It is with considerable excitement that we announce the pending arrival of former Southern Railway and later Georgia Central locomotive 3965!!!

3965 was built by General Electric in February 1977 for Southern Railway and is a U-23-B model. Retired in July of 1996, the unit was sold to the Georgia Central Railroad where it has worked until it was again retired about two weeks ago. The locomotive is in running condition though somewhat tired. Plans are to do the necessary service work and put the unit in service on arrival in Oak Ridge.

This unit is one of a scarce few preserved GE "U series" locomotives and perhaps the only preserved Southern High Hood GE. It will join our former L&N U-23-B, cleverly disguised as CSX 9553, and will afford a direct comparison of how the two competing railroads customized the same basic model of locomotive.

Two footnotes to this announcement: 1) We have had sister unit 3937 in Oak Ridge for several years. She had a failed prime mover and extensive freeze damage that made it very unlikely to ever operate again. As a result, 3937 will be used for parts to support 3965 and ultimately dismantled. 2) We initially selected 3910 for preservation, but an unfortunate mechanical failure while still in service on Georgia Central led us to go in a different direction.

We should note that this successful conclusion was a multi year effort, working with our friends, members, and partners, to make sure that one of these rare locomotives made it to the preservation arena. Donations to assist are certainly welcomed.

Bartman, for those not familiar with museums, tourist railways, etc. in your area, who are "we"? Might help those who don't know, to direct donations, etc. to the right group.

Congratulations on saving this unit!

Steve Hunter

"They" are the Southern Appalachian Railway Museum located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Sorry about that. I grabbed the release that didn't have the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum name in it. The Museum had just gone public after many questions being asked, so I wanted to get it out before work this morning.

The Museum is in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and operates a 14-mile roundtrip on the railroad built during World War II for the K-15 Manhattan Project facility.

"We have had sister unit 3937 in Oak Ridge for several years. She had a failed prime mover and extensive freeze damage that made it very unlikely to ever operate again. As a result, 3937 will be used for parts to support 3965 and ultimately dismantled".

Translation
A locomotive that we "saved" (given to us at no cost) several years ago is getting scrapped.

Just curious, what has failed in the 3937's diesel engine that has condemned it to never run again? GE FDL engines do not have water in the engine block (cylinders & turbo yes, but engine block no), so while freeze damage is very expensive to repair, it is still very much repairable.

WM 303, let me fix that for you:

3937 was PURCHASED to make sure that an example of a Southern high hood U-23-B was saved. 3937 had a seized prime mover, turbo full of water, essentially dead wheels, and freeze damage at the time of purchase and was most likely only ever going to be a static display. When an OPERABLE example became available for purchase, SARM and its partners decided to upgrade to an operable unit and use parts from 3937 to support the effort.

Sorry you don't like the concept.

ETA

I think the issue here is the scrapping of 3937; if it was purchased to be a stationary "plinth" display, it can still be that even with the guts gone. Dismals aren't like Steam Locos, the structure isn't a part of the machinery, like a boiler is. Just trucks, frame & body shell is all that's needed for s respectable display piece.

This was my first thought as well. Heck, you can even steal the original trucks if needed. Roll some shop trucks under there and most non-railroad fans wouldn't even notice. For heaven's sakes though, don't scrap the cab, body, and frame.

If memory serves, wasn't your line the home of the two non-existent Southern passenger RS-1s?

For those who never heard the story - During World War II every effort was made by the Manhattan (KS) district of the Army Corps of Engineers to hide the real purpose of a little project which they were managing for the War Department. One of the many facilities involved was a Kerr-Magee operated processing plant which was affiliated with what is now Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The project was considered so important to the war effort that the War Production Board allocated two 'civilian' RS-1s to the facility. Despite the fact that the entire RS-1 production had been allocated to the military and the presence of any new road diesel at an industrial plant would be waving a red flag and yelling "Hey, look over here!", somebody decided that their purpose would be sufficiently obscured if they appeared to belong to the railroad. I've never heard a coherent explanation of why they picked the Southern which I don't believe served the plant.

GME

Who is going to offer them a fair price for the hulk of the donor after they take the parts they need? I'm sure they would not object to getting some additional funding up front for their project. That would solve the problem.........

dave

Might I suggest that SARM quit posting announcements such as this on RYPN? Time would most definitely be better spent turning wrenches than engaging in these useless discussions with folks that have no hand in the efforts.

Under that logic, there shouldn't be any posting, for any subject...

1. They can both email and turn wrenches.
2. Recommended practice - if you are in fact a genuine museum - is that deaccessioned objects be offered to other museums before offered to scrappers. This is a good venue for that offering.
3. This is a not well known young operation and we ought to be helping them do a better job of being a successful museum if that's what they want to be, which includes constructive criticism when appropriate.

dave

[1] The question came up about the funky Alcos the government ran for a number for years. The locos were RSD-1 Alcos. At least one was painted into a Southern paint scheme by the government, and a second was painted into an L&N scheme. Neither were completely accurate, but were designed to hide what was going on from those who happened to see the trains while riding past on a passenger train or at a grade crossing. Photos are somewhat rare, but they do exist.

Both locomotives were used until the lines to the plants were taken over by the actual railroads to make deliveries to the Manhattan Plants (K-25 for the Southern, Y-12 for the L&N). The RSD-1 locomotives used eventually were determined to be slightly radioactive or broken down and were scrapped in South Knoxville (TN) along with a number of other items from the plants. This explains the radioactive scrap yard there that has been the subject of clean-up for many years.

A few other diesels from the 1940s-1950s went elsewhere, but all eventually were scrapped. SARM (Southern Appalachia Railway Museum) tried to save several, but environmental studies by the Department of Energy found low levels of radiation and/or heavy metal contamination and scrapped them also.

We do have two RS-1 Alcos on site that were used for a while by the DOE (built for the Savannah River facility, later to Oak Ridge) and our trains. Ownership is still with the government and they are assigned to this location for a number of years into the future.

[2] SARM has been restoring and leasing out rail equipment for more than 25 years, and has been operating passenger trains through the K-25 plant since 1998 (17 years). We still have armed guards as a part of the boarding process. When we started we had more than 70,000 tons of Uranium Hexafluoride on site and all volunteers went through background checks. Yep, we had the FBI at our houses to interview us, and it took quite some time to start running trips. We ran the first public tours of the K-25 plant facility in history. Any other museums or excursion railroads going through that process?

One or more of the SARM coaches are being used on NS trips. SARM and its members have a large fleet of Southern Budd coaches and other equipment, as well as former NC&StL sleepers, plus a huge fleet of relatively modern diesels. If you ride our trip, the train includes a Budd coach, an ACF coach, a Pullman dining car, and a St. Louis baggage car, all former Southern. Not many excursion trains have that mix of manufacturers from a single railroad.

[3] Several members will help buy several of a diesel model with plans to make one operable using the parts and scrap money from the others. Anyone interested in buying the hulks that remain, make an offer as the cash from the scrap or sales pays for the restoration. The museum members also swap labor maintaining some diesels in return for another diesel. We have also swapped repair work with other museums in return for use of their equipment

[4] SARM has also operated charter excursions on railroads across the country in more than 25 states, often as part of the swapping of parts or equipment in return for running the trips. Funds from these trips go to help restore equipment, or even more expensive in some cases, pay for the yearly insurance.

[5] Anyone serious about helping is welcome to come on down. We do consider buying a ticket and riding as helping. Check out the SARM Facebook page or website for details and updates.