Wheel lathe (and other stuff) in New Orleans available...

Stephen S. Syfrett · **Posted:** Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:47 pm

Not to stir up any more discussion about the lathe recently scrapped in Baltimore...I was going through old email messages and apparently missed this announcement. This may be a bit smaller than the other, and I have no additional info personally, so please contact Richard directly to see if it is still available and if they will come off the $5000 they were asking back in April...

"For sale wheel lathe for train wheels face plate is 79". Enclosed are some links to the pictures of the lathe.
http://trainsales.com/forsale1to1/IMG_7205.JPG
http://trainsales.com/forsale1to1/IMG_7204.JPG

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you like."

This lathe is owned by the Louisiana Railway Heritage Trust. It has been stored on a flatcar, generally under cover on a covered loading dock track at the museum site. I have photos I took back in 2003 when I was inspecting SR 10-6 sleeper "FLINT RIVER", not because of the lathe but because of the Atlanta &West Point work flat it was sitting on!

For more info, the contact is the Executive Director, Richard Jacobs.
trainmax@yahoo.com

They have also had other equipment for sale. This was the last message I received, dated April 24 (and also missed), with a couple of notes I added today. I have no idea what has happened with all of this, now 4 months down the road:

"The Louisiana Railway Heritage Trust is liquidating some of its equipment. The following are items we need to get rid of:
1. Central Of Georgia baggage car; $1000.00 (Note: this is CofGA 455)
2. Discovery train baggage car; $3000 SOLD
3. Three stainless steel passenger coaches; $2000 each (Note: One of these is ACL "VIRGINIA BEACH", I believe)
4. One ICG steam crane; $2000.00 (Note: you'll also see an A&WP steam crane in the photos, apparently not for sale)
5. One large wheel lathe; $5000 (Note: this is the one listed above w/ photos)
6. Jim Crow combine; (pending deal)
7. Two ICG heavy weight passenger cars. $1000 each
We want to move these items quickly and are selling them at very reasonable prices.
Executive Director, Louisiana Heritage Trust
Richard Jacobs
A link to some pictures of the stuff for sale"
http://trainsales.com/forsale1to1/

The photos are large files (3-4MB) by the way...and the standard disclaimer applies...I have no connection with this group other than inspecting a couple of cars there back in 2003.

tyrok1 · **Joined:** Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:46 am **Posts:** 166

What's the history on this, and is it for sale as well?

http://trainsales.com/forsale1to1/IMG_7197.JPG

Doesn't look like any fireless cooker I've ever seen.

sbhunterca · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:58 am **Posts:** 728

Quote:

What's the history on this, and is it for sale as well?
http://trainsales.com/forsale1to1/IMG_7197.JPG Doesn't look
like any fireless cooker I've ever seen.

Looks like a compressed air locomotive, rather than a fireless cooker. Somebody here is sure to know its history.

Steve Hunter
Cardinal, Ontario

Newriver400 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 22, 2010 5:32 pm

That A&WP steam derrick looks like a real jewell! I hope it survives for the future.

Mike

survivingworldsteam · **Posted:** Sun Aug 22, 2010 5:52 pm

sbhunterca wrote:

Quote:

What's the history on this, and is it for sale as well?
http://trainsales.com/forsale1to1/IMG_7197.JPG Doesn't look
like any fireless cooker I've ever seen.

Looks like a compressed air locomotive, rather than a fireless cooker. Somebody here is sure to know its history.

Steve Hunter
Cardinal, Ontario

It is indeed a compressed air locomotive; H.K. Porter 5731/1915. It was once used by the New Orleans water board; later the OKRA railway.

It was on display in Mel Ott Park off Belle Chase Hwy, Gretna, LA; along with what I think was a chlorine car (lots of tanks on a flatcar), and four wheel caboose. Are the two cars listed as well?

Sad to hear they are getting rid of all of this equipment; I hope it all finds a good home.

1702 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 22, 2010 6:28 pm

survivingworldsteam wrote:

It is indeed a compressed air locomotive; H.K. Porter 5731/1915. It was once used by the New Orleans water board; later the OKRA railway.

It was on display in Mel Ott Park off Belle Chase Hwy, Gretna, LA; along with what I think was a chlorine car (lots of tanks on a flatcar), and four wheel caboose. Are the two cars listed as well?

Sad to hear they are getting rid of all of this equipment; I hope it all finds a good home.

