These guys must be doing something right, their gofundme is already above $48k, including a $26k donation, for a run-of-the-mill SW1: https://railfan.com/grassroots-effort-l ... maine-sw1/

Comments? There is an ex-Western Maryland S1 "free to a good home" in Canada that could be brought back for that amount.

This was certainly an “ITM-Level” event, as the locomotive was due to be scrapped this coming Monday (1/22). Thankfully, the right people found out at the right time. It seems the hardest part is now behind them, as they’ve hit the $50,000 purchase goal in just under a day’s time.

I’m not an expert whatsoever on this locomotive, but it sounds like it’s the only MU-equipped SW1 ordered by the Boston and Maine. It’s been stored serviceable since 2019 or so, indoors nonetheless. Definitely an important and historic save…

I was going to make the joke of "this week's we-have-48-hours-to-save-it plea".......

But as I checked it, they'd just cracked the $50K mark a few minutes ago. That's probably enough to stop the scrapping, but they still have to move it somewhere else, etc.

That loco had been floating around the Wilkes-Barre/Pittston, Pa. area as Luzerne & Susquehanna 50/600 for over 25 years, and I'll bet if you kicked around the right junk piles in Pittston the original number boards may still be around somewhere in a certain pile...................

It helps that they have safe harbor too, given that Danbury is willing to open up their yard for it. They're over $54k as of now. Honestly I think the simple fact that someone immediately stepped up with $26k was a major selling point to a lot of people. Would this hail Mary be succeeding if that donation didn't show up to start? Would that have made a bunch of organizations, and people connected to other organizations, in play here helping spread the word think of this as serious? And we're not talking about some basket case engine here either. Barring where the horns are located now? It's pretty close to B&M condition. Which especially helps where there's spots on it's hood you can see the late era B&M numbering through the paint.

That is a bone of contention, especially if the engine is not relatively isolated or is part of even a small common carrier.

People concerned with liabilies have told me that leaving any "working" end-cab switcher with the original "single-note horn on the front wall of the cab below the roofline" is asking for trouble.

My own observations over the years make me believe that if a locomotive crosses enough at-grade intersections on a regular basis, a better air horn (and/or horn location), a reliable bell that actually gets serviced now and then and a more visible set of headlights may not be 100% historically correct, but are good ideas as long as the original mounting bracket(s) aren't destroyed and any original equipment is removed and stored securely.

Re: the single note horn. When I was at Black River, many years ago, the guys added a single note horn to the SW-1, right next to the rear headlight. It had a valve to isolate it when running forward. It sounded like crap, with both horns untuned, but it did work, and I'm sure would have been legal.

Recent photo: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... tch-eight/

"According to a recent Facebook post by the Danbury Railway Museum, the current plan is to swap the locomotive’s trucks with a roller-bearing set for transport by rail. The museum states delivery of the trucks and preparation for shipment can begin shortly after the $50,000 has been raised for the initial purchase."

BTW: does $50K seem optimistic for scrap value for such a small unit?

The single-note honkers of early dieseldom are absolutely authentic, and if you're restoring to original appearance are what you have to hunt down. Unfortunately, a lot of them were Westinghouse E-2 air horns, which were cheaper and smaller than the Leslie A200's, but had a diaphragm assembly that was complex and later "unobtanium." Further, the backs often seized on and made servicing impossible, so lots of them ended up in dumpsters--mine was fished back out of a Wilmington Shops dump pile for me.

However, the photos show that as early as 1957, the B&M had fitted a three-chime on a horn stand on the 1127, so.......

The question is, do you want to run it over a line, or have an authentic appearance? As I recall, Danbury's demonstration trackage is all within a yard, so about the only horn-blowing would be at a trespasser or animal. But another line that uses an authentic period SW1 on the line on which it operated, the Wilmington & Western, has plenty of good reason to apply loud 5-chime horns during excursion use. Revisit the issue if W&W 84508 is ever retired as B&O 8408 for display.......

My suggestion to people with what I call "working" switchers originally equipped with a one-holer is to add a high mounting bracket that will allow a relatively modern bi-directional horn to meet the legal levels in both directions, but one that can always be removed later on... and leave the original cantilevered factory mount alone for possible later re-use. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't.

IMO, old first-generation locomotive horns make better indoor display and occasional "special event" horns than they do daily warning devices. If the loco is just on display or sees very limited use, I have no beef with old OEM Tyfons, E-2s and inherently lower-output stuff like Hancock air whistles, Westinghouse trombone whistles and the old small Westinghouse A and AA horns under certain circumstances, but some volunteers do have trouble hearing them well when the sound is masked.

As you intimated earlier, all old Westinghouse and Nathan H and M horn parts are difficult to source and thus now entering the stratospheric cost zone; when I tell an operator what a new custom-made E-2 diaphragm assembly will probably run them, all but the wild-eyed ones lose enthusiasm rapidly. Most also don't like hearing what it will cost to weld up and re-machine damaged castings that can no longer be sourced, but there is usually at least one person in any org that is willing to dump unlimited resources into one particular horn no matter what the ultimate cost.

One of the nicer aspects of steam power vs diesel-electrics is that 6, 5 or even some 4-1/2 inch diameter whistles can be positively ancient and still be louder than hell... and are usually at least a straightforward if expensive item to repair if they do get worn, eroded or banged up past a certain point.

That might be more in line with the market value of an old 600hp switcher in operable condition. Seems like a gouge to me if you were expecting to pocket around $8K in scrap.

That's not quite what I mean. There's pictures of this engine wearing the late era Blue with the horn on a stand bolted to the middle of the hood. Two chimes faced forward, one faced rearward with that setup. I think at this point the horn is mounted on the cab as would be normal.

In other news, they did it. They passed the $65k for the gofundme. If this doesn't scream excellent organization to get to this point in a matter of days, I don't know what does.

Okay, I see that progression. That late era blue homebrewed beanstalk hood mounting was probably not enjoyed by the crew even with that upward tilted rear bell on the horn. Not sure how something like that would fly/test today.

It would take very little work to fabricate a bolt-on riser (with a bit of cantilevering, maybe) to put about any air horn they wanted high enough to clear the cab roof on the original cab front wall bracket. A bit of air line rerouting from the horn valve on downwind and call it good.

A big issue with original SW1 and NW2 horn brackets is that they were often welded on pretty high due to the tall windows, and a given horn could only be so tall at the diaphragm end before the roof overhang interfered; another was that the bracket might not stick out far enough forward to accomodate horns like the later Leslie RS Supertyfons with tuning chamber "spikes" on the back caps. Clearance wasn't a problem with things like the old Leslie A-125 honkers, but once bigger horns or just taller ones were used as replacements, some shops were more of what one might charitably call "creative" than others.

I guess it depends on what era they prefer to shoot towards, as long as the result keeps bad things from happening.

That's what I thought, you can't plausibly price something as in "operable condition" if you plan to cut it up next week, which should give the buyer some leverage.

If the locomotive is operable or near operable the price tag of $50K is not out of line. Smaller locomotives have not been produced on a large scale in decades and the supply of smaller locomotives is shrinking each year as a few here or there are scrapped or parted out.

I have quoted prices for a switcher and been advised the price was too high and scrap value is XYZ dollars. I advise that an operating locomotive is not scrap, if we were selling scrap we would be asking scrap value.