The B&O Railroad Museum will receive a $150,000 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services to support restoring and displaying B&O EMC EA #51, "the first streamlined diesel locomotive to be put in service."

http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/busi ... story.html

Great news, but it's just a little sad that this is very likely cosmetic only--though I wonder how you would get parts for Winton engines!

Does anybody know whether this will include the stainless steel nose trim and correct original style streamlined pilot?

Tom

Missing some key parts though that were recycled when she was traded into EMD, isn't it?

I imagine her Wintons are still inside her. But I bet that she's missing her generator, traction motors, and other electrical parts (And possibly other components as well).

I imagine that a static display is guaranteed, even if Winton engine parts were available and she was mechanically complete.

My long-time understanding of #51 is that it is an engine-less shell.

Slideshow of B&O 51 including views of its engine still in place.

Wesley

Glad to hear that.

This is worth watching.............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV3Ydb1yazg

PC

Some trenchant non-sequiturs...

* 'there they go again...'

*Doesn't anybody remember the Flying Yankee experience ?

*What makes anyone believe that the current version of the OEM will offer any form of cooperation and/or that construction documentation exists on a vehicle this old ?

* $150K sounds like just enough money to effect a good cosmetic restoration

* If memory serves, Hatch and Kirk owns the Winton IP

* ...but I digress...

Dave

Looking at the photos at the link that Wesley provided, I wonder how many years the generator fan has been in the walkway.

PC

I may have found the source of the "empty shell" rumor.

On page 118 (or "EMD-118") of The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide (1973) by Jerry A. Pinkepank, long considered the "holy grail" of North American loco spotting, the photo caption for the photo of the EA/B model concludes:

Louis Marre's subsequent book Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years (1995), essentially a re-editing and update of Pinkepank's book (and acknowledged as such in the introduction), says of the same photo on page 114:
Pinkepank & Marre turned out not to be flawless, but their word was good enough to be gospel for most of us. I strongly suspect that this stemmed from enough of the loco being removed, and the Wintons being of no further use to them, that people in the Motive Power Department considered her an "empty shell."

If we want to be completely cynical, we haven't checked up on the traction motors, and one could argue that we don't know for sure if we've seen one prime mover or the two it's supposed to have in those photos, unless someone wants to start comparing an engineering or construction diagram (which I don't have) with what's in those photos.......

PC -

That looks like Westinghouse switchgear in the locker. Did the EA's have Westinghouse generators and motors too?

That is correct, these locomotives for the B&O had Westinghouse main generators and traction motors, not GE.

PC

Money for preservation is always good news. This is a lot of money but as far as people wondering about restoration to service. If you triple that number you have enough to restore a 1940 B&O SW-1 to operation. That actual cost would have been much higher but a sympathetic vendor donated a pretty generous amount of the restoration time and material. I'm sure No. 51 would require a lot more.

To turn a phrase-'everything doesn't have to run'-said many times about many different pieces of equipment by many different people...

As someone else aptly suggested-dummy up the missing main generators out of wood and other materials and voila'-a complete engine room that can be shown to visitors.

Dave

As an FYI, Westinghouse left the 'heavy railroad traction' business many, many years ago.