Thought this was a neat find:

http://sd40-2.deviantart.com/#/art/Aban ... d=2f607cd1

A look at the publishers page shows an engine house with this as well as the abandoned remains of GE boxcabs and other little treasures.

Also in the same region, the disembodied cab of another PA-2 which used to decorate a restaurant that never got completed:

http://sd40-2.deviantart.com/art/Abando ... id=d2d7ae2

Both the above links go to the same picture. Here's the one for the cab of the other PA.

http://sd40-2.deviantart.com/art/ALCo-PA-2-426910746

The complex of buildings is ostensibly the Paulista Railroad Museum in Jundiai, Brazil. Much of the facility appears to be abandoned and wide open to anyone. There are earlier pictures of the PA2 in question actively undergoing restoration at the facility about 10-12 years ago, it's too bad they didn't finish it. These are 5' gauge locomotives, which would add an extra element of challenge to anyone with grand ideas of bringing one back to the US.

5 foot gauge I understand. I thought that would only be difference in the trucks. Is the car body still the same US dimensions?

Such a waste of a historical piece. Perhaps someone will step up and rescue it from it's current location.

Yes.

This locomotive has been brought up before. The last time, in 2013(?), it was determined the locomotive had been scrapped.

Here's another interesting find on that site:

http://sd40-2.deviantart.com/art/Abando ... D40-2&qo=1

Hope this one is still around.

Brasil's main track gauges are 5 ft 3 in or meter gauge. Brazil is the only South American country with this 5 ft 3 in gauge in abundance that is still active. Other South American countries either have 5 ft 6 in gauge or meter and a few standard gauge.

I saw this locomotive in 2002 on a tour and it was in the same position. Only thing different was some new paint. Outside were a collection of Electric cab locomotives with trucks, insides and anything sellable stripped out. They were sitting on freight car trucks.

Since privatization of the National System, many former shops and facilities are closed or abandoned.

Dale Brown
http://www.wingsandrails.com
facebook: wingsandrails
flicker: Perudale

5 ft 3 in was the Irish track gauge, allegedly imposed by the British, but parts of Australia also used it. It that all gone now?

According to the camera data on the site the above pictures were taken, both photos date from this year, so I think we can optimistically assume that PA2 #601, which is intact but apparently abandoned, and #602, which is just the cab, are still around. The third PA2, #600, has reportedly been scrapped. In fact the photo of #601 was apparently taken just days ago on March 27.

Any sort of repatriation and restoration to operation in the US (which I don't believe would EVER happen) would require coming up with suitable US-gauge trucks or re-gauging the ones it has.

The Irish rail network (both in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland) remains 5 ft 3 in gauge, commonly called "Irish broad gauge". There is no 4 ft 8.5 in standard gauge in Ireland, and only a few small remnants of what was formerly an extensive secondary system of 3 ft narrow gauge lines are still extant.

This uncommon gauge is a huge part of the national identity of the Irish railway preservation community, and the magazine of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland is appropriately called "Five Foot Three".

The question in my mind is, how did 5 ft 3 in gauge come to be used in Brazil? Was there an Irish connection, as in Australia?

There were 2 until a few years ago.
1 was scrapped, except the cab which was used for a restaurant.
The one in the shop is actually part of a museum facility, they have no prime move for it and it's been in rough shape for years.
Were it to be repatriated, there's supposedly another set of trucks up in Washington...

CD

Info on the unit aside, we find ourselves today with yet another episode of, "Someone should do something", the International Edition! This week's episode is brought to you by "Deja Vu's greatest hits."
So, we find ourselves, yet again, with the following:
-A very large and immobile item.
-Single owner.
-Way far away.
-Nobody seems to have a clue who the onwer is.
-Whoever the owner might be, it's unlikely they know (or care) what some US trains fans think.
-No apparent plan to move said item or preserve it on the part of the owner.
-Item is slowly curcling the drain.
-Nobody is stepping up with funding or any workable plan to move it to a magical place where it'll be restored immediately (and even if they do, start this cycle again in a few more years from lack of action).
-No 'stop and think' reaction where it's realized that even if the item is moved, it's just going to contunue to rust someplace else, and we're back to square one all over again.
-Internet slowly filling bandwidth with, "Someone should do something" messages from someone other than the owner.
...and now, a message from our sponsor...

It was reported (By Trains Magazine, IIRC) about 15 years ago that there were three sets of ex-Fairbanks-Morse Erie-built B-unit trucks still in existence that would have worked for a PA restoration. I thought Doyle McCormack had purchased all three sets, but spoke to an associate of his today who said there were only two sets acquired, one for his "NKP 190" and the other for ex-D&H #16. Either there were only two sets available after all and TRAINS mis-reported the number, or Doyle (logically) didn't see a need to purchase the third set. What happened to the other trucks, if they ever existed, is unknown.