Man, this would be nice to add to the Spencer Shop's artifacts, eh? If only I had 2500.00 laying around. Oh well.......
Seth


Southern Rwy. steam engine # 1366 headlight
sethajackson@hotmail.com

> Man, this would be nice to add to the
> Spencer Shop's artifacts, eh? If only I had
> 2500.00 laying around. Oh well.......
> Seth
Seth,

You betcha... now if somebody will just come clean and put the REST of the engine on ebay!

Actually, we have a couple of Ps4 headlights. My favorite artifact story from the museum this this: About 10 years ago one of our guys was walking through the yard. He was shuffling along and his boot snagged on something sticking up in the ground. Figuring it was a spike or something else rusty and sharp that would find its way into his boot next time, he dug it out: A front number plate from a 4800 (one of SR's Ms4 BIG Mikados used on the mainline between Spencer and Monroe, and the old engine I've ever heard our retired guys wish for today); it was all dirty and grimy and had been half buried for about 40 years.

The plate is on display now in the Green Room exhibit hall in the museum. Just goes to show you never know what lies beneath. Jim


http://nctrans.org
Wrinnbo@aol.com

What a difference 50 years makes! The scrap value of the whole engine would have been around $5000.00. And now a headlight goes for $2600.00 Would that I had been around with $5000 in loose change 50 years ago.

kevingillespie@usa.net

Like the ex-NYC tug that was pulled from e-bay, it appears that some of our remaining steam-era objects are worth more parted out than they are sold whole. This will be another factor to consider in trying to keep intact our cultural heritage.

If the engine were intact today, would the owner get more by scrapping the majority of the engine and selling individualy the headlight, plates, guages, whistle, stop valves; etc. on ebay rather than selling the whole engine? Could the intact engine only be donated with a museum paying the transport it, while all the various pieces can be sold to collectors, and the remainder to a scrap dealer?

Perhaps this is really nothing new; it's that the internet and services such as ebay bring this fact to the forefront.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

> What a difference 50 years makes! The scrap
> value of the whole engine would have been
> around $5000.00. And now a headlight goes
> for $2600.00 Would that I had been around
> with $5000 in loose change 50 years ago.


Surviving World Steam Locomotives
james1@pernet.net

Either that or if the locomotive was still in existance would we even know where the headlight and other various (lucrative) accessories are? If only it were possible to determine how many of those items on Ebay (or anywhere else) have come from the prying hands of foamers...

At the time I bought a semaphore from the Central Oregon & Pacific, there were complaints that items were disappearing between the time the signals were taken out of service and when they were picked up.

Just for humor, I heard a couple in a minivan bought a similar signal just before I. Their plan was to load the entire semaphore (all 1200 lbs. of it) into their van. Problem was, it couldn't fit with the back seats still in. They fixed the problem by removing and selling their seats.

God Bless,
Gerald Kopiasz

> Like the ex-NYC tug that was pulled from
> e-bay, it appears that some of our remaining
> steam-era objects are worth more parted out
> than they are sold whole. This will be
> another factor to consider in trying to keep
> intact our cultural heritage.

> If the engine were intact today, would the
> owner get more by scrapping the majority of
> the engine and selling individualy the
> headlight, plates, guages, whistle, stop
> valves; etc. on ebay rather than selling the
> whole engine? Could the intact engine only
> be donated with a museum paying the
> transport it, while all the various pieces
> can be sold to collectors, and the remainder
> to a scrap dealer?

> Perhaps this is really nothing new; it's
> that the internet and services such as ebay
> bring this fact to the forefront.

> -James Hefner
> Hebrews 10:20a


hrrhs@aol.com

Jim:

This reminds me of that thread here a few months back about searching filled-in turntable pits for steam parts.

I haven't found any builders plates, but I do have a washout plug cover, a cracked staybolt cap, and a lubricator fitting found in the N&W yards at Portsmouth, Ohio when I worked there in the 80's.

There's no telling how much stuff like this is lying around under a few inches of dirt at Spencer, Roanoke, Rocky Mount, etc. Maybe more of us should invest in metal detectors!

Hugh

> Seth,

> You betcha... now if somebody will just come
> clean and put the REST of the engine on
> ebay!

> Actually, we have a couple of Ps4
> headlights. My favorite artifact story from
> the museum this this: About 10 years ago one
> of our guys was walking through the yard. He
> was shuffling along and his boot snagged on
> something sticking up in the ground.
> Figuring it was a spike or something else
> rusty and sharp that would find its way into
> his boot next time, he dug it out: A front
> number plate from a 4800 (one of SR's Ms4
> BIG Mikados used on the mainline between
> Spencer and Monroe, and the old engine I've
> ever heard our retired guys wish for today);
> it was all dirty and grimy and had been half
> buried for about 40 years.

> The plate is on display now in the Green
> Room exhibit hall in the museum. Just goes
> to show you never know what lies beneath.
> Jim


the Ultimate Steam Page
whodom@awod.com

Here is another non-railroad example for you. There are only about 1000 Carousels or Merry-Go-Rounds left in the country.

In modern times, many of the antique ones were sold animal by animal to collectors. The carvings are selling for thousands of dollars, the main frame of the carousel is often sent to the dump.

To give this a rail element; many of the parks that operated Carousels were on Trolley lines which encouraged the public to ride the cars to the Parks during leasure hours. TM

ted_miles@NPS.gov

> Seth,

> You betcha... now if somebody will just come
> clean and put the REST of the engine on
> ebay!

> Actually, we have a couple of Ps4
> headlights. My favorite artifact story from
> the museum this this: About 10 years ago one
> of our guys was walking through the yard. He
> was shuffling along and his boot snagged on
> something sticking up in the ground.
> Figuring it was a spike or something else
> rusty and sharp that would find its way into
> his boot next time, he dug it out: A front
> number plate from a 4800 (one of SR's Ms4
> BIG Mikados used on the mainline between
> Spencer and Monroe, and the old engine I've
> ever heard our retired guys wish for today);
> it was all dirty and grimy and had been half
> buried for about 40 years.

> The plate is on display now in the Green
> Room exhibit hall in the museum. Just goes
> to show you never know what lies beneath.
> Jim

Jim: Why did he quit digging? Maybe the WHOLE 4800 class 2-8-2 was just a few feet futher down! Whenever we run into a piece of metal at our museum, we figure we have finally struck the mother lode; the long rumored buried steam engine!
Unfortunately, it hasn't turned up yet.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum)



midlandblb@cs.com

Hey Les,

If we searched hard enough, we might actually find some locomotive parts that have been preserved in that stuff that we call Carolina Red Mud!!

Hayes Smith Jr.

TAMR-Steam Dept.

North Carolina Transportation Museum
cookiemonster@rrmail.com

Maybe its time to start looking in Michigan, too. I'd love to start digging around the GTW turntable pit in Port Huron. Unfortunately, the P.M. inspection pits here never yielded anything for me beyond a rusted lantern frame (and that was C&O). I did find a garbage bag full of Box car seals along the old rip-track, though.

TJG

T.J.

> Hey Les,

> If we searched hard enough, we might
> actually find some locomotive parts that
> have been preserved in that stuff that we
> call Carolina Red Mud!!

> Hayes Smith Jr.

> TAMR-Steam Dept.


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Items found along ROW:
1 wheel from a Lorain&Elyria Car
1 metal destination sign from Cleveland & Eastern car
we keep looking but 60-75 years is a long time !


lamontdc@adelphia.net