Railway Preservation News :: View topic - Barn Finds can Still Happen!

Second there WAS a big barn find. When ConRail came in, people were amazed to find PC E7A 4201 buried deep in Harrisburg Enginehouse. This engine was PRR's first road diesel as PRR 5901 (paired with 5900). Funds were raised and 5901 is the sole surviving EMD E7A at the RR Museum of PA in East Strasburg.

Retired: 1973
Due to be scrapped shortly after retirement, quick thinking on the part of railroad employees saved the locomotive, hiding it for a time in an abandoned section of the Harrisburg roundhouse. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission raised the $20,000 scrap value to purchase it in 1976.

Anyone know what happened to Amtrak SW 1 #743? I photographed it at Albany-Rensselaer in 1983, and I believe it later worked Washington Terminal. At the time I was told it was Amtrak's oldest operating locomotive. I had hoped it ended up being saved, but Amtrak can't just donate equipment as a government-subsidized corporation.

Author:	mcgrath618 [ Wed Feb 23, 2022 3:22 pm ]
Post subject:	Barn Finds can Still Happen!
Long-Forgotten Burlington SW-1 Switcher Saved in Montana https://railfan.com/long-forgotten-burl ... n-montana/

Author:	GTW Dude [ Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:21 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
This is EXACTLY what gives me hope that one or more "legendary" locomotives that have failed to be preserved are still out there. While this wasn't a super long-time storage before the internet it still sits in the ranks of other pieces like the NYC Mohawk trucks that were saved by AOSR at the 13th hour, the Lost Engines of Roanoke, and If i remember correctly there was an Alco or FM prime mover saved not too long ago from an experimental diesel that was either being used in a ship or a basement of an industry. I'd like everyone to keep in mind that there we're still steam locomotives sitting in scrap yards and rusting away in the mid to late 1970's (the RDG T-1's and the last remaining N&W Y6B's come to mind) and around a dozen hard working or parted out 0-8-0's were still earning their keep in a scrap yard out in Sterling Il where not only they still existed but a few CB&Q 2-10-4 boilers were still being used for heat until a crown sheet failure and explosion. I'm willing to bet a museum would be willing to take those boilers any day would they still happen to be around. There are more possible barn finds out there which is what makes this endeavor much more exciting and with the advent of the Internet and its development over the past couple of decades makes it much more possible (IE: Erie 4-6-2 2524 if it's still out there or maybe a C&O 0-8-0 on a practice bombing field or possibly out in Asia from the Korean War). Sometimes it takes some poking around to possibly find something that may or may not disappoint you in the long run. This was a very nice find even more so that it was found indoors and under cover and was given the chance to be preserved. Now if only somebody found a boiler with 3 pairs of drivers tucked in a corner, and 4 Pilot and Trailing Truck wheels being used to move items around said company. Wouldn't that be a fever dream?

Author:	PRR8063 [ Wed Feb 23, 2022 8:10 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
A few years ago, I remember reading that there was a frame from a PRR T1 or J1 tender found buried in the Amtrak Wilmington yard... I believe it was on here, anyone else remember or have a source for this?

Author:	co614 [ Wed Feb 23, 2022 8:40 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
Yes. Perhaps the long rumored NYC Niagara that was saved at the last minute and hidden in a building somewhere in the boonies of Indiana is true?? What always lent it an air of credibility was that supposedly the accounting records showing the monies received from scrapping locomotives was short one Niagara. Wouldn't that be a find !!!!! Never say never. Ross Rowland

Author:	Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Wed Feb 23, 2022 8:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
With all due respect, there is a VAST difference between a one- or two-ton automobile, truck, van, or motorcycle stashed in the back of a garage, warehouse, or barn--I've encountered quite a few in my day, and for every exciting Jaguar E-Type or Maserati or Dusenberg there are twenty Ford Escorts, VW Beetles, or Toyota Tercels that are 90% done returning to the earth--and a 100-ton steam locomotive. In this case, it was a run-of-the-mill mass-produced diesel (660 produced) that most of the public could hardly tell from a modern loco, and even a lot of railfans wouldn't cross the street to see, that had been out of sight and mind for only ten years, in a not-very-populous part of the country. The would-be steam chasers have been at it for sixty years now. Folks like Victor Koenigsberg, J. David Conrad, George Drury, and their counterparts in other countries have done a superlative job "beating the bushes" for rumored/reputed "lost steamers" and putting the kibosh on false/misidentified steamer rumors, and others such as S. Roger Kirkpatrick and his associates have done the same for cabooses. One of Britain's steam railway directories, as far back as 1982, enumerated every known piece of preserved rolling stock everywhere in Britain, including several collections or "hoards" identified only vaguely to protect private property as thoroughly private. Even the British did an extraordinary job tracking down ALL the last steamers in third-world countries like Cuba, Java, etc. The internet facilitates crowdsourcing, Google Earth sequential aerial views, etc. the likes of which Koenigsburg, etc. could have only dreamed of. I myself have hunted down numerous allegations of "lost in the woods" "steam locomotives" and other rolling stock, only to discover how unable most of the public is able to tell a steam tractor, shipping container, or converted parade float from an actual piece of rolling stock, and/or how much PRR/Santa Fe/Argent Lumber/etc. fans have hunted down every imaginable survivor. Sure, YOU may not know about that horde of steamers in Oregon, and/or the stash allegedly in a E&LS warehouse near the Baldwin Sharks, or that Lackawanna private car that was stashed in a warehouse. But trust me when I say that the "grapevine" that matters--the museum curators, the railroad's tech/historical/modeling society guys, the PV guys looking for parts, the guys who kept rosters for Extra 2200 South (and now LocoNotes), etc.--know. And the odds are good that if you search long enough on the internet, you'll find your "hidden secret" in a photo album, roster, or somewhere in this Interchange. The classic situation in the 21st century played out here years ago: an undereducated/misinformed person repeated rumors of a "PRR steam locomotive sunken in a quarry." The analysts here found massive holes in the legend being repeated, to the point that a serious proposal to send a diver into the quarry was scrubbed. (If this predates your presence on this forum, just do a search for "PRR steam quarry.") What you're going to find, in 2022 is NOT an Erie Pacific, a mining lokie, or the like. What you're going to find is a nondescript agricultural cinder block building or pole shed with the interior walls sagging with station signs, locomotive number/builder/name plates, Grif Teller/Ted Rose/Terrence Cuneo paintings, maybe a full-sized diesel loco cab in the corner, and a massive four-track mainline O-scale layout in the middle. (And yes, I know where at least one such building is.) If we really want to try to claim "last elusive unknown steamers," my nomination would be a trio of 20"(!) gauge Coronado Railroad H.K. Porter 0-4-0Ts that were abandoned on a mountainside above the "ghost town" of Metcalf, Arizona. Victor Koenigsberg alluded to them in his 1967 directory; Southwest historian David Myrick published a photo of the trio by Robert Bartee in his 1984 Railroads of Arizona Vol. 3; and Dave Conrad listed them in his 1987 Steam Locomotive Directory of North America. All three have since been brought down "off the mountain" and relocated elsewhere--to downtown Phoenix, the Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler (recently sent there from Safford), and the town square in nearby Morenci. There are also a couple exceedingly tiny fireless and compressed-air 0-4-0 lokies here and there, including one at Chandler and one in a storage container at Williams....... We can't prove a negative. It's up to the "dreamers" or delusional to offer the extraordinary evidence required to prove their extraordinary claims.

