Thought I'd pass this along to those of you who are digging out at the B&O Museum. I still am willing to help, just give the call. In the meantime, thought I'd pass this along to you.

Of all the pieces that have been mentioned as having been damaged, none has hit home for me like the PM #11. This is not to say that I am not shocked and horrified by the destruction of the other historic equipment on display; its just that #11 has a special place in my heart thanks to a guy by the name of Orville Swick.

Orv probably is the last living Pere Marquette diesel mechanic. He got a job with the P.M. in 1942, just about the same time as the #11 arrived. He loved steam, but because he was young and without seniority, he was forced to learn to be a diesel mechanic because no one else would bid the job. The #10 had arrived a bit earlier, and after learning his trade he learned that the #10 was in horrible shape mechanically, mainly becuase it was maintained by guys who obviously didn't know much about diesel. He got the #10 working like she should, and soon knew both of them well, until they were moved to the Thumb region of Michigan, specifically Port Huron.

After being tranferred there himself in 1948, he continued to maintain both engines on assignments in the Thumb. At Port Huron he ran the roundhouse, which was an 8-stall affair until the 1953 tornado made it a 2-staller. By then other diesels arrived, namely BL2's and GPs, but the #10 and #11 always had a special place in his heart.

Knowing this, I hated to break it to him about what happend to the #11; I figured he would take it hard. What he said, though, perked me up, and I hope it does you guys:

"Aw heck, I saw that on the TV. Heck, that's nothing; #11 was in the roundhouse when the '53 tornado struck, and the roof came down on her then, too. She was hit by concrete and steel that time, and had barely cosmetic damage, mostly busted stacks and dented metal. You know, she has a reinforced cast frame, like no other diesel that I worked on since. Never had to worry about jacking her up, could do it anywhere. GP's and the later switchers, if you didn't get it right, you'd throw the frame out of whack; not the #10 and #11. Don't you worry; she's come through it before and she will again."

The long and the short; the word of Orv is good enough for me. Heck, he's never been wrong before! Oh yeah, and if you need a 79-year-old diesel mechanic with intimate knowledge of the #11, he says he can be on his way in no time ;-)

TJG

Port Huron Museum

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Heck,
> that's nothing; #11 was in the roundhouse
> when the '53 tornado struck, and the roof
> came down on her then, too. She was hit by
> concrete and steel that time, and had barely
> cosmetic damage, mostly busted stacks and
> dented metal.

You know, that seems to be a common theme. As I have recently been reminded, nearly all the steam engines have been through one rough collapse already too, in Halethope in 1933 or 1934. They were stored there after the Fair of the Iron Horse and the same Hurricane that cut the Ocean City inlet dropped the roof right on them.

Tell your friend you know a guy (me) who got married on PM 11's back porch. One bride, one groom, one Episcopol priest, a bridesmade and a best man with room to spare. Try doing THAT on an Alco.

eledbetter@rypn.org

TJ,

Thanks for a story that ends with a smile...after all the rough news coming out of Baltimore, it is welcome tonic. Posts like yours remind me that "old hats" like your friend and the stories they tell are what make this hobby (dare I say the word?) FUN!

Regards from San Diego,
Burlington John



burlingtonjohn@trainorders.com

> Tell your friend you know a guy (me) who got
> married on PM 11's back porch.

That explains so much . . . and when there were so many wonderful steam engines around that would have served . . .

If it looks like I'm avoiding you next time our paths cross, Leadbelly, that's not it - I'll actually be shunning you (got a rep to protect, you know ;-)

JAC

You try getting a gal in a wedding dress onto a cowcatcher pilot. The early EMD cab roofline made a nice ersatz alterpiece, and the tool chest gave us a good place to sit for those parts of the ceremony. And I didn't hear any tales of your one true love getting hitched on railway equipment of any kind, El Vis... not even a speeder...

eledbetter@rypn.org

Sounds to me kinda like this exchange probably belongs over at a free for all dump like Frads ;)

But seriously, sometimes its better to look at the less than serious side of things. Thanks guys :D

What happened to the NGDF?

