were talking about this whatever it is just above the walkway, the long pipe looking thingy, it does not seem to be connected to anything but to be mounted in place.

theories flying is a small air chamber to center the reverser mechanism in the possibility of an emergency..

the other is just a holding spot for a poling pole....pop the end off, drag the pole out?

Whatever it is, it's still there!

Hi-res for closer inspection .

It's not a place to store a push-pole:

1. (most important) - the front end is securely welded on.

2. To remove a pole through the rear would mean it would have to go into the cab if it were as long as that tube.

3. It's way too long for a push-pole.

Just a WAG. An air reservoir for the power reverse?

Bingo. As I recall, these were added in response to a change in ICC locomotive regs. that required additional reserve air to move the power reverse. The Soo put these on most of their small power... by making the reservoir long and skinny, it fit above the running board without being in the way of the running boards primary purpose. Soo 2442, a somewhat larger 2-8-0 in the park in Marshfiels has the same tank.

http://ci.marshfield.wi.us/HistPresPhotos/2442_Original.jpg

What possible use would the crew in the engine cab have for a long pole?
If it were an interurban, I'd say pantagraph release.

Dennis -

Speaking of tanks, it seems as if Soo #2645 somehow lost her "clear vision" tender. Was she originally preserved in Waukesha, Wisconsin with that particular tank? The one she has now doesn't look to good, or is that some kind of an optical illusion?

Les

Dennis -

I answered part of my own question. Found a photo on the Mid-Continent website showing the Ten-Wheeler on display in Waukesha with that tender. Wonder why the Soo changed tenders for display? And where that particular tender came from? Now seems to be deteriorating rather badly on the bottom.

Les

Les,

The short answer is I think the last tank the engine carried was borrowed for a water car conversion, and Shoreham cobbled something together when the engine was given away for display. The Soo for some reason did more work than one would expect when making engines ready for display; both the 2645 at Mid-Continent and the 2442 in Marshfield have had the switcher pilots they wore for years replaced with road pilots before they went on display.

The tender currently with the 2645 is an interesting mish-mash of details; I am sure it came from a larger engine. The tank is too big, and I suspect came from one of the H-1 or H-20 light 4-6-2's. To make the tank appear smaller, the decorative apron was cut off flush with the top of the cistern, and the coal bunker re-profiled. Somewhere I have a photo I took when the engine was in Waukesha that shows the original monogram coming through the paint... and the corner of the monogram runs off the tank. The quality of the welding that attaches the half oval edging leaves something to be desired, as does the raw torch cut edge of the slope sheet where it was clipped off to match the new height of the bunker sides. The tender deck has been raised to match the cab floor, with the bottoms of the coal doors simply torched off to clear.

And, unfortunately, the cab has been replaced with a welded replica some time after the engine went on display.

I'm glad it's saved, but it will take more than a bit of work to get it back to looking like it did on the railroad.

Some railroads had a valve that used steam for emergency power reverse activation, but it would blow the packing cups.
A small aux reservoir with a check valve worked much better. I don't know how many applications it would power, but I'm sure it was enough to get the job done.

Two other examples:

-CNR 6167 (MLW 1940) has a bypass valve near one of the air tanks that I believe allows the crew to isolate the power reverse from the rest of the air system in the event of a failure, thus allowing the power reverse to use whatever air is left in the system.

-CNR 6213 (MLW 1942) has a small air tank between it's frame for that purpose