Following up on the item mentioned in the last two Briefs is this message from R.T. Dowling to the Maine Central Yahoo Group:

U18B MEC 407 Update

Randy Leclair and myself went to Waterville today to inspect the 407 and get
a better idea of what kind of shape it's in. A few surprises, but nothing
major. Here are some tidbits:

* Unit has an EMD control stand -- were the U18Bs delivered this way, or was
this a replacement for the original control stand?

* Horns, bell, and even the SEATS from the cab are currently removed and in
storage. I had no idea that seats were a likely item to be stolen these
days.

* The MEC-esque paint job isn't as nice as it looks in pictures. Also, the
yellow isn't the original MEC yellow -- it's darker, more like a "mustard"
color. Waterville could have painted it in genuine MEC yellow but the lessee
specified otherwise. The trucks and frame are painted "Guilford Gray" (I
assume they were straight black in the MEC days).

* They had to sandblast quite a bit of rust off before they painted it. Some
of the rust was pretty severe, judging by some of the holes I saw.

* It took us several tries and a few different shop employees before we were
able to get it started. Once it finally got going, the smoke coming out of
the stack was amazing! Thick, billowy, ranging from pale gray to pitch
black. Fans of steam engines would have thoroughly enjoyed it! At one point,
the loco "backfired" (I guess that's what you would call it... sounded like
a gun shot). Then it ran out of fuel and died, so they had to add more fuel
and then we had fun trying to get it started again. By the time we were
done, there was quite a bit of oil sprayed all down the sides of the loco.

* After it had been running for a while, the exhaust cleared up and was
nearly invisible. We then moved it back and forth a few times, with GP38 252
in tow.

* The sound of a U18B in 8th notch is utterly deafening... just as I
remembered it. ;-) (No fireballs shooting from the stack this time,
though.)

* The wheels on the rear truck are practically brand new. The wheels on the
front truck aren't so great.

* The sander doesn't work, and the dynamic brake doesn't work (this was told
to me by someone who ran the engine while it was in NY).

* GRS still has plenty of spare parts, including cylinders, traction motors,
and main generator.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I snapped a few pictures and will
try to post them if I can find a way to scan the slides.

As far as the project goes, things are moving along slowly at this point. I
haven't yet found any source(s) of funding aside from small individual
donation offers (which are greatly appreciated, by the way). I have a couple
of leads regarding a home for the locomotive, but that won't do us much good
if we can't buy it. In general, the organizations that are willing to give
the locomotive a home are only willing to do so if it won't cost them
anything, which is understandable.

I'm working on building a web site to promote the project. It will include
pictures of the 407 (from its original 1975 glory to its current state),
information about its history, and answers to frequently asked questions.

As always, if you would like to help with this project in any way, shape or
form, please let me know!

R.T. Dowling

rdavis@rypn.org