I just saw an ad on railswap.org from someone who claims to be considering buying the whole lot from the Roanoke scrapyard. I believe he is an independent rail broker and is asking if anyone would be interested in any of it. Sounds like he's trying to see if he can actually make money on the deal before doing it. If he is serious and has the cash this could be a chance to get the stuff out of the scrapyard and would allow the engines to go to different buyers. My opinion is he has no chance of turning a profit and probably won't do it, but you never know. Sure there are lots of places that might want an engine but how many would be willing to pay for it and have the money to follow through to at least cosmetic display?

A few problems with this idea: (1) the siding into the scrapyard has been severed from the NS main, making access challenging; (2) none of the engines have tenders (there are two tenders from N&W articulateds at the scrapyard, which were being converted to water canteens before going to the scrapyard). It would be nice to see the engines get a safe home, preferably in N&W territory, but it's hard to imagine this happening any time soon.

jcpdeke@aol.com

I saw the ad and I know of the person who posted the ad. I think its safe to say that the locomotives will be in Roakoke for a long time.

jrowlands@neo.rr.com