Rob:

You left out the fact that if you used to flip Mickey Mantle and Roberto Clemente baseball cards in your high school bathroom, they were printed in Scranton.

MDT

Mike -

This 2-6-2 (originally a 2-6-0) was built by Dickson after it became part of Alco, and was given Alco serial number 26264. The surviving Dickson Manufacturing Company locomotive (Dickson serial number 1005, built in 1898) is a 36" gauge 0-6-2RT in Brookhaven, MS that is privately owned. Mr. Conrad also mentions another Dickson built engine built in 1901 that carried a Dickson s/n (1280) but which was apparently built AFTER American Locomotive acquired the company. This rebuilt engine is a 36" gauge 2-4-2 at Six Flags in Arlington, TX that started life for a sugar company in Louisiana as an 0-4-4RT. The other two surviving Alco/Dickson engines are a couple of saddletankers (one 36" and one standard gauge) that are on display down in Mexico.

Les

Me thinks there are some Dickson Mfg. mine lokies around, too... air powered

Rob,

Wasn't aware of any Dickson mine lokies left out there. That would be a neat thing to see. It's one of my life's major goals, to return a Dickson product (Alco or otherwise) to where it was built. A compressed air unit would fit the bill quite nicely.

Dave

The 0-6-2T is not in Brookhaven anymore. With the death of the owner, it returned to the sugar mill in Louisiana that both engines came from; where it is now stored.

I was shown the engine by Mr. Patout himself, whose family owns the mill and for whom Patoutville was named. He told me he was not happy with some of the changes the previous owner made to it. There is also Porter with a rotted cab stored at the mill.

Another Dickson built 0-4-0T-T locomotive from 1907 is rotting on the tundra near Valdez-Cordova, AK; where it was abandoned with it's train during the 1920s. An actual Dickson product locomotive from 1898 is on display at the FCalP Pacifico Works in San Jose, Costa Rica. I have pictures of all of these; just not the two in Mexico, in my Surviving World Steam Locomotive database.

Worldwide railway photographer Colin Garratt also photographed a pair of Dickson locomotives abandoned in Indonesia; I believe during the 1970s; but they have since been scrapped. They appear in several of his books he published in the past.

James -

Thanks very much for the update on the location of the Dickson built 0-6-2T that was formerly at Brookhaven, Mississippi. Sounds as if Mr. Patout has an interest in seeing the locomotive restored and I wonder if he expressed any plans to you to do such a restoration? Also, what his plans are for the Porter he has there.

The information I have is mostly taken for J. David Conrad's STEAM LOCOMOTIVE DIRECTORY which was published over 20 years ago. So, changes have certainly occurred in the interim.

Les

He had plans at one time for operating a tourist railroad around the grounds of the mill; if my memory is correct, he even has a depot on the mill grounds. But nothing has ever come of those plans.

There is also another Porter in much better shape than the first one I mentioned that is also stored on the mill grounds, for a total of three. All three are in covered storage. The locomotives at Six Flags in Arlington are technically on loan, and still belong to the Patout family as well.