A little while back, I was told of a story involving ex Seaboard Coast Line business car "Richmond", that has languished for a number of years in Ohio....My recollection is, that the SCL Richmond, I believe might have started life as a MKT car, been turned into a private car and later , that might of at some point gone to the USRA, before going to the Seaboard.... I believe on the Seaboard, it lost its rivet line, belt rail and was modernized with new windows, air conditioning etc etc... before being sold multiple times in private ownership....

Now.... with the history ( or suspected history understood ) .... I was recently told the story of its recent fate.... Apparently while languishing in Ohio, the recent owner of the car died, and the car was sold off,... requiring it to be moved off the short line where it was stored.... The car was sold ( within the last 18 months or so ) .. and it was decided by the new owner, that the car was going to become a display on their business property... (away from live rail ) .. so cranes arrive and the mover is on site, and during the lift, apparently the boom gets bent on the first crane ( due to it being undersized or lifted incorrectly ).... Upon further decision by the owner, ( and I am not sure under anyone's guidance ) it is later decided to physically cut the heavyweight in half ( making it two separate pieces, and transport it in two ( in lieu of one ) .. and then upon its arrival at the new site, physically weld the car back together again.... ( the cut and weld is apparently just beyond the last small window in the attached photograph )

Now the source of this information is reliable, and my question is..... Is anyone aware of this happening ?... and secondly.... anyone ever remotely even thought of cutting something in two, transporting it, and welding it back together again.... ?


Dean Levin

Dean -

I heard that L&N 0-8-0 #2132 that once was at the Gulf Power Company plant in Sneads, Florida was cut in half when it was moved and then welded back together. I never could confirm if this report was true of not.

Les

I don't know about 2132, but when Coronet Phosphate #5 was purchased in February 1967 it was cut into several sections for transportation and tack welded back together in Annandale after its arrival. At least that is the local mythos.

Don't forget the most elaborate cut and weld ever performed on a piece of railroad equipment, the PRR 4876 after its crash into Washington Union Station.

Popular, but untrue rumor. 2132 has it's boiler cut from the frame, rather crudely, and welded back together. The smokebox was cut around the cylinder saddle, and then welded back when the locomotive was put on display in Bainbridge. I've seen some photos (which I do not have) and talked to someone that examined it. The "sliced like bologna" was a popular rumor in the L&N circles for a number of years.

To my knowledge, there are four pieces of equipment that are in or have been in this area that were "dissected" for movement. The 3 N&W M2's from Virginia Scrap had their boilers removed from the frames to to be removed from the scrap yard, an event which was well documented on the "Lost Engines of Roanoke" website

http://lostengines.railfan.net/

There is an N&W combine in Blacksburg that is part of a restaurant, I'm not sure of the current name (it has changed hands a number of times). Supposedly it was cut in half when it was moved from a scrapyard in Bluefield WV in the late 1970's.

Her is my post from June 7, 2009.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27575&p=126658#p126658

Here is the restaurant.

http://site.buckeyeexpressdiner.com/

Ken...

Are you aware if the car was cut in half..... This photograph shows a close up, of what appears to be the cut and weld location.....Looks like it could have been cut ?

Perhaps T7 knows of this..... some say he is "always right" ?

Nonetheless..... its an interesting discussion ...


Dean

Yes, It was too heavy and was cut in two pieces.

But will it pass a PC-1? LOL

Steve

With this car now all you can pass is the salt!

the 4-8-0's were smartly cut and not into the boilers, the smokebox supports were cut around and the firebox area supports were cut in the right places, and re-assembled. You could restore them to steam since the boilers were not bothered.

David, regarding the L&N 2132, I photographed the locomotive back in 2001 and while there I noticed something just didn't look right. Upon closer inspection, it appears the boiler was not removed from the frame, but it was cut around the circumference between the middle and rear domes. The cut is basically centered above the main (#3) driver. The right-side metal running board is also cut at this location, as is the brake line pipe (I believe that's what it is) immediately below the running board.

On the right side, which is the more open and visible side, the cut was patched over with strap metal welded in place. But on the left side, there is still a very obvious (and open) cut, particularly visible behind the air compressor. Above the compressor the cut is covered by strap metal as on the right side.

I do not recall for certain if the frame was cut. If if was it would have been between the 2nd and main driver sets. From my photos there appears to be a vertical cut and weld through the brake hanger casting on the top frame member between the 2nd and main drivers on the right side. The power reverser did not appear to have been cut and rewelded, but for whatever reasons, the main, connecting and valve rods on the right side (for certain) were cut. I have a photo of the rods I believe are on the left side showing the welds where they were reattached.

Cutting the rods like this allowed the main (#3) and rear (#4) set of drivers to rotate out of position relative to the # 1&2 sets and only the main and valve rods could be rewelded level by repositioning the main and valve pistons. The connecting rod was never rewelded and the cut ends are simply wedged together in an inverted V.

I, too, had heard the story of the locomotive engine being sliced so it could be barged to the display site. From the evidence, it would appear the engine was cut into at least 2 pieces between the 2nd and main drivers, and if the front boiler section was separated from the cylinder saddle by cutting the smokebox, then it may have moved in 4 pieces including the tender.

Doesn't sound like it would be a very good candidate for operational restoration!

Les

I stand corrected and thank you for sheding light on this!

Ugh, that is a shame. The photos I saw were taken in the mid 1990s. At that time, there was some interest in trying to bring the locomotive to Louisville to display at the University of Louisville's football stadium, the location of the former L&N South Louisville shops. 2132 is the only South Louisville locomotive left, and one of 3 L&N steamers in existence (L&N 152, a 4-6-2 and L&N 2152 an 0-8-0, both at KRM).

I thought I had heard that the reason the locomotive was cut up, was to remove it from the power plant, in that the plant machinery had been built up around it?

What a shame. Though, having it around, even if it can't be resorted to operation is better than not having it around at all.