Railway Preservation News https://www.rypn.org/forums/

Barn Finds can Still Happen! https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=46336	Page 1 of 4

Author:	RDGRAILFAN [ Wed Feb 23, 2022 10:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
Here is a thought Kovalchick Salvage Corporation in western Pa seems to have a lot of miscellaneous "parts" scattered around. Wonder if you could gain access, if you could find some steam and diesel parts. Just a thought

Author:	EJ Berry [ Wed Feb 23, 2022 11:27 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
A couple of points. First 2100 and 2101 were not lost and forgotten in a scrapyard. They were very conspicuous in Ed Striegel's yard in Baltimore City. Ed had previously preserved B&O 4500 and 5300 until they could be acquired for the B&O Museum. Second there WAS a big barn find. When ConRail came in, people were amazed to find PC E7A 4201 buried deep in Harrisburg Enginehouse. This engine was PRR's first road diesel as PRR 5901 (paired with 5900). Funds were raised and 5901 is the sole surviving EMD E7A at the RR Museum of PA in East Strasburg. It is painted Tuscan with 5 stripes representing PRR's first road locomotive. Phil Mulligan

Author:	Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Thu Feb 24, 2022 12:11 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
EJ Berry wrote: Second there WAS a big barn find. When ConRail came in, people were amazed to find PC E7A 4201 buried deep in Harrisburg Enginehouse. This engine was PRR's first road diesel as PRR 5901 (paired with 5900). Funds were raised and 5901 is the sole surviving EMD E7A at the RR Museum of PA in East Strasburg. https://rrmuseumpa.org/collections/roster/ Quote: Retired: 1973 Due to be scrapped shortly after retirement, quick thinking on the part of railroad employees saved the locomotive, hiding it for a time in an abandoned section of the Harrisburg roundhouse. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission raised the $20,000 scrap value to purchase it in 1976. Its existence was known.......

Author:	GTW Dude [ Thu Feb 24, 2022 12:12 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
I didn’t mention it but if I remember correctly hearing the story Calumet and Hecla Mining Company #3 “Torch Lake” was used by the mining company until she was stored in a shed in upper Michigan. Come WW2 and what is believed to be the last Mason Bogie in existence is scrapped in South Park CO in order to support the scrap drives. Years down the line and the land the mining company was on is sold and the new owners upon walking along the newly purchased land come across an old engine shed. They decide to open up the doors low and behold come across Torch Lake the last Mason Bogie locomotive in existence while all others were thought to have been scrapped she sat waiting for someone to find her. She was later chosen to be donated to Greenfield Village where she was transported by flatbed and became the first locomotive to operate on the railroad in Dearborn Michigan and continues to operate today. At least that’s how I remember it. I know there are others who know plenty more than me about the story of Torch Lake and some on this board who work with the locomotive on a daily basis so feel free to correct me.

Author:	PaulWWoodring [ Thu Feb 24, 2022 7:32 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
Anyone know what happened to Amtrak SW 1 #743? I photographed it at Albany-Rensselaer in 1983, and I believe it later worked Washington Terminal. At the time I was told it was Amtrak's oldest operating locomotive. I had hoped it ended up being saved, but Amtrak can't just donate equipment as a government-subsidized corporation.

Author:	Frisco1522 [ Thu Feb 24, 2022 9:32 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Barn Finds can Still Happen!
Area 51 has a cave complex holding many steam locomotives, NYC 4-6-4,4-8-4 and many others considered all scrap. Missouri Pacific steam, Rock Island 4-8-4s. Its all classified Top Secret and the area is heavily guarded. Dry climate. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Probably your favorite engine is there also.

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