I was very impressed with the Roanoke Times photos mentioned in the Link thread below, as well as the other photo stories in that paper I looked at. They went to a lot of effort to put that "then and now" piece together.

I was also impressed with the condition and maintenance of the Green Cove station, and wonder if that would be an appropriate place to display one of the derelict 4-8-0s from the scrapyard at Roanoke? If the caretakers can do that well with the station, they would probably be good stewards of a locomotive also, given some help, funding and advice.

Let's face it, other rail museums have more than enough to do already, and don't need another locomotive cadaver to restore "someday", but a dedicated group with only one engine to work on might be able to get something done. Being part of a "trail" project, rather than a "rail" project might loosen some TEA-21 funding that would not come to these engines otherwise.

A display with an engine and car or two (a boxcar could store restoration equipment and supplies) would interpret the trail's former status as a railroad. The trail apparently gets good usage, which should help with vandalism problems (a video monitoring system would help too). A donation box at the station with a "could you spare a dollar to restore this train?" plea might bring small donations from people who would never donate to a rail museum otherwise.

If the National Guard ever manages to get back from Iraq alive, they might be able to move the locomotive in dismantled sections and transport it to Green Cove for reassembly. I know these engines are missing many parts, but suspect that most could either be found or replicated. Even as a rusting cadaver, a locomotive would be an item of interest along the trail.

The display train could also have several lengths of track laid in front and back of it (it looks like there is a little track there already). Handcar rides might be condcucted on this track for a small fee, as another small fundraising scheme.

Looking at their website photos, it appears this trail group has their act together and would be a good one for our community to work with. Any comments on this idea?

http://www.vacreepertrail.com/ForestService/GreenCove.htm
ryarger@rypn.org

Is Green Cove on the Abingdon branch? Abingdon already has 4-8-0 433, which was native to the line, under roof there. I hope it is faring well.

Bill Yoder

wyoder50@compuserve.com

M Class 433 is already at Abingdon, recently cosmetically restored and under roof, adjacent to the former right-of-way. The "lost' engines of Roanoke consist of two or three M2's (heavy 4-8-0's which didn't run on the Abingdon Branch), and one W2 2-8-0, which may have run there way back when. The M's were the locos of choice for years.