I was recently sent the following link to a blog that has photos of some railroad equipment at an RV park just outside Williston, FL.

http://ritasjourneys.blogspot.com/2009_ ... chive.html

At first I was trying to ID the caboose, but the presence of passenger cars and a couple of steam locomotives got me more interested:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RMFwT0HBpZ0/S ... CT0134.JPG
and
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RMFwT0HBpZ0/S ... CT0149.JPG

The caboose photo:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RMFwT0HBpZ0/S ... CT0076.JPG
also shows a couple of HW passenger cars. The gutted interior of one is shown in the blog.

Upon looking I discovered that neither of the two locomotives seem to be included in the well-known databases. From the photos I would guess the little red one is a narrow gage 0-4-0 with the tender missing. The domes seem too short and too ornate for the loco to have been an 0-4-0T. The plates on the front and smokebox side have the number "19" in the center. Maybe that will ring some bells? The other looks like a standard gage 2-6-2, again with a missing tender (along with almost everything else the engine should have).

Looking it up on Google Earth I found on the property the mystery caboose, 3 passenger cars, possibly two tenders and a string of 5 short passenger cars that remind me of the original Six Flags Over Georgia cars. I wish there was something other than the overhead aerials available.

Any thoughts? The equipment was apparently moved there after 1999.

I doubt that 2-6-2 had a Tender. If you look under the cab, you can see a bumper beam, complete with poling pockets. Such a feature not be found in that location if the locomotive had a tender.

You don't know how long I've been looking for the whereabouts of the 2-8-2T in the photo! This is former Coos Bay Lumber 10, built by Alco in 1928. I photographed it when I was 9 years old at Cottage Grove, Oregon when it was on static display at the OP&E. Later, when I moved to Kansas in 1998, I found it under restoration at the Midland Railway in Baldwin City. They had big plans to convert it to a tender engine, and subsequently removed the saddletank, oil bunker, and did the modifications to the cab. The project fell through, and several years later it was put up for sale. My records show that it was sold in 2002 to "an RV park in Florida." Despite hours of searching, I was never able to locate the RV park or its whereabouts until now. Thanks!

As for the other locomotive, it was one of the steam outlines built for Marriott's Great America theme park at Santa Clara, California by Custom Fabricators. It was offered for sale many years ago by D.F. Barnhardt. Apparently it never sold. This is their description of the train:

1975 Diesel Hydraulic 36" gauge System

This 36" gauge diesel hydraulic train set was built by Custom Farricators, Inc. of Johnson City, Tennessee in 1975. This engine looks like a steam locomotive but is powered by a 471 Detroit diesel (turbo) engine located in the tender. This diesel unit in turn drives hydraulic units housed in the locomotive. This train was formerly used in a major theme park. It is a superb train for use in any park or as a replacement for an aging thirty six inch gauge steam locomotive. Approximately one mile of rail, crossties and associated accressories are also available with this system or can be sold seperately.

Tender: Approximately 15 ft. long , 9' 2" wide, and 9 ft. high; weight: 24,000 lbs., friction bearings.

Four (4) Coaches: No. of seats: 12, Capacity: 60, Steel construction and wood tops, 36" gauge.


Location: Flordia

Hope this answers your questions!


Jeff Terry

The caboose is an ex-Conrail (gee, does the blue give that away?), originally a New Haven NE-6 built by International in 1948. There were dozens of these and other CR cabooses for sale at Renovo, PA during the 1990s.

Wow, that FLA foliage sure grows quickly.

Howard P.

Looks like the mystery is no more...and just goes to show you how easy it is to see what you want to see. In spite of having been told the red engine was probably NOT steam, I had convinced myself it was! This is probably where the small passenger cars came from, except there are 5 on the property and the Barnhardt description mentioned only 4 as available.

The former 2-8-2T was a surprise, too, Jeff. Glad you now have a location for your "lost engine of Coos Bay (Lumber)"! And, good eye, Joe. I completely missed the poling pocket.

I did a quick look for a photo of No. 10 and found this video of No. 11, which is under restoration at Campo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZL78Ke4 ... detailpage

Gee, Howard, that seemed just too easy! :>) I sort of suspected that it was of Conrail heritage (duhhh...blue? Who has blue cabeese??), but we were trying to determine a number, too, and I suppose the best way to do that is to get permission to take a look. Very helpful to know it began life in 1948 as a NH NE-6. Thanks!

Now all we need is some information on the three passenger cars sitting behind the caboose...

Now THIS is what RYPN is all about!

AT LAST a REAL lost locomotive story, in fact a whole lost train set story. Great stuff, would like to see more of those passenger cars.
mike pannell

Howard -

One of these New Haven NE-6 cupola cabooses was acquired by one of the members at HVRM and moved to his private property here in the "wilds of Indiana", a long way from NYNH&H territory. He recently repainted the caboose from Conrail blue into New Haven orange and intends to add the large NH on the car sides.

Quite a few of these NE-6 cabooses were rebuilt and given bay windows with the cupola windows plated over. The caboose down there in Florida (and the one here in Indiana) were spared that particular "customization".

Les