A number of years ago, I sent a note to the Central Kentucky Chapter of NRHS just asking about the status of #11, and got a VERY nasty reply back!

Les

Is 11 at a better place? Maybe, at least better than before. It's not the best possible outcome, but better than the 20 year status quo. Does the chapter retain ownership?

The DL&W coaches where the motor cars from the DL&W motor-trailer sets. They were in pretty rough shape when moved, they had been vandalized. The brass handles from the walk over-over seats were missing.

Anybody know what the status is with the Baldwin switcher?

RJ Corman has his corporate HQ in Nicholasville. It's quite the impressive facility. Also, Mr. Corman's company has been very supportive of several restoration projects. They've provided a lot of help to the group in Bowling Green, KY that has assembled an L&N passenger train on display at the depot, complete with an ex C&NW E unit shell painted in L&N blue and cream.

David -

Speaking of L&N E-units, did KRM ever get their L&N E6 repainted back into the blue and cream paint scheme?

Les

It is too bad the 11 left the Hartwell Railway in Georgia. I remember riding the line in 1988. The Hartwell was a nice operation, if I recall it was a fairly short ride, maybe 10-12 miles roundtrip. When I last rode on the Hartwell, the 11 was painted black, but around 1983 it had been painted green reminiscent of the Southern Railway's passenger paint scheme.

TTI #9 is still in Paris. She was actually on the same disused siding #11 was on along with an Army SW-8 and TTI's former business car. They're still on Hinkle property as far as I know.

Hartwell was very cool. Not many places were operating steam on 4% grades.

I was the primary engineer running #11 on TTI in the late 80's and early 90's and was the last one to run her under steam in October 1993. It's certainly sad to see her relegated to life as a static park display, however, as posted earlier, at least she's not getting cut up. I'm extremely disappointed that the efforts by others to acquire her and put her back into operation were not successful. She didn't have that much wrong with her when she was parked and could have been put back into service which would make a lot more folks happy with her alive and under steam rather than as a cold park display.

In December 2004, I was fortunate to be able to be the engineer to take LASTA's SP 745 back out on the mainline for the first time in 48 years down in the New Orleans area and to run her on the 1000 mile 25 city trip pulling the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Train. She had been a static display in Audubon Park for over 3 decades and was resurrected. Hopefully the same future awaits #11 someday.

W. H. Johnson, Lexington, KY

Here are photos of the three pieces of equipment left at the Hinkel (sp?) Construction yard in Paris taken on October 26th. I take it that these three are also threatened?

David Farlow

The Baldwin switcher above is apparently ex-La Salle & Bureau County Railway #9, originally built for the U.S. Navy as their # 36. Unit is a VO-1000, s/n 71525, built 11/45.

Les

Sad to report but all of the other KCRY equipment that was stored in Paris including the Baldwin and EMD SW8 have been scrapped.

Why was nothing made of the need to move this equipment until it was already gone?
I'm local to this location, and I only knew about this happening a few days later. Aside from the caboose on the M&NF, does the Central Kentucky NHRS have anything left?

(Yeah. I'm a little bitter. The TTI crew car was special to me.)

My understanding is that the local NRHS group that owned the equipment was not willing to work with anyone that would/could save it. I'm not knowledgeable about the effort in moving the steam loco, but know that prior to its movement to Nicholasville, unsuccessful efforts were made by other parties to move it for active service, but were refused.

They don't have that caboose anymore. It too was donated to Jessamine County (which Nicholasville is in), and moved to High Bridge Park last fall.

It's been cleaned up and primer-ed. I understand that it will be painted to some semblance of Southern Railway this Spring.

James

[quote="Tavor"][quote="whjco"]Sad to report but all of the other KCRY equipment that was stored in Paris including the Baldwin and EMD SW8 have been scrapped.[/quote]

Why was nothing made of the need to move this equipment until it was already gone?
I'm local to this location, and I only knew about this happening a few days later. Aside from the caboose on the M&NF, does the Central Kentucky NHRS have anything left?

(Yeah. I'm a little bitter. The TTI crew car was special to me.)[/quote]


You're preaching to the choir . . .

Mark, Group,

They did offer it three different places that I'm aware of. IMHO, they had some tough terms -- you, as a receiving organization, could not sacrafice one piece to save the others -- all or none. At the end of the day the answer was apparently none. The Baldwin was locked up and had been since about 8 hours after it was overhauled, the baggage car had more water in it than on it when raining, and the SW-8 had at least one journal that would require machining and enough coon crap in it to sink a battleship (and at least one pissed off coon the day I was there). There were folks that could have saved at least some of the stuff, just no one that would.

ETA