An ever so rare bit of actual good news on the Kentucky railroad preservation front. The L&N #2132, one of only three Louisville and Nashville steam locomotives left (the other two being at KRM) has been transported from its display in Georgia and has been moved to the developing railroad museum in Corbin, KY.

Appears that the cab roof and domes had to be removed for the sake of highway clearances. The #2132 has the distinction of being built by the L&N in their own South Louisville Shops.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 585&nseq=0

Why is everyone so afraid of just separating the boiler from the frame? This is crazy, torching the cab in half and torching off the steam dome and then still having to pay through the nose to haul it as a superload. The much better alternative is to pull the boiler off and ship it as two permit loads.

Is it because people are no longer capable of dismantling machinery without utterly destroying it anymore?

How long does it take even a professional crew to completely remove a boiler and firebox from the frame without damaging either one? Think in terms of man-hours at $$$ per each. And nothing that has been outdoors for 100 years is going to come apart in an afternoon with a few Crescent wrenches and a can of Kroil.

Then double the trucking costs $$$$ because you will need two trucks, trailers and drivers and two sets of permits for 3 states instead of one set. Then as many or more man-hours to put it back together properly at destination, plus bolts, nuts, rivets, etc. that will have to be replaced because they broke off when you tried to remove them. MORE $$$, especially for the many fitted bolts that will have to be individually machined to size.

THEN, double the amount of crane and rigging crew time you'll pay for at each end.

IMO, for a locomotive that is not going to be steamed up and would have no place to
run even if it WAS steamed up, there is no doubt the way it was done involved far less of those dollars than your way, Rick. Besides, the RFQ spelled out this was the way they (the owners) wanted it done.

Corbin is on the western edge of Appalachia. The steady decline of timbering, mining, and CSX railroad jobs there means they likely didn't have unlimited money to throw at this project in the first place.

Just because something can be done in a tedious and meticulous manner doesn't mean it makes economic sense (or common sense) to do so.

You can cut the smokebox around the outside of the saddle, and even cut the waist sheets. The boiler slides will unbolt. When the loco goes back together the smokebox can be tack welded back together and nobody will be the wiser.

Nobody can forsee the future, and what may be a strictly static display today could become a candidate for operational restoration 10, 20 or 30 years down the road. A new smokebox can be rolled any day of the week at a well equipped fab shop. New waist sheets can be burned out just as easily. But replacing a steam dome that was hot formed in a four post hydraulic press... That does not happen as easily and could be the one thing that forever dooms the locomotive.

This isn't the first time I've seen this. The 0-6-0 in Gambier, OH, a modern Alco that came from New Orleans also has its steam dome cut in half.

Sure there would be some added expense in another day or two of prep work, and one more truck load (two moderately expensive loads instead of one extremely expensive load), but it is worth it if the alternative is irreparably damaging an historic artifact. In this case, there is going to be at least a days worth of welding that cab back together and putting the domes back on.

I'm not arguing with you as much as pointing out your way costs more, takes longer, and you still end up torching stuff, albeit easier to replace.

The last time I saw this thing, in Georgia about 8 years ago, the smokebox was so rotted that the stack had partly fallen through it. What was left leaned backward at a jaunty angle more suited to a tugboat.

At that time the boiler was a mess. The sand boxes are just bolted on, as is the cab roof. And you can get the steam dome off by cutting around it, not through it. Simple matter to bevel the edges and put it back with a full-pen weld.

And who could say, without a UT, that the entire dome course or the entire boiler wouldn't need to be replaced anyway if it was to be steamed up?

It is what it is. I saw a photo of it late today with everything back in place and the stack standing up like it should.

BTW: It was NOT a superload.

I am going to have to agree with Hotmetal.

Let's see, super size load which requires very special permits and escorts, oh and 2 very large cranes at each end to load and unload.

I have moved several diesel locomotives by truck as well as a steam locomotive. The number one thing I learned very quickly, avoid "Super Loads".

I saw some pictures of the move on Facebook, even cut the steps off a bay window caboose to move it. There should not have been any height problem with that caboose with the proper trailer.

Mr. Penn. You seem to know about this move, so how much did this "super load" cost to move?

