OOOPS! Forgot to post the link.
Sorry!
Bruce
http://web.archive.org/web/200408050528 ... cipate.htm

Hi Yall,

And that's me second from the left. I don't remember what I was doing on that day......

Stuart

Hi All,

Just a little update. NC&STL 87 is sitting in Hopkinsville, KY at General Steel's yard. It is awaiting moving out to it's new home. Also sitting in the yard is an x IC side door caboose that was formerly located in Princeton, KY. I don't know where it is going.

Stuart

As reported elsewhere, #4 is now beginning a new life on the WK&S in Kempton, PA.

Rob

Rob -

Interesting news. Maybe we will eventually get some pix of the Prairie on the WK&S. And Stuart, any further news on NC&StL # 87 and the ex-ICRR side door caboose formerly in Princeton, Kentucky?

Les

Where else has this been reported?

It is true, though, as the locomotive has arrived, in pieces, at Kempton. The boiler is separated from the chassis, and the tender is there too. It was moved by the organization, with little outside help.

Time and money are what the group needs now, just like every other steam locomotive.

Also, both Mack gas-electric locomotives have left the property, reportedly to be preserved and/or adapted to some use as a locomotive. Hopefully, the new owners can "fix" the design problems that plagued those 2 locomotives from the beginning.

Rob

Hi Rob,

I saw it over on railfan.net:

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?board=WKS;action=display;num=1211597465

Rob

Now this worries me slightly.

WK&S was unusual in having probably the only surviving examples of a "local" manufacturer's locos preserved rather close to where these things were built (Allentown, I believe--my books are 2000 miles away). As much as these things may have been "junk," any Mack-built loco is, at least in theory, a prime candidate for acquisition by the RR Museum of Pa., or maybe the Phillipsburg, NJ museum (if only by virtue of being close to the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton cluster of cities).

Does anyone have more info on these locos, who owns/owned them, and their new home(s)?

If WK&S sold off the two Macks, then you know there gone to an out of state some where. like most of their other pices that were sold off years back.

Len.
Former Memeber of the Schuylkill & Lehigh Model RR Club, localed at WK&S.

The WK&S Mack locomotives were not originally built in the area. In fact, they were built by GE as electric locomotives for the Southwest Missouri Railway near Joplin for use at a lead mine, according to legend. Mack purchased them to "test" the market for conversion of electric 600V locomotives to gas-electric. Those Macks have model EP 6-cylinder gasoline engines coupled to GT-1503 generators. The generators were wired in series, supposedly to provide 600V (300V each generator) to the GE-80 traction motors. Problem was, it was VERY difficult to "synch" the 2 gasoline engines and, supposedly, one generator would take all the load. As such, both locomotives were never repeated in production and Mack left the locomotive field. Basically, they were experimental. From my understanding, the conversion did take place in Allentown, with lots of help from the South Plainfield plant. The WK&S tried, in vain, to keep the one operating but the engines were very expensive to maintain and one had spun a rod bearing many years ago. That's why the other locomotive was purchased in 1986.

So, while there is a "local" connection, it isn't very strong and the costs of keeping the locomotives were far in excess of the benefits. My understanding is that the new owner has plans to re-power the locomotive(s) and make something operational again.

Hope it helps,
Rob

It's a shame he don't have the running gear to go with the macks. I know that they were sold off a few years ago. because the one that ran was sitting on a pair of box car trucks.

Here's a video I took of the mack when it ran.

http://www.dailymotion.com/Conrail6370/video/x12j2u_wanamaker-kempton-southern_events
Len.

Rob Davis,

Thanks for the link. I couldn't find much about this.

Here's a link from someone who visited Kempton this past weekend.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=32674

The tender is on the tracks, with the boiler and cab on the Lehigh & New England flatcar. That car has some new decking on it. The chassis is on another track, with part of the bottom of the smokebox still attached to the cylinder saddle. The whole locomotive looks like a lot of work but then what steamer that hasn't run in years doesn't need work?

As for the Mack locomotives, one, #4, had been acquired from Rockhill Trolley Museum in 1986 as a parts source for WK&S #35. RTM kept the trucks for #4 to be used on another carbody they have. #35 lost it's trucks to the trolley in Shelburne Falls, MA, circa 1998. I understand that the new owner purchased both units and will combine parts from the 2 to make one complete locomotive. That should prove challenging.

Rob

The trucks from Mack 35 are under Shelburne Falls & Colrain 10, in operation at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=149013

Frank -

Do you happen to know the seating capacity of SF&C #10? And how long the ride is?

Thanks.

Les

According to Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars, #10 seats 16 passengers. It was built in 1896 and serves the SF&C until 1926. It then went to a local farm where it served as a building until the Trolley Museum turned it back into an interurban car. I rode it a few years ago; it doesn't go very far or very fast, but it does run, and it's a credit to the volunteers who restored it. One aspect of the car that took a bit of "getting used to": compared to a Pacific Electric "Big Red", it's rather diminutive, but one must remember, when it was built, interurban cars were just coming into use, and were "scaled up" later.
The trip to Shelburne Falls goes through some beautiful New England countryside--take your time and enjoy the ride.