Folks:

See thread "Sad.....just sad" for background.

TO BE DISPOSED OF:

ROLLING STOCK -

Rock Island MOW #3106, originally coach #3025, had been used on museum train; blt 1913, Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

Mobil Oil tank car #11173. Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

Darby steam wrecking crane #D-22. Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

Rock Island caboose #17762, outside braced wood body, rebuilt 1943 from 1912 boxcar.
Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

Reading gondola. Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

Amtrak coach #2368, originally Santa Fe sleeping car Regal Ruby. Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

Santa Fe caboose # 999425. Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

MISC. RAILROAD ARTIFACTS -

Alton Railroad turntable. Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

Union Pacific transfer table. Midland Railway, Baldwin City, Kansas. To be scrapped. Listed August 2012. SCRAPPED SUMMER OF 2012.

The above would have been a list given when Midland Railway made the decision to scrap these items. Eventually, Midland DID scrap all of them as reported in the Fall 2012 issue of RMQ/TRAINLINE. In a few days, I will amend this list to show that scrapping. The above is just a proposal how items COULD be listed in case any museum or organization or private party would have an interest in any particular item.

Comments welcome, of all types.

Thanks.

Les

So, what's the gripe going to be when such a list is made known to everyone and it all gets scrapped anyway? Now that people won't be able to say, "if XYZ RR museum knew, they'd have saved it," will this default to the tired old, "Someone (other than me, of course) should have stepped in to save it."
Ah yes, the magical unnamed, "someone," the guy who should step up and save it all...

And here's whehre I'm going to again mention that your intentions are irrelevant if you aren't financially and logistically equipped to step in and actually moove something. How many of us are ready to jump in and make a truck show up next week?

dave

Does anyone know more about the turntable and transfer tables in this list? I've seen the turntable described earlier as coming from the MKT in Kansas City but this says Alton with no location mentioned. I would appreciate knowing the owning rail line, original location, and length for both if possible.

Les, your list is far too short. If you add what mother nature is scrapping for us it would be multiple times longer. Do we ask all museums to send you a list of the stuff that is out back that they will never get to? We could but I bet you would get next to nothing because at least one member in each museum holds out hope for each decaying artifact.

So your list above is the tip of the iceberg. And that's the really "sad" part.

Here is my best example. I spent a few months at Seashore Trolley Museum this summer and there are dozens of trolley cars there being slowly scrapped by mother nature back in the Maine woods. They each represent a piece of urban history for their home town and collectively for the country as a whole. What if they were on your list? What if your list were circulated much wider than just railway preservation groups? What if every historical society (even small towns have them) received it. What if every museum of any type did?

Just a thought.

Yup, that is my experience. Every query I have made has resulted in the fast brush-off.

Also I'm afraid to ask for fear that they react by deciding they really do want to keep the unit, when they might have surplused it otherwise. But then they won't tell me if they think of getting rid of it. But then they don't anyway.

I'm telling you, I'm about to resort to sending quarterly postcards to all my wannas!!!


Well speaking of "wanna", some MIT folks created something called a "wanna server". Guys and gals would punch in all the names of people they secretly "wanna ****" but are afraid to ask for fear of rejection/problems etc. When the server sees a match, it would tell both people the good news.

Well, what if we had a database of everyone's fleet, and each owner could punch in their level of wanting to sell it (0=Not for Sale -- 10=cutting it next week). And then each seeker could tag every piece of equipment with their level of wanting it (0=do not care, 10=will trade own daughter). The server would automatically notify both parties of ripe deals.

One other scenerio I see is maybe an organization wants/plans to scrap a particular item. They didn't acquire it to restore and preserve, rather use it as a parts source and dispose of the rest. Then whats left isn't worth saving or degrades to the point of no return as it sits for years getting picked apart.

You have accurately describe Bill Wall's brain as it relates to the list of cars in the Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars database.

Wesley

I think we'd do well to dispell the fallacy that everything that was grabbed was grabbed for a specific purpose....a lot was just grabbed because it could be grabbed back in the day when it could be moved by the railroad free to the museum. There was no skin necessary to get in the game so a lot of not particularly useful stuff was accumulated, and since it had no purpose....sat for decades. I think most groups with this kind of thing would be very happy to know that anybody with a plan would take it away and make use of it.

dave

Les:
At least you have stepped up to the plate with a proposal ! If it works and helps to save one historic piece of equipment than that's better then none saved at all ! You didn't demand that everyone sign up with a list, you just suggested what might be a workable solution to save some equipment.
We all want to see the things saved that we care about, and if that is practical and workable among various groups than I say: LET"s DO IT!

Kevin K

I am aware of groups and institutions that have specifically pursued specific cars at Seashore, INCLUDING cars that are absolutely, positively "being slowly scrapped by mother nature back in the Maine woods".

These groups have all told me the exact same thing, almost verbatim: ONE INDIVIDUAL, rewarded with "votes" in exchange for financial contributions, has vetoed the deaccession of every such piece, overruling the supposed majority of the membership. Many words expressing a desire for the violation of the Sixth Commandment have been uttered repeatedly.

Once again, herein lies the philosophical "problem" with such a list, if not composed by those expressly seeking to deaccession their own items.

This would be good even if all you needed were parts. That hopeless Pullman car could have the luggage racks another almost restored Pullman needs. Isn't there a guy looking for vintage passenger trucks around here?

Yes, remember my "Name the 2000 cars we shall scrap" litmus test which utterly failed to identify any but the most obvious candidates? That.

I do acknowledge this effect, the way GG-1s and Hygrade and Swift reefers and Highliners were blown out to railroad museums practically for free. There were 55 Insull South Shores built and 41 survive... Lackawanna trailers did nearly as well.

However even with the carspam, somebody at each museum had to hunt it down, get consensus, facilitate its transportation and write some checks. That ain't nothing.

you have made the effort to put the equipment up for sale in all fairness. You never know, some "magical" guy may be out there.. (or group)


I tend to think if you have to go and scrap equipment for money you need to do a better job with your museum and avoid scrapping pieces, all the rare pieces today you just made even rarer.