Picture of MEC #470 taken just a few days ago. She REALLY needs to find a new home under cover somewhere.



http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2003093013014029239.jpg&byrail%3A1%3AMaine_Central
SJHussar@aol.com

Preferably in a genuine Maine Central roundhouse, several of which still exist.

> Picture of MEC #470 taken just a few days
> ago. She REALLY needs to find a new home
> under cover somewhere.


http://www.nrhs.com/historic_structures/roundhouses/rh_data.htm
ryarger@rypn.org

This loco looks to be in terrible shape, even when held to the standard of the Roanoke locos. Her tender is full of daylight, her cab is smashed, stripped, and defiled. Pieces hang loose under her, and the City of Waterville doesn't give a damn, though they prominently use her as a civic emblem. What should happen is a building be constructed around her to house a locked, supervised railroad museum, and engine restored cosmetically. She ain't gonna run again, even though she steamed onto her original display plinth, back in 1954. A real heartbreak. So it goes.

glueck@maine.edu

Based on an excerpt from a post below about Conway Scenic:
"501 is dead in the water.I've heard from a fellow 470 railroad club member that the club is considering moving to somewhere that it might have a chance of running again.It don't look promising. "

I wonder if the 470 club has any involvement with the 470!
Seriously-how close is the 470 to one of those surviving/unoccupied MEC roundhouses? 501, too, for that matter (all it takes is $$$)....

I friend of mine in the NRHS tells me that the shelter for the 470 has been designed but the local NIMBY populattion has reared its head. So far nothing has been done to shelter the engine.
I wish something good happens before there is nothing left of that engine.

I asked the same question; does the 470 Club have anything to do with the actual 470?

apparantly the answer is no.

ted_miles@nps.gov

The 470 Club was created and named in honor of the Pacific, after her final journey over the system, in 1954. The club itself draws it's membership for several states, but the active group tends to be focused in teh Portland, Maine region. The locomotive in question is located in Waterville, about 100 miles north of Portland. Bangor is another 50 miles north of Waterville. I'm sure it's merely a point overlooked, but Maine is a HUGE state.
Members of the 470 Club did take it upon themselves to do a detailed paint job on the old locomotive several years ago. Within two weeks, criminals had spray painted over their work. The engine is stripped and even welds have been broken by persistant vandals. On of the flag poles, made from a length of boiler tube, was bent over at a 45 degree angle by kids who used the rope to play Tarzan.
As far as the building is concerned, I doubt that any NIMBY's would object. The loco is plinthed at the yard throat, with no residences or commercial buildings anywhere nearby. In fact, a suitable sheltered building with lighting might enhance the area substantially. I, myself, would like to raise Hell about the condition of the engine before the city management, but I fear the response will be to cut her up on the spot. That's where we are heading sooner or later anyway.

glueck@maine.edu

The Cole Museum in Bangor, ME would seem to be a perfect place for the 470, and in her place a small reform school could be built for the little vandals who abused her. ;o)


Cole Museum Railroad collection
SJHussar@aol.com

> The Cole Museum in Bangor, ME would seem to
> be a perfect place for the 470, and in her
> place a small reform school could be built
> for the little vandals who abused her. ;o)
This fine loco does decerve a better fate all it will take now what has now it will take is some CHILD too fall off the engine,,because the engine is not protected by a fence,,or other mean's,,,,then the LAWSUIT will start,,,because my son/dorther fell off while clinbing on the engine IF THE CITY OF WATERVILLE MAINE,,WHO NOW OWN'S THE ENGINE WHY ARN'T THEY PROTECTING THEN SELF'S???HAVE I SAID ENOUGH,,,,PAT

cprh1b@concast.net