Hi Guys; Does anyone have an update on the 578? Thanks - David Notarius, London UK, ex New Hope Pa

According to the Ohio Railway Museum's Facebook page the locomotive has not been sold.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ohio-Rai ... 9071661606

Well I'm a bit disappointed, The Ohio Museum's Facebook page states:

Dear Everyone,

We have been searching around the web recently and have heard a lot of rumors. N&W 578 has not been sold to Age Of Steam Roundhouse, nor will it ever be. This is old news and we want people to know the truth.

Thank you everyone,
Ohio Railway Museum

The "nor will it ever be" is a little harsh. Is there bad blood?

that is so perfect if they could just even borrow or lease it a while.

If ORM ever does deaccess 578, I would love to see her come to Roanoke. Historically, we have a stronger "claim" on her than Ohio, she operated longer in regular service in Virginia than anywhere else on the N&W. She would also join a "joint collection" of 13 N&W locomotives preserved in Roanoke.

Be that as it may, got something to trade to "Ohio" for it?

I've never been particularly fond of the "all the eggs in one basket" mentality/happenstance that has resulted in virtually all the N&W stuff being at Roanoke, virtually all the PRR steam being at the RR Museum of Pa., all the B&O stuff at the B&O Railroad Museum, etc. I dislike having to remind folks that it's the Railroad Museum of Pa., not the "Pennsylvania Railroad Museum" (and that's exactly how they see it, as a museum of the keystone-and-Tuscan-red).

ADM4-understand the issue with eggs-in-one-basket. However, I think that very symptom is an attempt-for better or for worse-by various museums to stay within a theme of sorts....relevance to an intended audience, if you will. Having a GG-1 in Illinois, for example, might seem a little odd, unless it fits in with the mission statement of the museum.

On the other hand, I'd love to see that sole remaining Y-6 come home to Roanoke, regardless of what the Saint Louis museum's mission statement might be.

And in regards to N&W 578, yup, Roanoke would be my first choice, but NCTM in Spencer (given the N&W ties to Winston-Salem etc) would be second choice. Neither is gonna happen...maybe Roanoke at best (long shot).

Of particular interest in the last YouTube clip (actually a slide show) are some shots of what appears to be an excursion of some sort with 578 and another 4-6-2. Does anybody have any details on this trip?

It looks like it was a revenue run on the N&W in the late fifties before steam was killed on the N&W.

The 578 doubleheaded with a sister Pacific on a fan trip from Bluefield to Norton in 1957 (I think). This run and some of it in regular service on the Norton run are covered in our DVD "Pocahontas Glory" Volume 5, along with all 14 J class engines.

Also, William H. Bauer rode and recorded on 1/4 inch audio tape a run of the Norton train in 1957. He recorded it from the baggage car and the tape picks up occasional conversations from the station agents to the conductor or trainman as mail or express is transferred. There were a lot of starts, some fairly fast running and stops at stations along the way. I digitized the tape but have not done anything with it other than to use parts of it to add sound to the film. I believe the engine was the 578 on this run.

-Jim Herron

I drug a big reel to reel recorder on a Burlington 4960 fantrip from St. Louis to Hannibal and ran a lot of tape through it. Sounded fine when I did a sound check in the recorder car but when I got home it sounded like a Chipmunks movie. I found out the generator on the car was only putting out either 50 cycle or low voltage or both. What a wasted effort!

Hope you didn't pitch them. That can be fixed with either analog or digital techniques.

Steve