What remains of the prints and paterns for the construction of the two replica locomotives??? Who owns them, are they available for loan???

jasonsobczynski@yahoo.com

> What remains of the prints and paterns for
> the construction of the two replica
> locomotives??? Who owns them, are they
> available for loan???
The Nat'l Park Svc owns them and OConnor Eng'g constructed them.

frankree@verizon.net

Chad O'Conner's company had all the blueprints. I don't know if they are still in business. they were located in Costa Mesa California.

Jason,
Back years ago (1985 or so)when I was working toward operating replicas of the General and Texas, I attempted to get copies of some major components, especially of the 119, to compare for possible use in construction the General since both were Rogers locomotives. All I was able to get were drawings of the cabs. At the time I was told that O'Connor Engineering had passed all the drawings to NPS. I don't remember if I got prints for both cabs or just one, but what I got came from NPS.

> Chad O'Conner's company had all the
> blueprints. I don't know if they are still
> in business. they were located in Costa Mesa
> California.


ssyfrett@bellsouth.net

Jason, I hope your wallet is deep and full.

Remind me to loan you the videotape on building the replicas.

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Though it seems fairly dated by today's technical standards, the film on the building of the reproduction Jupiter and 119 is excellent and still available from the Golden Spike, NHS gift shop.

Chad O'Connor's company is still very much in business, though now owned by the German company Sachtler (also a manufacturer of high-end fluid head tripods). The link will direct you to the very interesting story of how the O'Connor company got going.


http://www.ocon.com/about.htm
SJHussar@aol.com

Am I correct in thinking that neither of these engines, when built, were fired by coal or wood? I belive I saw that in the video. When were they change to burn authentic fuel and why was this not done from the outset?

Joshua

Homepage
joshua@joshuakblay.com

> What remains of the prints and paterns for
> the construction of the two replica
> locomotives??? Who owns them, are they
> available for loan???

I do not know the whole story, but hope this helps.

The drawings and the patterns are in the posession of the NPS, and whatever NPS regional engineering office covers Ogden (probably Denver)would be the first place to call. My understanding is that the drawings may be obtained for a charge.

My additional understanding is that a person who wishes to remain nameless from the Midwest is actually using this information and patterns at the moment to build one of the locomotives, but he is secretive, even more so that the fellow building the Lyon at the Strasburg. The foundry that cast some of his parts gave a seminar at the TRAIN convention a few years ago in Ogden, and that is where I believe I heard most of this rumor.

The video is well worth getting in any event, as it is detailed enough to explain the various compromises and modern techniques that went into building the replicas. Very educational.


SZuidervee@aol.com

> Jason, I hope your wallet is deep and full.

> Remind me to loan you the videotape on
> building the replicas.

> dave

What was the original cost????


jasonsobczynski@yahoo.com

Yes, the replicas were first set up to run on donated used motor oil. The oil was free (I don't remember who was giving them the stuff - Hill Air Force Base? Thiokol?). However, after many years of steaming the engines on the free oil, the supply dried up (I think the company giving it away wanted to start charging for the stuff). The engines were set up to use coal and wood about 1992-93. I've heard they were much easier to keep clean before the conversion, but the smell of wood and coal is enough to convince me to keep them burning "authentic" fuels.

Jeff terry

> Am I correct in thinking that neither of
> these engines, when built, were fired by
> coal or wood? I belive I saw that in the
> video. When were they change to burn
> authentic fuel and why was this not done
> from the outset?

> Joshua


jterry618@earthlink.net

Nicely constructed article about volunteering as a fireman at Golden Spike for a day. Nice pictures as well.



http://www.discoverlivesteam.com/magazine/three.html
SJHussar@aol.com

The plans or micro-fiche should be in the Denver Service Center. I'll post a phone number when I am in the office tomorrow.

I co-worker of mine just visited Promintory NHS so he might know something about the patterns.

Ted Miles

ted_miles@nps.gov

> What was the original cost????

Can't exactly recall how many million, but bear in mind that the dollars were 1970s dollars, printed before you were born, each of which bought a whole lot more of what there was some left of back then - for instance, new off the shelf injectors.

IF the enginering and patterns were made available at no cost, it would still cost millions in today's puny and anemic dollars to reproduce them today, and with fewer sources of supply.

dave



irondave@bellsouth.net

The number that comes to mind from my discussions with the O'Connor folks back in the mid-1980's was about $750K per. Chad O'Connor qualified that by saying it was a "real labor of love", indicating the actual cost was probably more than that. When we were discussing replicas of the General and Texas, we were looking at somewhere around $1.5 million per.

Stephen

> Can't exactly recall how many million, but
> bear in mind that the dollars were 1970s
> dollars, printed before you were born, each
> of which bought a whole lot more of what
> there was some left of back then - for
> instance, new off the shelf injectors.

> IF the enginering and patterns were made
> available at no cost, it would still cost
> millions in today's puny and anemic dollars
> to reproduce them today, and with fewer
> sources of supply.

> dave


ssyfrett@bellsouth.net