About 10 years ago, there was a proposal in Lima, Ohio, to create the " Locomotive Works National Railroad Heritage Center".
There were to be buildins in downtown Lima as an interpretive facility, trolly rides to the Lima erecting site. Several buildings were to be restored and renovated to house exhibits, a theatre, and excursions with a Shay locomotive on the original test tracks.
Does anyone know if this ever happened, or is it to be done in the future ?
Also, are there any exhibits in Lima, Baldwin, or ALCO that the public can visit ??

thanks

Sorry, I duplicated this message :o)

> About 10 years ago, there was a proposal in
> Lima, Ohio, to create the " Locomotive
> Works National Railroad Heritage
> Center".
> There were to be buildins in downtown Lima
> as an interpretive facility, trolly rides to
> the Lima erecting site. Several buildings
> were to be restored and renovated to house
> exhibits, a theatre, and excursions with a
> Shay locomotive on the original test tracks.
> Does anyone know if this ever happened, or
> is it to be done in the future ?
> Also, are there any exhibits in Lima,
> Baldwin, or ALCO that the public can visit
> ??

> thanks

Unfortunately, the tax payers of Lima didn't think a loco works museum was a good idea, and the city wanted the land redevloped, so almsot the entire facility was demolished in December of 1999. As far as I know the site (which is (was?) owned by the Kovalchick family of EBT fame) has yet to be redeveloped. The last I saw, there was one buidling of the complex remaining, but doubtful it would be saved in any future site usage, even if there was any point in doing so. There are a couple of pictures of the demolition in our banner Welcome to RyPN article.

All that remians of the Baldwin site in Philadelphia (Eddystone) is the X-shaped office building. It is apparently used as office space.

Of the big three, what's left of ALCo in Schnectady is the most that remains. I've tried unsuccessfully to find out what is left on more than one occasion. I know there are only parts of the facility remaining.

I don't know a whole lot about the MLW (ALCo's Canadian) in Montreal, but the site was used to build lcomotives into the 1990s, and when I saw it about five years ago it seemed to be all there. In fact, it looked fairly well maintained, and parts of it were being used for soemthing. May not have rail access anymore, but that's a supposition based on the decepit condition of the tracks going in. The MLW facility itself actually looked suprisingly (disappointingly) new, and was in a fairly pleasant looking residential area.

On other Loco factory notes, I guess the GE plant in Erie is still cranking away, but EMD's plant in LaGrange was recently torn down. EMD still builds in Ontario, Canada, right? I phone interviewed for an engineering job at GE in Erie, tried to get a plant visit out of it, but I guess they sensed I wasn't serious about moving to Erie:)

Direct link to the Interchange
hkading@rypn.org

I know part of the FM plant in Beloit, WI is still there. Another company has moved in. Side note they have a fake FM diesel on top of the RR through truss bridge that crossed the river to get to the plant. I think it is painted in MILW colors.
Christopher

ablemanscurve@hotmail.com

Was demolished by Cobb County after a not very organized or productive attempt to save much of its tool room and patterns. Much of the machinery was lost or scrapped, the worst loss was the large planing mill visible in some of the old pictures. I triaged and prioritized the remains on a cold January day during an ice storm a few yars back with Hillman, but no idea what of our priority material was saved.

On the brighter side, Kennesaw is now finally getting serious about building a museum based on what was saved. We can only hope for the best.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Baldwin's X-shaped office building at Eddystone has been refurbished as rental office space, and some of the plant buildings see various industrial uses. Hake heavy hauling uses one such building and the outdoor overhead crane next to it, visible from Amtrak's NEC. As far as I know, there's no museum in Eddystone.

The Franklin Institute Science Museum has BLW #60000, a 1926 experimental 3-cylinder compound 4-10-2 with a watertube firebox. They've set up a program around it at: http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/exhibits/trainfactory/index.html

FYI the Franklin Institute is a few blocks from Baldwin's original location.

The Electric City Trolley Museum Association

About 2/3 of the Alco plant is still extant, used for other industrial purposes today. Other than an ex-Great Northern RS3 on display in Schenectady, I don't think there is much devoted to its history in the area. A couple of my fellow workers used to be employed there before they closed. Schenectady is a typical tired eastern industrial city that has lost thousands of jobs (GE was a huge employer also), has plenty of drug crime, police corruption and other woes. Houses are real cheap though...

Unfortunately, the tax payers of Lima didn't
> think a loco works museum was a good idea,
> and the city wanted the land redevloped, so
> almsot the entire facility was demolished in
> December of 1999. As far as I know the site
> (which is (was?) owned by the Kovalchick
> family of EBT fame) has yet to be
> redeveloped. The last I saw, there was one
> buidling of the complex remaining, but
> doubtful it would be saved in any future
> site usage, even if there was any point in
> doing so. There are a couple of pictures of
> the demolition in our banner Welcome to RyPN
> article.

> All that remians of the Baldwin site in
> Philadelphia (Eddystone) is the X-shaped
> office building. It is apparently used as
> office space.

> Of the big three, what's left of ALCo in
> Schnectady is the most that remains. I've
> tried unsuccessfully to find out what is
> left on more than one occasion. I know there
> are only parts of the facility remaining.

> I don't know a whole lot about the MLW
> (ALCo's Canadian) in Montreal, but the site
> was used to build lcomotives into the 1990s,
> and when I saw it about five years ago it
> seemed to be all there. In fact, it looked
> fairly well maintained, and parts of it were
> being used for soemthing. May not have rail
> access anymore, but that's a supposition
> based on the decepit condition of the tracks
> going in. The MLW facility itself actually
> looked suprisingly (disappointingly) new,
> and was in a fairly pleasant looking
> residential area.

> On other Loco factory notes, I guess the GE
> plant in Erie is still cranking away, but
> EMD's plant in LaGrange was recently torn
> down. EMD still builds in Ontario, Canada,
> right? I phone interviewed for an
> engineering job at GE in Erie, tried to get
> a plant visit out of it, but I guess they
> sensed I wasn't serious about moving to
> Erie:)


bobyar2001@yahoo.com