Hi,

Just thought I would share some photos of the Hawaii Ry Co #4 locomotive I discovered during my railroad artifact hikes at the bottom of a very inaccessible gulch. It is a 1912 Baldwin 2-4-2 Columbia model used to haul sugar cane, cargo and passengers. The Hi Ry Co #5 is now operating at CAMA located in CT and the #1 is with a private owner in CA.

Aloha all,
Rick

OK Rick,

Haul it out of there and send it to Oahu.

Jeff

The English would have that old girl fixed up and running.

Hi Jeff,

Believe me, I have tried to think of a way to try a to bring the #4 and associated parts up but the gulch is too steep and on private property. Now sending it to Oahu sounds ok but I would love to restore it and display at Mahukona next to the old station masters house. That would be a fitting triumph.

Aloha,
Rick

Rick -

Thoughts:

Cables (or slings).

Helicopter (large).

If you have investigated this and ruled it out, please disregard this comment.

Les

Maybe you could work with Hawaii Chapter of the NRHS for a place to take it, and the military as a recovery training (no pun intended) operation. It could provide practical experience in rigging and lifting with a helicopter - all while providing a public service.

Was she one of the tsunami victims in...was in 1946?...or am I thinking of another NG loco?

The helicopter may be the only way to get her out of there, but fortunately, she IS small and the Navy most likely does have the ability to lift her if they'd go for it. Calling it training sounds good to me.

Hi Les,
Cables or slings might work from a powerful winch above. The #4 might not survive the climb though.
I believe the gulch is too overgrown, many large trees and narrow for a helicopter.
Thanks, Rick
Thanks

I have spoke with the property owners representative with not much success. I would think before any method was used to recover the #4 the property owners would have to give their consent. Rick

Hi Becky,

The locomotive destroyed in the tsunami was the #121 of the Hawaii Consolidated Ry Co. which is located on the east (Hilo) side of the island. The HCR was the only standard gauge Ry on the islands. I think the gulch was used a dump site by the RR to discard the Ry equipment.
I believe a road could be cut laterally down the side of the gulch and truck and trailer used to haul the #4 out. A few of the adjacent gulches have roads cut as there were sugar cane plantations located in them. Problem is the owner is not interested and the cost would be quite high.
Thanks,
Rick

The property owner's biggest concern might be damage due to haul road construction.

Sounds like a good demonstration project for a heavy lift airship manufacturer... forget the access roads and stability/ capacity/ crash concerns with heavy lift helicopters. There seem to be a number of competing firms that might like a highly visible project:

http://skylifter.com.au/

http://www.google.ca/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=heavy+lift+airship&oq=heavy+lift+airship&gs_l=hp.3..0l2j0i22i30l8.1911.8485.1.8988.18.16.0.2.2.0.95.1225.16.16.0...0.0...1c.1.9.hp.MUW0tlzIAB4&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.45175338,d.aWM&fp=1c58cd8b5f4fb0a5&biw=1333&bih=692

Of course you wouldn't want to pay for this, thus the demo hallucination... And, LOL, the locomotive's disappearance could be blamed on alien abduction!

Steve Hunter

Hi Steve,

Sounds like a plan....you are volunteering to fund the recovery.....or hallucination...Rick

Steve, I like the way you think. I know of a couple of abandoned Shays in the swamps of SC that would be prime candidates for further demonstations. :-)

I just came across this from Baldwin Locomotives magazine March 1941



Jeff Livingston might like this also.

Steve

I guess the question must be asked here...
Were you asking the property owner to donate it only? If so, I can see why they weren't interested.
Did you offer a purchase price of any kind?
If you're just expecting them to allow you to go onto their property to remove something that's theirs (and potentially tearing up a nice chuck of Hawaii in the process), well, nobody could blame the property owner.
It's simple, go to the owner with a plan, showing the finished result ("Hey, this'll have your name on it as the donor once people see it at ________ museum..." or words to that effect) and a aplan that benefits them in some way. At the very least, you should give them a reason to allow it to happen. Otherwise, it's just a rusty thing at the bottom of a ravine which isn't bothering the owner at all. You gotta motivate the owner to allow a change to that condition in such a way that doesn't cause problems, neither real nor imagined.
It sounds like a no-brainer but I never cease to be amazed how many people will just approach a person who owns something like this (when the owner couldn't care less) and there's shock and resentment when the owner says no because the person wanting the rusty old thing doesn't get that the ower is usually fine with it sitting where it is. Otherwise, he'd have called the junk man himself, years ago!