C&NW Ten-Wheeler #444 is mentioned in the thread "The other C&NW 4-6-0". In a rather curious twist of fate, another 4-6-0 with this same number was also preserved, Marianna & Blountstown #444. To those who say it is better to paint equipment preserved outside rather than to just let it rust, this might be a counterpoint:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clrwater/2 ... 425158@N25

Locomotive, tender and caboose, all got the same color paint. Even the inside of the cab of the 444! Too much? Well, they ARE protected somewhat, from the weather. Fortunately, the interior of the caboose was spared. Would be interesting to know the cabooses heritage.

Les

The Marianna & Blountstown display is "just up the road". The caboose is a former Western Maryland caboose that was purchased and used by the Apalachicola Northern. The AN has three, X10, X11, and X12. One was hauled into the woods to be used as a fishing cabin, another wnet to Blountstown, and the third moved by rail to the railroad museum in Pensacola. Its brake system was completely rebuilt by the time it got to the interchange at Chattahoochee as they had sat idle for at least a decade.

The engine and the caboose at Blountstown are being repainted by the sheriff's office using inmate labor. I was told the engine will be black and the caboose red this time. Incidentally, the M&B's Blountstown depot and enginehouse are both still standing and appear to be reasonably well maintained and employed for commercial use.

Alan Maples

My folks live in Tallahassee, I'll have to go look again at the engine the next time I'm down there. I recall as a kid seeing the tracks through Blountstown in the early 70s. They had stopped running by then, but the Davenport (if I recall correctly) switcher was still, as was a wood green-painted caboose, sitting by the old enginehouse and depot. This was just a few yards from where 444 was sitting years before that.
I'm just glad she's back in town again.
I always wondered whatever happened to the diesels they used to have...

Oh, I could tell y'all some stories about the Marianna & Blountstown, the same folks that owned the LaSalle & Bureau County, and the FBI borrowing the AN's hi-rail vehicles. It basically just sort of quietly dissappeared...In spite of the drama.

Write an article. History is disappearing.

dave