I saw something interesting once. I think it was in the summer of 1977. I was following the right of way of the Bridgeton and Millville Traction Co. in Millville, NJ.

At the top of this Google satellite view, you can see the bridge abutment for the Traction company's bridge over the PRR (later PRSL). I came out of the woods on the east. I then walked south along the PRSL tracks.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=millville,+nj&ll=39.414212,-75.035712&spn=0.000694,0.001164&hnear=Millville,+Cumberland,+New+Jersey&t=h&z=20

A short distance south, on the east side of the tracks, were warehouses owned by Wheaton. Just south of that was the Wheaton Glass factory. The warehouses are now gone, but I remember them as being painted a faded yellow.

(It's worth scrolling to the south to see the remainder of the factory and tracks.)

Through the dusty warehouse windows I saw what I believe was some kind small passenger coach or two, and possibly a steam locomotive. What ever it was it was at least meant to look like a steam locomotive. I can't be sure that this equipment was on rail, but there was a spur into the building and the track entrance lined up with the equipment. I remember that the coaches were painted red with gold trim. They were not the size of a regular coach, but much larger than a park train, and definitely would have been large enough for three foot or standard gauge. I could best describe them as narrow gauge size coaches.

I speculate that Mr Wheaton bought them for Wheaton Village (now the Wheaton Arts & Cultural Center). Wheaton Village had a collection of historic buildings moved to the site, and a park train. I'm thinking that the train I saw was purchased and then was found to require too big an investment in space and money to install in Wheaton Village. This is all pure speculation on my part.

I still wonder what I actually saw and where it went later.

-Mark

I used to have a book, maybe 30 years ago, called 'Delaware Valley Rails' or maybe 'A Railfan's Guide to the Delaware Valley'. It listed a train ride, maybe only just proposed, at Wheaton Village. I recall the listed power was either a small GE or Plymouth. Never saw it in person, though-

my grandfather told a story for years up till the day he died that there are 2 steam locomotives stored in the old engine house at the mill here in johnstown, pa. said one was an 0-4-0 and one an 0-6-0 this mill is no longer connected to active track, yet the engine house still stands... so one has to wonder...

Sounds like the East Broad Top RR & Coal Co. engine house in Mt. Union, Pa.

Surely one of my favorites is the british 'Strategic Steam Reserve', of mothballed steamers kept in case of Cold War Hostilities.

http://www.willys-mb.co.uk/strategic-reserve.htm

And I always think, "In the face of dieselisation and the 1946 rail strike, wouldn't it be interesting if Truman had stockpiled such a thing in a forgotten valley on BLM lands out west somewhere, in case of strikes or nuclear attack?..."

andrusite, If you think about it, it's a smart move if it was true. An EMP will fry electronics putting all the new diesels out of commission until new electronics can be replaced. Steam locomotives would have been needed to move troops and equipment.

I don't know. The Alco RS-3 had innovations EMD didn't adopt til the 60s. And there's nothing in an RS-3 that would've been hurt by EMP.

Also, EMP is not magic like the force in "Revolution" that shut off electricity (and apparently, also, decay heat). EMP does its damage by inducting into a length of wire, which requires a length long enough to induce overvoltage fatal to a connected device. Something which simply has no long runs, like an iPod Shuffle, is naturally hardened.

EMP can be attenuated or blocked, for instance by metal shielding, which locomotives have plenty of. There may be value to twisting wires (something power lines do if you pay attention.) Components can be hardened by having gadgets onboard to suppress harmful voltages, and the prime motivation for that is common static electricity from repairmen.

So hardening against EMP is not the "big deal" Hollywood tries to make of it. I think at most some cars would shut down.

One time the rumor mill turned up a nugget about a couple ex-Milwaukee coaches sitting out on the back 40 of a military base after sustaining wreck damage in a run-away. After some digging, that rumor turned out to be fact.




J.L. Nelson

Just out of curiosity, what military base is this at? I'd heard there were coaches still sitting around at Ft Eustis, but in the 90s I covered every foot of track there (it took a week to do that while I was doing other things for Uncle Sam) and only found some freight cars...

Along with the rumors of the British Steam Reserve, somebody started a copycat rumor that the Swiss had also stashed some steam locomotives, "just in case". What a load of bull!

(I tried, and failed, to quickly find a link to the Swiss locos, anyone got a good reference?)

As for the crunched and munched MILW cars, even if you can't tell us where they are for fear of the NSA shooting you, can you tell us the current status? Certainly looks like it could be fixed if you throw enough money at it. (Can't everything?)

Crane Naval in Indiana. Note the heavyweight car. Some of these undamaged cars ended up in Jasper, Indiana.

Les

Additional info here:

http://wn.com/spirit_of_jasper_train

Anyone know the identity of this heavyweight car?? Any others not visible in the posted photo??

Thanks in advance.

Robert, You need to look at the facts. An EMP does overload electronics and a diesel has electronics like the battery, alternator, electro-drive wheels. All that would get fried. I'm in the military aircraft mechanic and we spend millions on protecting electronic wiring on specific aircraft to protect them against an EMP. Not all of our aircraft but the ones that need to fly.

As noted by Les, these are at the Naval Surface Warfare Center near Crane, Indiana. The base had 3 Milwaukee coaches and a number of heavy weight cars. At one point there was a run-away wreck which damaged two of the three Milwaukee cars (the third car went to Jasper for the dinner train). One of the heavy weight cars ended up in the woods, and a heavyweight mortuary car still sits with the Milwaukee coaches. Two additional heavyweight cars ended up going to Jasper as well.

The cars sit on a wye on the back 40 of the base. Both cars have significant damage from the wreck. One of them derailed and overturned dragging across the ballast on its side. I think there are more worthy examples of Milwaukee coaches for restoration. They will sit there until they rust away I have no doubt. I would like to part them out, but have not got that far. Below are links to photos of the cars and an aerial photo

Coach 653 @ Crane
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33672589@N ... 706172834/

Coach 658 @ Crane
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33672589@N ... 704727058/

Coach 659 in service @ Jasper
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33672589@N ... 721154900/

The cars on Crane are located here: 38.826593,-86.822512

There remains a Baldwin Diesel switcher inside the locomotive shed on the old SAC Base in Limestone, Maine. Confirmed, and owned by a scrapper who wants to sell it as a locomotive, not steel sherds