On pg. 32 of Jim Wrinn's superb "Steam's Camelot" book (for the unwashed, a history of the Southern/NS steam program), he mentions that Hampton & Branchville 4-6-0 No. 44 was under steam for the 1970 NRHS Convention in Charleston.

What is the history of this loco after it left the Ma & Pa in 1968? If it was put into steam for the 1970 convention, who did the work and did it ever run again in excursion service? Where is it now?

If I recall correctly, this engine had previously been purchased by Byron Andrews for his ill-fated York Southern tourist operation on the Maryland & Pennsylvania RR in York, Pa in the early 1960s. Andrews had been promised the the engine was to be put into operable condition by the previous owners, but when it arrived in York he had been sold a bag of goods. So it sat at York, never to run. The York Southern ceased running in 1963, and shortly afterward George Hart's Rail Tours arrived on the scene and became the new "designated operator" of tourist service on the Ma & Pa. I believe YS's two ex-Soo Line coaches, RDG steel coach 1424 (now on the NH&I) and a Tennessee Central caboose ended up going to the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley in NY; the 44 sat in York as late as 1968.

Can Jim Wrinn or Dave Lathrop (or anyone else in railway museum cyberland) help solve this preservation puzzle?

K.R. Bell

http://rrmuseumpa.org

I remember #44 sitting beside the MPA enginehouse in York when I first visited in June of 1965. It was one tired puppy then, and I can't imagine it had been under steam anytime recently. I saw #44 headed west through Enola about 1968 or 1969. If I recall correctly, Dick Jensen purchased it, and it may have perished after his death. I think the engine mentioned in Wrinn's book was the other H&B 4-6-0, which was owned by the Charleston Chapter NRHS and is now at the South Carolina Railroad Museum at Winnsboro, SC. I don't think poor old #44 ever made it back down south.

K4s1361@hotmail.com

> I remember #44 sitting beside the MPA
> enginehouse in York when I first visited in
> June of 1965. It was one tired puppy then,
> and I can't imagine it had been under steam
> anytime recently. I saw #44 headed west
> through Enola about 1968 or 1969. If I
> recall correctly, Dick Jensen purchased it,
> and it may have perished after his death. I
> think the engine mentioned in Wrinn's book
> was the other H&B 4-6-0, which was owned
> by the Charleston Chapter NRHS and is now at
> the South Carolina Railroad Museum at
> Winnsboro, SC. I don't think poor old #44
> ever made it back down south.

Gentlemen: There is some confusion here. H&B Ten-Wheeler #44 went to the Charleston Chapter NRHS in a direct sale from the railroad. The "boomer" H&B 4-6-0 is #32, originally built for the Mississippi Eastern Ry as their #303, then to the Lancaster & Chester (purchased from Birmingham Rail & Locomotive) as their #32, then to the H&B, eventually to the York Southern, to Dick Jensen, to William and Warren Lathom of Rockford, Illinois and now at the Monticello Railroad Museum in Monticello, Illinois where I understand it will eventually by cosmetically restored as Mississippi Eastern #303.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

midlandblb@cs.com

Thank you, Les and Wayne; I must have confused both locomotives. Appreciate the information!

K.R. Bell

> Gentlemen: There is some confusion here.
> H&B Ten-Wheeler #44 went to the
> Charleston Chapter NRHS in a direct sale
> from the railroad. The "boomer"
> H&B 4-6-0 is #32, originally built for
> the Mississippi Eastern Ry as their #303,
> then to the Lancaster & Chester
> (purchased from Birmingham Rail &
> Locomotive) as their #32, then to the
> H&B, eventually to the York Southern, to
> Dick Jensen, to William and Warren Lathom of
> Rockford, Illinois and now at the Monticello
> Railroad Museum in Monticello, Illinois
> where I understand it will eventually by
> cosmetically restored as Mississippi Eastern
> #303.

> Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad
> Museum/North Judson, Indiana)


http://rrmuseumpa.org

Must have been Jim and my poker night.