I was about to agree with Hot Metal until I did some digging around. Since the 2132 had already been cut in half to get it to the Bainbridge location, I guess butchering it some more won't do it that much more harm. The poor thing must look like a jigsaw puzzle by now.

Having successfully done a few of these kinds of moves myself, I know how I would have done it, based on experience and lessons learned the hard way. And being connected to some heavy-haul trucking outfits, I have an idea of the costs of doing it either way.

But I do not know the cost of this particular move. Knowing who was involved in the overall move, and about the costs of the cranes and the transport, I'd say it was done in the most cost and time effective manner.

As I said, this is the way they did it. Obviously, this is the way the customer wanted it done. And apparently it was done successfully.

In view of that, if you want to complain, do so to the City of Corbin.

Don't expect much sympathy from them, however. They will probably ask, "Where were you when we put out the RFP?"

All of the comments about cutting the steam dome and cab roof off are understood. However, what has been totally missed, and not even mentioned by boilerwash in the original post, is that something even more severe was done to the locomotive when it was moved to the boat basin display area in Bainbridge, GA.

At that time the engine was literally cut in half, top to bottom, including rods and probably the frame, although I'd have to dig out my print photos to verify that. I'm pretty sure the cut was made just behind the steam dome, and so is hidden in the linked photograph by the welder. The gap was crudely patched with steel bar stock welded over the gap. No doubt the boiler was already damaged beyond economical repair by those earlier actions.

The engineer's side was the side more commonly viewed by the public, and even so, a couple of the rods on that side have fairly severe kinks where the cut rod ends was re-welded together without the rods being completely straight. Some of the reattachments were welded nicely, while others were not. It looks in the photo that the eccentric rod has a bit of a kink on the fireman's side.

Hopefully the errors made when the locomotive was moved to Bainbridge for display can be fixed at her new home.

Also, I should mention that I know where the original builder's plates are for this specific locomotive. (I don't have them, nor would I benefit in any way. I'd just like the plates to be with the locomotive.) If they are not already in hand, I would gladly share the information with an actual representative of the museum. I can be contacted by PM.

See here:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=562794&nseq=0

Look at the #4 driving wheel. I take it that that is the steel barstock used to conceal the welds on the boiler course just behind the dome.

Now WHO moves a locomotive like THAT??

What was the reasoning for cutting the locomotive in "half" like that?

There's a certain redneck form of ignorance and tunnel vision involved........ the same kind that focuses on draining the swamp without noticing that one is surrounded by alligators. Getting tons of steel from point A to point B is differently than moving an intact locomotive the same distance.

Yes, that strap on the boiler course directly behind the steam dome is where the cut was made. It is obvious in the daylight photo that the connecting rod between #3 and #4 drivers was severed just behind the pin on #3.

As to why it was moved by cutting in half, hearsay is that the locomotive was brought into the boat basin park display area in Bainbridge by barge and for some reason it had to be reduced to smaller pieces. Doesn't make sense to me, but that is what I was told years ago. Maybe the only crane available to place it was too small to lift the whole engine...I don't know. I've been back in Albany for 20 years and it's been about 18 years since I went to look at her, and walked away shaking my head.

Dave is correct about the "redneck ignorance" part of it. I can attest to that through nearly 20 years of trying hard and failing miserably to promote preservation of railroad artifacts in this region. It's depressing.

On an environmental job I did down in Bainbridge, the gas station owner, who already had a big hole in the ground (and I have no idea where that soil disappeared to) told me he'd throw me in the hole if I didn't tell him what he wanted to hear. He was only half joking...

In stunned disbelief and amazement, I hereby retract my previous comments in this thread.

I need a stiff drink...

FYI: There is a Pullman built steel business car that was also "cut in half", moved and then the two parts welded back together. I know...it seems crazy but I have seen the pictures and talked to people who have seen it in person. Stuff happens...sadly.

T7

I remember at least one MILW car that was cut into halves or sections and moved -- with every expectation of being re-welded in its new home. (There were pictures on the Web!) There's also that McKeen car.

Sometimes it's more important to assure that the 'article' is moved, by whatever means, rather than lost ... perhaps even without some guarantee of interest or competence already existing at the other end of the trip.