Some more comments - The Shay did arrive on a flatcar and somewhere along the line had been converted to an oilburner. When it arrived, in my skinnier days, I got nominated to squeeze into the firebox and start picking out the refractory brick with an eye toward reinstalling grates. It was very cold on a winter day, and DARK in there!

The IC 201 would be a good candidate for indoor storage, as would so many other pieces of equipment in the IRM collection. While we have perhaps half of the goodies inside, (SEVEN MAJOR BUILDINGS plus a STEAM SHOP) it is really a question of time and money to erect more buildings. The 201 has been outdoors for many years, perhaps decades since it left storage in Markham shops, and at Union it has proven to be a popular display and turned into a Kodak moment for many families and visitors.

The knock against inside storage is poor lighting, and no clear sightlines for good photos from a variety of angles. This dinky little teakettle make quite a contrast to the UP 18 (turbine) sitting two tracks away!

Bob Kutella

68trolley@comcast.net

A report on a railroad.net forum states that this 1950's former New Haven depot, now MBTA, was torn down in the last few days. A new larger station replaces it. This bulding was built as a temporary structure but lasted 50 years, was it worthy of preservation?

Photo from Gary LaPointe's Massachusetts Railroad Station site.

http://www.lightlink.com/sglap3/massachusetts/

SJHussar@aol.com

Wow, nice site for Mass. RR stations! A great resource. Thanks for the link.

ryarger@rypn.org

Should have said the oldest 2-footer, as I've just realized the Mt. Washington Cog Rwy is probably the oldest tourist hauler.

jeff_acock@hotmail.com

At old Monon roundhouse. Must be an earlier photo, as the tender is still the original GTW one. I doubt if any of it remains today. Certainly we know the sad story of the 5629.

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?june03/06-01-03/x13-43.jpg
ryarger@rypn.org

> At old Monon roundhouse. Must be an earlier
> photo, as the tender is still the original
> GTW one. I doubt if any of it remains today.
> Certainly we know the sad story of the 5629.

Bob:

I put a notice on the Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society discussion website of the fact that you had put the photo of 5629 at South Hammond on RyPN. Some discussion has ensued. Apparently, others took photos of the 4-6-2 when it was on the Monon. A couple of things have been determined. Apparently the Pacific was there in 1963. And, the tender was apparently lettered Baltimore & Ohio.

This brought up the question that follows. I know that Dick Jensen first operated the 5629 on a fantrip over the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad, which may explain the B&O lettering on the tender. I was on that particular excursion but I do not remember for sure how the tender was lettered. What I DO remember, is that the 5629 pulled a MONSTER train, at least for a Pacific. I wonder if anyone reading RyPN recalls this first excursion and exactly how many cars the 5629 pulled that day?

Thanks!

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

midlandblb@cs.com

> Bob:

> I put a notice on the Monon Railroad
> Historical-Technical Society discussion
> website of the fact that you had put the
> photo of 5629 at South Hammond on RyPN. Some
> discussion has ensued. Apparently, others
> took photos of the 4-6-2 when it was on the
> Monon. A couple of things have been
> determined. Apparently the Pacific was there
> in 1963. And, the tender was apparently
> lettered Baltimore & Ohio.

> This brought up the question that follows. I
> know that Dick Jensen first operated the
> 5629 on a fantrip over the Baltimore &
> Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad, which may
> explain the B&O lettering on the tender.
> I was on that particular excursion but I do
> not remember for sure how the tender was
> lettered. What I DO remember, is that the
> 5629 pulled a MONSTER train, at least for a
> Pacific. I wonder if anyone reading RyPN
> recalls this first excursion and exactly how
> many cars the 5629 pulled that day?

> Thanks!

> Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad
> Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

Les,
I didn't make any of the B&OCT trips but I did ride the GTW trips in 1966 and 1967. The 1967 trip operated with 22 or 23 cars, as I remember. GTW 5629 sure was a gutsy locomotive. We made it up Valpo Hill somehow that day with that huge train. I'm sure that Dick Young can probably fill in the details that you and I have forgotten over the years.
Don C.

http://www.261.com
milw261@sbcglobal.net

> Les,
> I didn't make any of the B&OCT trips but
> I did ride the GTW trips in 1966 and 1967.
> The 1967 trip operated with 22 or 23 cars,
> as I remember. GTW 5629 sure was a gutsy
> locomotive. We made it up Valpo Hill somehow
> that day with that huge train. I'm sure that
> Dick Young can probably fill in the details
> that you and I have forgotten over the
> years.
> Don C.

Don:

Thanks. Those were the days when the Grand Trunk Western was still allowing privately owned steam locomotives to power fantrips over their line. I remember a couple of other trips in those days; one with ex-GTW 2-8-2 #4070 (which Jensen repaird) and one with one of the ex-Reading 4-8-4 fantrip engines (maybe the 2102?) I believe it was the 4070 trip that ran later and later and later, finally arriving back in Chicago early on Monday morning! I believe that was the trip that ended the privately owned locomotive fantrips over the GTW.

Les

midlandblb@cs.com

The B&OCT trip in 1961 had 16 cars plus a Gondola. The B&O trip to Walkerton in June 1962 had 16 cars. All GTW trips except the Durand Express trip in 1968 had 16 or more cars. The Durand express had 4. The 4070 trips were in Oct/Nov 1968 and April 1969. That last all day all night trip was OK eastbound. Onthe arrival at South Bend it took forever to get spoted to load coal and water and the Fireman failed to clean the fire which had a huge clinker. He then proceede to load the firebox to the bottom of the door with coal making a bad situation worse. Going west we only had steam enough to run at 25 miles an hour. On the return we dumped the fire at Valpo, took on coal and water, a still had an hour on the old 16 hour law when we got a hig ball and left only to discover that the crew had left the train without notifing the Agent the dispatcher or the engineer. We left Valpo with only the Cab crew and had to back up Valpo hill with 18 cars. All of this in the days before the Railroad used radios. fortuately the MSRA train crew had radios.

rich_young@afbisinc.com

> The B&OCT trip in 1961 had 16 cars plus
> a Gondola. The B&O trip to Walkerton in
> June 1962 had 16 cars. All GTW trips except
> the Durand Express trip in 1968 had 16 or
> more cars. The Durand express had 4. The
> 4070 trips were in Oct/Nov 1968 and April
> 1969. That last all day all night trip was
> OK eastbound. Onthe arrival at South Bend it
> took forever to get spoted to load coal and
> water and the Fireman failed to clean the
> fire which had a huge clinker. He then
> proceede to load the firebox to the bottom
> of the door with coal making a bad situation
> worse. Going west we only had steam enough
> to run at 25 miles an hour. On the return we
> dumped the fire at Valpo, took on coal and
> water, a still had an hour on the old 16
> hour law when we got a hig ball and left
> only to discover that the crew had left the
> train without notifing the Agent the
> dispatcher or the engineer. We left Valpo
> with only the Cab crew and had to back up
> Valpo hill with 18 cars. All of this in the
> days before the Railroad used radios.
> fortuately the MSRA train crew had radios.

Richard:

Thank you for the info.

Les


midlandblb@cs.com

As a follow-up to my posts of last week, could the traction guys comment on surviving trolley research collections in the U.S.? I'm less familiar with this area than the railroads--we all know about the Brill negs at HSP, but where do other trolley research collections/builder's records reside? Does anybody care to share?