Laid hands on 44 just a year ago at Winnsboro. The SCRM guys are keeping her complete and painted and she looks nice for passing travelers. Seems I heard something about their successfully getting the Rockton and Rion / ex ACL 2=8=0 out of the old quarry recently too.

Maybe Matt or Mike have their ears on?

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Hampton & Branchville 4-6-0 No. 44 was under steam for the 1970 NRHS Convention in Charleston.
If it was put into steam for the 1970 convention, who did the work and did it ever run again in
excursion service?

It is my understanding that the engine was steamed at a minimum pressure to make it look "live" during the convention. It never ran under its own power, but boiled just enough water to blow the whistle. I don't think it ever steamed again after that.

This from an article in an old issue of Railroad.

Jeff Terry

> If I recall correctly, this engine had
> previously been purchased by Byron Andrews
> for his ill-fated York Southern tourist
> operation on the Maryland & Pennsylvania
> RR in York, Pa in the early 1960s. Andrews
> had been promised the the engine was to be
> put into operable condition by the previous
> owners, but when it arrived in York he had
> been sold a bag of goods. So it sat at York,
> never to run. The York Southern ceased
> running in 1963, and shortly afterward
> George Hart's Rail Tours arrived on the
> scene and became the new "designated
> operator" of tourist service on the Ma
> & Pa. I believe YS's two ex-Soo Line
> coaches, RDG steel coach 1424 (now on the
> NH&I) and a Tennessee Central caboose
> ended up going to the Cooperstown &
> Charlotte Valley in NY; the 44 sat in York
> as late as 1968.

> Can Jim Wrinn or Dave Lathrop (or anyone
> else in railway museum cyberland) help solve
> this preservation puzzle?

> K.R. Bell


jterry618@msn.com

> Gentlemen: There is some confusion here.
> H&B Ten-Wheeler #44 went to the
> Charleston Chapter NRHS in a direct sale
> from the railroad. The "boomer"
> H&B 4-6-0 is #32, originally built for
> the Mississippi Eastern Ry as their #303,
> then to the Lancaster & Chester
> (purchased from Birmingham Rail &
> Locomotive) as their #32, then to the
> H&B, eventually to the York Southern, to
> Dick Jensen, to William and Warren Lathom of
> Rockford, Illinois and now at the Monticello
> Railroad Museum in Monticello, Illinois
> where I understand it will eventually by
> cosmetically restored as Mississippi Eastern
> #303.

> Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad
> Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

Well, I for one am pleased to know that pretty little ten-wheeler is not Toyotas and razor blades!

K4s1361@hotmail.com

Jerry,

I moved to Charleston in 1978 and joined the Charleston Chapter NRHS. There were many "old tales" about the 44's restoration and operation.

I believe the engine was acquired from the H&B about 1969. The local Southern Railway Master Mechanic was a Charleston Chapter member, and he spearheaded the restoration of the engine. At the time, the boiler was deemed OK; most of the work was cosmetic. They replaced the boiler jacket, removed the rear sand dome and substituted an under-cab sand reservoir (I guess he didn't like the look of 3 domes on a steam locomotive), and painted the engine apple green. The major mechanical work was to replace the two single-lung air compressors with a cross-compound job (evidently "found" on the Southern RR somewhere), and to replace the two leading truck wheelsets. I recall seeing a photo in the Chapter's archives that said these wheelsets came from a failed experimental Southern diesel-hydraulic locomotive.

The 44 steamed for the 1970 NRHS convention, and doubled headed with one of the Southern's operable 2-8-0's on an excursion to Branchville and back. Unfortunately, one of the 44's cross-heads ran hot and they had to cut the engine off the train about 20 miles out of Charleston. This was judged to be a minor problem which could be corrected easily. The chapter actually issued an album with an audio recording of this trip and other operating steamers.