James,

I think what you refer to as a caboose is actually a tiny boxcab electric. Here's the story of the Sewerage & Water Board's railroad from Hennick & Charlton's New Orleans streetcar book - http://tinyurl.com/2cnhb6v

A couple of photos of the boxcab in the park here http://www.abandonedrails.com/archive.asp?id=33

Jim Tatum.

Termite7 · **Joined:** Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:29 pm **Posts:** 397

I do not see this sale of equipment as being "sad". This museum has not a clue what they have or what to do with it. Currently they have a complete SR big window coach that they are taking apart to make a "visitors center" out of. They have a couple of heavyweight Pullman cars that look they have been stored underwater.
It is a very depressing place to visit. Hopefully some of this equipment will find a good home.
T7

survivingworldsteam · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 7:49 am

1702 wrote:

survivingworldsteam wrote:

It is indeed a compressed air locomotive; H.K. Porter 5731/1915. It was once used by the New Orleans water board; later the OKRA railway.

It was on display in Mel Ott Park off Belle Chase Hwy, Gretna, LA; along with what I think was a chlorine car (lots of tanks on a flatcar), and four wheel caboose. Are the two cars listed as well?

Sad to hear they are getting rid of all of this equipment; I hope it all finds a good home.

James,

I think what you refer to as a caboose is actually a tiny boxcab electric. Here's the story of the Sewerage & Water Board's railroad from Hennick & Charlton's New Orleans streetcar book - http://tinyurl.com/2cnhb6v

A couple of photos of the boxcab in the park here http://www.abandonedrails.com/archive.asp?id=33

Jim Tatum.

You are right, of course, thanks for the correction.

o anderson · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:29 am

The industrial switcher in Gretna LA would be an interesting addition to a trolley museum collection, however I know of none in the South except for the museum in Ft. Smith AR. Quite a few heritage trolley lines are out there.

From the Southern States Traction yahoo group:

Quote:

> If I am not mistaken, this box motor is supposed to be cared
> for by LASTA but it is being neglected. It is owned by
> Jack Stewart. It was on display across the street from
> the Rivertown museum. I have a few horror stories regarding
> that location. Seems like right after the museum opened
> in the late 1980s Kenner shut them down and told them to
> get out of the building and would turn over the operation
> to the guy who had a large O scale model rr collection.
> Kenner thought everything inside the building belonged to
> them and was shocked to find it empty. I built the
> streetcar vestibule with the big help of Dave Ross and
> Elmer Vondullen at Carrollton Barn. Took six months to
> construct and 3 days to dismantle. It is now in the
> Louisiana Children's Museum. It is fixing to move so
> this time it will come down for good.
> Anyway I am off topic........back to box motor.
> One Christmas season, Kenner city workers needed
> a space to junction a light display in the parking
> lot, so they just went inside the box motor with an
> axe and cut up the original controls. Jack was
> horrified and I personally hope he sued the city over
> this. Obviously the city and its workers didn't know
> what they were dealing with. It kinda reminds me of
> the Young Leadership Council wanting to take either
> 919 or 924 and gut it and make it a coffee shop at
> Canal and Basin.......gives me the chills!

The locomotive is looking decrepit, with virtually no roof in 2008:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GretnaJuly08OttParkLittleRailcarB.jpg

Frank Hicks · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:42 am

o anderson wrote:

The locomotive is looking decrepit, with virtually no roof in 2008:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GretnaJuly08OttParkLittleRailcarB.jpg

Has anyone seen this locomotive since 2008? It's visible on Google street view and on Bing aerial photos, but if you look at Google Maps aerial photos it appears that the boxcab (and that flatcar) are gone and the panel track has been removed. I can only assume that Google Maps has updated their aerial photos more recently than the other sites?

survivingworldsteam · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 12:01 pm

Frank Hicks wrote:

o anderson wrote:

The locomotive is looking decrepit, with virtually no roof in 2008:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GretnaJuly08OttParkLittleRailcarB.jpg

Has anyone seen this locomotive since 2008? It's visible on Google street view and on Bing aerial photos, but if you look at Google Maps aerial photos it appears that the boxcab (and that flatcar) are gone and the panel track has been removed. I can only assume that Google Maps has updated their aerial photos more recently than the other sites?

The compressed air locomotive in the photo above is shown somewhere other than Mel Ott Park, where it was on display; I could only think/hope the flat car and boxcab engine were removed as well. They may have moved them to the LASTA's main site in New Orleans.

Loco112 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:38 pm

The Putnam wheel lathe at the start of this post was sold the ageofsteamroundhouse.com

It looks like the HD flat car, it has lived on since Hurricane Katrina, went with it.

Wheel lathe (and other stuff) in New Orleans available...

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