the O&W Went Down to Georgia

Rob Davis · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 11:05 am

While checking out the Southeastern Railway Museum website, I was glad to see a teaser for the completeion of an idea hatched 5 or 6 years ago...

The SRM would up with New York, Ontario & Western 44-tonner #104, which ended up in shortline service down south.

To the museum's credit, they entertained the idea of restoring her in O&W colors, and upon learning that she was originally painted in hadsome maroon, silver and black the decision was made to move forward with an as-built restoration.

One might argue till they're blue that a Yankee GE is out of place in Georgia. However, the flipside of that is that #104 would up at SRM in the hands of caretakers who respect the artifact for what the artifact is. Rather than doll her up in a "whit-if", they took the plunge to give the piece precedent.

The result will surely be a handsome engine that draws a few Yankks down to Georgia.

Y'all take care of her!

Rob

http://www.srmduluth.org/Exhibits/diesel.htm
rdavis@rypn.org

Andrew Durden · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 1:21 pm

Rob,

Thanks for the free plug! The paint job on 104 is complete and the locomotive is on display. We still have a few mechanical and electrical issues to work out before it is operational. Once it is completed, 104 will most likely share duties with our other 44 tonner, Hartwell 2, as power for the museum's caboose train. Thanks again for your interest.

Andrew Durden
Curator of Locomotives
Southeastern Railway Museum

Southeastern Railway Museum
gapower97@yahoo.com

Rob Davis · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 1:47 pm

I apologize for the hideous typos in my posts today. Apparently, "wound" is now spelled "would!".

;-)

Rob

rdavis@rypn.org

Rob Davis · **Posted:** Thu Aug 21, 2003 9:48 am

WOW #104 looks great! Follow the link for more photos before and after.

Rob

http://www.nyow.org/nyow104.html

rdavis@rypn.org

Tom Gears · **Posted:** Thu Aug 21, 2003 1:20 pm

They sure have done a nice job. Thanks for posting the information.

Tom

Randy Minter · **Posted:** Thu Aug 21, 2003 3:48 pm

Thanks for the kind words. The locomotive is slated for operation again during the 2004 season. We sandblasted it down to bare metal. The nose stripes were a real challenge as there are not a lot of good photos of these engines and only one color in service picture existing. Wisconsin Central maroon was the color used. As an aside, we are currently trying to de-accession 3 of our cars and hope that we can use proceeds to return one of our CofG Seminole cars back into chocolate and orange.

Randy Minter
Collection Manager - SRM

> They sure have done a nice job. Thanks for
> posting the information.

> Tom

http://www.srmduluth.org/

Ron Graner · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2003 2:28 am

Randy is way to modest. The restoration of 104 back to the original look was almost an entirely Minter family, father and son project. Every good railroad museum should have at least 1 or 2 people with the knowledge, skills, abilities and dedication as SRM has in Randy and his dad.
Ron Graner SRM member

rgraner@aol.com

Rob Davis · **Posted:** Fri Aug 22, 2003 8:17 am

Ron, that's great to hear that it was a "family project." For those of us "afflicted" with the O&W passion, the road has always had a family feel to it.

It's funny, but all... and I mean all... the restorations of O&W equipment to date have been done with an extra dose TLC.

Rob

> Randy is way to modest. The restoration of
> 104 back to the original look was almost an
> entirely Minter family, father and son
> project. Every good railroad museum should
> have at least 1 or 2 people with the
> knowledge, skills, abilities and dedication
> as SRM has in Randy and his dad.
> Ron Graner SRM member