After this, the engine was occasionally steamed and operated on the Chapter's property (trackaged leased from the Army in Charleston). The last time it was operated was for an "open house" at the Charleston Air Force Base about 1973. They pulled passengers for short back-and-forth train rides at this event on the Base's trackage. Word is that a steam leak in the smokebox started and got worse as the day went on. This later turned out to be a failed superheater unit.

About this same time, it was also determined that the flue time was expired on the engine, so a couple of chapter members starting pulling the superheaters and then cutting out the boiler tubes in preparation for re-tubing, which was still continuing when I joined in 1978. Unfortunately, the Chapter never generated enough funds to pay for a flue replacement job and the engine remained in de-flued condition when it was transferred to the SCRM in the 1980's.

Hopefully the SCRM will get the funds to restore the engine to operation one of these days.

Good Steaming,
Hugh Odom

> Hampton & Branchville 4-6-0 No. 44 was
> under steam for the 1970 NRHS Convention in
> Charleston.
> If it was put into steam for the 1970
> convention, who did the work and did it ever
> run again in
> excursion service?

> It is my understanding that the engine was
> steamed at a minimum pressure to make it
> look "live" during the convention.
> It never ran under its own power, but boiled
> just enough water to blow the whistle. I
> don't think it ever steamed again after
> that.

> This from an article in an old issue of
> Railroad.

> Jeff Terry


The Ultimate Steam Page
whodom@awod.com

> The 44 steamed for the 1970 NRHS convention,
> and doubled headed with one of the
> Southern's operable 2-8-0's on an excursion
> to Branchville and back.

I don't think so, Hugh.

I've never heard that, and there's no mention of 44 operating in any writeup about the convention I've ever read. The Sept.-Oct. 1970 "Ties" magazine says:

" . . . Charleston Chapter's No. 44 and "One Spot" were fired up and on display.

. . . Sunday . . . 722 and 4501 joined to pull an excursion train from Charleston to Savannah . . . Monday morning steam locomotives 630 and 722 combined forces to pull the "Aiken-Augusta Special" to Branchville. There the train was split up with half continuing on to Augusta . . . while the other half steamed back toward Charleston. Near Dorchester 630 met 4501 and the later-departing "Carolina Special" on its return trip to Washington, DC."

The recording you mention is no doubt one of the SOU doubleheaders.

Somewhere I have seen a photo of the two Charleston locos and the "Best Friend" at the Convention, but I can't locate it.

JAC

John is mostly right, Hugh. The 44 didn't run on a trip. But it did "operate". The day before the Savannah trip, it tripleheaded- on the point with 722/4501 out about a mile west of the yard.. I shot movies of it in the late afternoon sun. Couldn't really tell if it was working, but the whistle was sure blowing. I'll have to pull out those S-8 movies to see where they stopped.
> I don't think so, Hugh.

> I've never heard that, and there's no
> mention of 44 operating in any writeup about
> the convention I've ever read. The
> Sept.-Oct. 1970 "Ties" magazine
> says:

> " . . . Charleston Chapter's No. 44 and
> "One Spot" were fired up and on
> display.

> . . . Sunday . . . 722 and 4501 joined to
> pull an excursion train from Charleston to
> Savannah . . . Monday morning steam
> locomotives 630 and 722 combined forces to
> pull the "Aiken-Augusta Special"
> to Branchville. There the train was split up
> with half continuing on to Augusta . . .
> while the other half steamed back toward
> Charleston. Near Dorchester 630 met 4501 and
> the later-departing "Carolina
> Special" on its return trip to
> Washington, DC."

> The recording you mention is no doubt one of
> the SOU doubleheaders.

> Somewhere I have seen a photo of the two
> Charleston locos and the "Best
> Friend" at the Convention, but I can't
> locate it.

> JAC


jjburke0918@aol.com

> The 44 didn't
> run on a trip. But it did
> "operate". The day before the
> Savannah trip, it tripleheaded- on the point
> with 722/4501 out about a mile west of the
> yard.

If anyone by chance happens to know anyone who might have a photo of this, i'd absolutely love to see that.

Hayes S.

crzhaze@rrmail.com