Today was the first step to relocate the locomotive that has been on display at the Alabama State Fairgrounds Fair Park since 1952. Final destination is Sloss Furnaces NHL in Birmingham.

The first step was to lift the locomotive and hold it for 30 minutes to verify crane weights, integrity of lifting points, and crane handling. The tender has been loaded onto a trailer and will leave the park tomorrow. In the morning the locomotive will be re-lifted and loaded onto a Goldhofer Transporter and moved across the Fairgrounds to CSX where it will be loaded onto a depressed center flat car. Once at Sloss the locomotive and tender will require mulitple lifts to reach the final resting place.

This project has been made possible by efforts of the City of Birmingham, Jefferson County EMA, Historic Machinery Services, Crane Works, and Barnhart Crane and Rigging. This move is being used as training and demostration exercise for heavy lifting and moving for the local EMA's in Alabama.

Robert Yuill

http://www.historicmachineryservices.com

Sounds like a creative, ingeneous, and positive manner of bringing several "needs" together, and benfiting the rail preservation community as a whole. Well done.

Wow, what happened to the cab roof and the handrail?

The locomotive and tender were both damaged when the canopy was removed. The concrete and steel roof appearently disinegrated as it was being removed.

The attached pix is the locomotive on the Goldhofer Transported, moving into position for lifting onto the flat car.

Robert Yuill
Historic Machinery Services Corp.

Robert, where will the locomotive be displayed at Sloss? I was a bit to suprised to read that it is going there, as I would think that a Mikado would not have been used at a blast furnace plant.

4018 was last used running local between Birmingham and Bessemer. I believe she was overhauled just a few months before being given to the city in 1952. While it doesn't really "fit" Sloss at least its not getting torched. Bob Yuill and the folks at Craneworks are doing a good job so far. Let's hope it makes it there in one piece.
There are many around Bham that would volunteer time to spruce her up if allowed to.

While a Mike may not have used at Sloss, it was the last mainline loco to run into Bham. If it was not for railroads the iron industry in Bham would never have flourished as it did. This is perhaps the only industrial city in the US that is not accessed by water, only rail. So, the 4018 can be considered an icon the what provided Bhams growth in the late 1890's, the railroads.

If the locomotive was still on the Fair Park property after the 22nd, it would have been scrapped. Period. No if, ands, or buts, scrapped.

Robert Yuill

will the locomotive have any kind of shelter?

A couple of questions...Since Mayor Larry La-La and crew would have scrapped it to make room for their grand fair park boondoggle, will the city retain ownership of 4018 or will it be conveyed to the Sloss Foundation? I would feel much better if it was.

What is the plan for it after it is a Sloss?

The are plans for a roof over the locomotive, and Historic Machinery Services will provide a proposal for cosmetic restoration.

Robert Yuill

Go to this location on Flickr for some great pictures of the arrival at Sloss!
http://flickr.com/photos/timandrenda/with/3299278294/

Thanks to Bob Yuill for all his hard work. Jim Coker, State of Alabama Incident Management Team (The IMT was lucky enough to be involved with the planning of the event. The move was also used as an exercise by Public Safety...specifically, Heavy Rescue Teams...; Frisco 4018 portrayed, among other things, a bridge collapse. This was an opportunity for Public Safety to work around the footprint of the heavy machinery used in the lift and repositioning.)

So where does the locomotive sit now at Sloss? Is it back on plant trackage or on its own little section of track?

Wasn't this engine built for the Pennsylvania Railroad originally?

James Kissinger

Unbelievably, The Gospel According To St. J. David (a.k.a. The Steam Locomotive Directory of North America) indicates that this loco was, indeed, built in October 1919 as PRR 20030, and was sold to the Frisco as their 4018 in 1923. The five-digit number indicates to me that it was probably a wartime USRA allocation, probably forced down the PRR's throat, so to speak...........

Time for me to start dredging through my Pennsy Power books............

Well, that may explain the LT stoker the 4018 has. The PRR also used this unusual stoker arragnment; part HT, and part Duplex stoker component parts.

Robert Yuill
Historic Machinery Services