasound test. The shopman I got to talk to said it was in surprisingly good condition considering how it had been left outside for so long, but getting it to run again took the usual applications of money and time. My own impression of it, especially as it was outdoors with the 734 a couple of tracks over, was similar to the one I had of the narrow-gauge 316 at Strasburg some years earlier--a tiny, dainty thing, especially compared to the 734. Even being standard gauge, it looked so small I joked with the shopman that it would may a nice engine for a backyard railroad! I was lucky, he thought it was funny, too!

It is small, the whole locomotive (engine alone) weighs only 111,000 pounds, of which 81,500 pounds is on the 50-inch drivers.

http://www.mnjrhs.org/number11.html

Besides its small size, I thought its proportions looked a little unusual. This 2-6-0 has a longish space between the cylinders and the first driving axle. It really looks like it should be a 4-6-0, but again, for something so light, why would you need that extra axle?

She does have a minor claim to fame--she's in Lucius Beebe's "Mixed Train Daily." Who would have guessed this engine would be among the few--the too few--survivors of the diesel onslaught back in 1947?

The "Mixed Train Daily" photo, or one very much like it, appears in the link below, second photo, with a caboose and what looks like an Erie express refrigerator car:

http://www.railcitymuseum.com/RAIL_CITY ... rt_RR.html

Additional material on this surprisingly well-documented shortline engine:

http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articl ... almer.html

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans/11.aspx

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans ... llery.aspx

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans ... llery.aspx

You go looking for things, and you stumble onto other things. In this case, it's material on former Huntington & Broad Top 38, which ran for years out of Gettysburg, Pa., and last ran on the Knox and Kane. She, and the B&H No. 11, are now owned by the current Everett Railroad, and like No. 11, is under restoration. According to the Everett site, 38's boiler is also at Ridgeley, W.Va.:

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans/38.aspx

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans ... llery.aspx

http://www.everettrailroad.com/railfans ... llery.aspx

http://www.railcitymuseum.com/RAI_CITY_ ... ounta.html

I've said this before, and it bears repeating once again--we owe an enormous amount to the people who devoted the resources and time to save what we do have, and we also owe a great deal to the people who preserve material like this, and are willing to share it, too.

Not in the westernmost part of Maryland, but on the way there, is another steamer, WM 4-6-2 No. 202, on display in the park at Hagerstown:

http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... isplay=613

Linked from a post at Trains by a fellow using the name santafe347:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/wm202sa.jpg

http://www.irritatedvowel.com/Railroad/ ... fault.aspx

From Flikr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertdyer/3517543749/

From Railpictures:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 419&nseq=4

Postcard image from years ago:

http://www.rubylane.com/item/513779-PE1 ... rd-Baldwin

http://image0-rubylane.s3.amazonaws.com ... 24C.1L.jpg

Another photo that turned up, from when a restoration effort was underway, and before the current shelter over the engine was built:

http://www.westernmarylandsurvivors.com ... /wm202.htm

As is often the case, you stumble onto things that may or may not be on the subject at hand, but you have to take note of them:

http://www.westernmarylandsurvivors.com/wmsmain.htm

Have fun.

< but I also recall seeing an ex-US Army steam crane in the Frostburg area some years <ago. I believe this crane may have once been on the South Branch Valley in West <Virginia, but I'm not totally positive of that. I also wonder if the crane might be owned <by the same people who have the two Army locomotives mentioned. That would be an <interesting collection!

The crane you speak of is, indeed, owned by Bill Miller and is the same one that was previously on the South Branch Valley. It is now kept at the shop of Mr. Millers father-in-law in Mount Savage, Maryland.

It is interesting to note that the shop is situated on property which was once part of the foundry complex where the first iron rails in Christopher Columbus' "New World" were rolled in 1844. The remnants of that furnace are within a few hundred yards. It is also within spitting distance of buildings used as erecting shops for steam engines for the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad.

There is a lot of railroad history in Allegany County, Maryland.

To be continued . . .

If anyone knows when she left, the information would be much appreciated.





RME,
Denny Fisher is in charge of the #611 and #4038 projects. A lot of the work that is being done is being done by Employees, so the machinists are doing the work as they have time. The precise status of work on the locomotive is as follows. The boiler shell has been stabilized. There has been some rust abaitment done of the locomtovie to hold her as she and the #4038 are presently stored outside. There was no smoke box faceplate or door for the locomotive, so the whole front of the smokebox has been made and is waiting istalation.
The machineshop is working on a new rod for L 3-4 as that rod was bent in an accident railroad west of Hanks Yard on the James River Sub at Ft. Eustis. They had the rod tied up to the locomotive with wire, the rod came loose and pole vaulted the engine.
They are working on the locomotive as time permits, because most of the work is undertaken by the employees when they have cough up with their regualr work. Right now the valve gear is not appart, but it is in a state that would allow some close inspection (with Bills permission of course). No vlave gear work has been completed yet, I know that they are making covers for the cam boxes, but that's all I know. I will get in touch with the guys and let you know if they can get us any more information on the gear status.






There have been some of the people who ran the locomotive who have talked about how it worked. I have access to a few of these reports. Are you looking for information operationally speaking or mechanically? There are no drawings in the paperwork that I have, but I'm sure someone at Eustis has to have something? All I have are the original drawings of the S-160 Class.