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| Re: Cuba Scrappings......... https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9149 |
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| Author: | T.J. Gaffney [ Tue Jan 06, 2004 4:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Clint Jones? |
Boyd or somebody- Who is this Clint Jones? I hear much about him, but its like he some sort of rail preservation version of Howard Hughes? What else does he own, and how did he come by the equipment he has? All I know is everyone seems to treat him with kid-gloves. I'm sure there is some obvious event that this treatment triggered? TJ Port Huron Museum tjgaffney@phmuseum.org |
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| Author: | Aarne H. Frobom [ Tue Jan 06, 2004 5:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Training the next generation of . . . what? |
I think we need to look beyond where the next generation of steam-engine machinists and coach carpenters is going to come from. Industrial (not just railroad) museums can be a farm team for several classes of American worker: railroaders, logistics managers, and craftspeople, as well as historians and restorers. One of the goals of the Steam railroading Institute is to expose young people, in whatever depth we can manage through either an afternoon's field trip or several years of volunteering, to the range of knowledge represented by the railroad. Briefly, that's civil and mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, economics, logistics, geography, and a whole list of skills and trades within each of these. Perhaps because of its early association with a university, the PM 1225 project has produced 2 or 3 Captains of Industry in railroading and quite a few Lance Corporals of Industry. (I won't mention who these guys are now, because one of them has described to me what happens to your railroad career if you become "an outed railfan.") I think the 1225 project was of value in reinforcing these persons' interest in the railroad industry, and that both the individuals and the industry profited from it. It's not just for future managers. As described above, railroad museums supply exposure to the skilled trades that's lacking in the educational system. I think our institutions will do all right at finding someone to roll tubes, if we can perform the useful function of teaching people respect for productivity and getting young people interested in technology. What I want to see is not just a young person varnishing a wood car, but using a CAD program to lay out a new firebox. That is, acquiring acquiring the skill and confidence necessary to take on the world. If you can keep one of these monstrosities running, you can do anything. For more preaching on this subject, see the article in the old Locomotive and Railway Preservation Magazine on the Bergen County Technical School. Seeing New Jersey high schoolers counting staybolts in a 2-8-0 and calculating allowable working pressure gave me an epiphany about the role of old hardware in reaching the young. (Although their eyes really did light up when they learned how much a stationary engineer can make.) Aarne Frobom The Steam Railroading Institute P. O. Box 665 Owosso, MI 48867-0665 |
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| Author: | James Hefner [ Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cuba Scrappings......... |
> That being said, is there anything that any > of our Canadian or Mexican friends can do > through their governments to help get a > couple of the more significant pieces > donated for preservation so that we could at > lest get them back on the mainland? I'm > thinking of a government to government > cultural exchange like that between the > Smithsonian and the Mexican government that > resulted in the repatriation of the PA's. Please realize that as of a couple of years ago, there were 500 steam locomotives on the island of Cuba. Cuba is already working to save the more significant pieces; the oldest working locomotive on the island, 0-4-2T #1112 (Baldwin/4502/1878) is hauling tourist trains. Next in age, 1882-built 0-4-2T #1107 and 0-6-0 #1180 are both stuffed and mounted on display. Several have been moved to closed sugar mills that are being set aside as museums. Others that have not been reported in years are showing on plinthes around the island. At the same time, I have 36 steam locomotives listed as derelict, 12 as dismantled, and 60 as dumped. Some of these most likely have been scrapped already, since they have not been reported in recent years. If some of the other engines in poorer condition are being scrapped, I think that is to be expected. Now, if some of the locomotives already stuffed and mounted or set aside for preservation were instead scrapped; *that* would be bad news. But, one of the biggest economic forces on the island is tourism, and Cuba seems to recognize both the cultural and tourist potential of much of it's steam fleet. I think a reasonable, perhaps maybe even surprising number will be preserved in the end. What I do hate to see go are the stationary engines and similiar equipment in the mills themselves; much less of it appears to have been preserved. But until I see a list of what locomotives have been scrapped so far, I think it is a bit early to sound the alarm bells. I do wish all of them can be saved; but as we discussed here recently, there are limits; and we will have to out-bid the scrappers and pay all of the middlemen to have them shipped to the United States. In addition, much of the fleet was poorly maintained; and in not much better condition than some of our park engines here in the U.S. -James Hefner Hebrews 10:20a Surviving World Steam Project james@survivingworldsteam.com |
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