Southern 630

gmray · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 9:34 am **Posts:** 382

Ok, going out a bit of limb here. Southern 630 should be going to the paint shop before this month is over. This is not an official declaration or a promise but she is almost finished. The electrical and sheet metal work is still on-going but is coming to a close. After being painting, there will be a number of items to complete before the break runs begin.

The shop forces have done a remarkable job to hide all the modern day electronics required for mainline operation. The radar unit for speed is hidden behind the pilot, while the event recorder and GPS unit are mounted under the cab floor. 630 will still have 8 friction bearings each equipped with thermocouples for real time temperature measurement. The layout of the 26-L control stand looks very clean as does the entire backhead. We did keep two vintage pieces of control instrumentation - the Ashton Steam Gauge and the Westinghouse Duplex Air Gauges.

Nothing to report on 4501 at this time.

Finderskeepers · **Posted:** Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:43 pm

Hi Mark, at one time CN 5288 had been talked about for conversion to a Southern PS-4 look alike, was this idea shelved? How poor of shape is she in now, anyone had a careful look?

jcmark611 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 08, 2011 12:49 am

Is the GPS unit for use on NS's PTC territories? I've been curious on what mainline steam operators will be doing to make their engines PTC friendly.

Steven Ashley · **Posted:** Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:08 am

Thank you for the updates Mark. I am sure that I am not alone in congratulating the volunteers and staff at TVRM for all the hard work they have put into the 630 over the last 10-12 years. I am looking forward to seeing her run again this year. I hope that no problems are found with what work is left to be done before the 630 can make some break in runs and eventually pull some revenue passenger excursions.

Steamguy · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2010 4:34 pm **Posts:** 17

Thank you for the update Mark! It seems like alot of what is going on at TVRM is behind a veil of secrecy. Aside from a random picture here and there or posts by people who have a friend who has a friend who knows someone in the know, alot of what is happening is left up to pure speculation. It is very refreshing to see a more in-depth update on 630.

CarNutandTrainNut · **Joined:** Wed Jun 30, 2010 6:01 pm **Posts:** 43

It will be nice to see the old girl polishing the rails again. Somewhere Ive got some Super 8 video my mom and dad took of her at the museum when they still had those cars with no windows....