I have been thinking that it is the usual practice to restore, even if it is just to paint, railroad artifacts in Class 1 railroad identities.

But what about short lines or industrial railroads? The glory years pulling high speed passenger varnish is only one part of American railroading.

Can an 0-6-0 or an 0-4-0 that sat on a local branch line have a place in railroad history and preservation?

What do you think folks?

ted_miles@nps.gov

> Can an 0-6-0 or an 0-4-0 that sat on a local
> branch line have a place in railroad history
> and preservation?

> What do you think folks?

Yes, of course. Actually, as was pointed out on some other thread, we do pretty darn well with preserving 0-4-0t, steel mill hot ladle cars, and some other short line and industrial odds and ends. Just look at St. Elizabeth's No. 4, the pride of the B&O museum's steam operating fleet, or ons tatic display, the nifty E.J. Lavino foundry switchers scattered here and there.

My bias is to let the physical state of the artifact dictate its identity. Let's talk about a hypothetical 0-6-0 owned by a Class 1 originally and then a series of short lines. One short line swapped out the original tender for a another one, and the last owner changed the style of the pilot.

I would opt for painting the locmotive in the livery of its last owner, not only becuase that history is valuable on its own merits, but becuase that identify is the only one which accurately corresponds to the current state of the engine.

eledbetter@rypn.org

Steamtown's got a couple of industrial beasties, one of which, an 0-4-0, sits next to UP 4012.

We (ECTM) have a GE industrial 0-4-0 electric from MacAndrews & Forbes in Camden NJ. We have photos of a similar motor working at a breaker near Scranton.

Electric City Trolley Museum Association