> And I
> didn't hear any tales of your one true love
> getting hitched on railway equipment of any
> kind, El Vis... not even a speeder...

That's because we had a more, er, um, TRADITIONAL setting for our nuptials, I guess - antebellum Greek Revival church, reception at the Hysterical Society house. There were those gold lame bowties, though . . .

JAC

> That's because we had a more, er, um,
> TRADITIONAL setting for our nuptials, I
> guess - antebellum Greek Revival church,
> reception at the Hysterical Society house.
> There were those gold lame bowties, though .
> . .

> JAC

I think my wife and I stuck the best happiest medium. We were married in the oldest Episcopal church in Colorado (Grace Episcopal in Georgetown), followed by lunch in the Georgetown Vistors's Center (the orginal courtroom building), followed by a chartered trip in the Tahoe coach on the Gerogetown Loop for my guests. I think some of the ordinary passengers on the train were wondering if the guy in the morning coat (me) running the Shay was qualified!

Steve Zuiderveen


B&O Roundhouse Restoration Fund
SZuidervee@aol.com

happened when we were auditioning our #4 for the Coen film"O Brother where art thou?"

We had been running the old gal in freight service one day, making a couple of trips to the interchange at town on the D&R, when one of my friends from back home in Texas shows up at the yard office with a marriage lisence and a bride (when I am not rolling tubes I pastor a small Baptist church north of Dallas), and utters those romantic words "Hey, Thang (an old nickname), me and Melanie here wanta git married."

They changed into their wedding attire, and I ran down a Ministers handbook, so we all loaded up on the engine and went out to a nice wooded curve near the International Paper switch. With Stan Garner as witness, Tim Robbins holding the flowers
(fire-maid of honor?),Micheal and Melanie Green were united in marriage in front of the pilot of a 1913 Baldwin Prairie.

And Stan Garner has the pictures to prove it!

BTW Melanie and Micheal have a bouncing boy and look to be well on the way to many years of wedded bliss.

lorija799@aol.com

Rev JJ;

You sent me pictures of that; didn't you? I am glad to hear the couple are doing well.

My wife and were married in Hodges Gardens in Many, LA; but the first day of our honeymoon we rode the Texas State Railroad.

That was twelve years ago; maybe this needs to be added to those "Marriage Encounter" seminars. :)

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

> happened when we were auditioning our #4 for
> the Coen film"O Brother where art
> thou?"

> We had been running the old gal in freight
> service one day, making a couple of trips to
> the interchange at town on the D&R, when
> one of my friends from back home in Texas
> shows up at the yard office with a marriage
> lisence and a bride (when I am not rolling
> tubes I pastor a small Baptist church north
> of Dallas), and utters those romantic words
> "Hey, Thang (an old nickname), me and
> Melanie here wanta git married."

> They changed into their wedding attire, and
> I ran down a Ministers handbook, so we all
> loaded up on the engine and went out to a
> nice wooded curve near the International
> Paper switch. With Stan Garner as witness,
> Tim Robbins holding the flowers
> (fire-maid of honor?),Micheal and Melanie
> Green were united in marriage in front of
> the pilot of a 1913 Baldwin Prairie.

> And Stan Garner has the pictures to prove
> it!

> BTW Melanie and Micheal have a bouncing boy
> and look to be well on the way to many years
> of wedded bliss.


Surviving World Steam Project
james1@pernet.net

> Tell your friend you know a guy (me) who got
> married on PM 11's back porch. One bride,
> one groom, one Episcopol priest, a
> bridesmade and a best man with room to
> spare. Try doing THAT on an Alco.

It was done in the cab of an Alco. In 1996 there were 13-14 people in the Cab of Milwaukee Road 261 (alco, 1944) in Scranton PA to witness the wedding of a couple of railfans (whose names I cannot recall) with a bit of room to spare. I was surprised at how we all fit fairly comfortably.


eselinsky@new.rr.com

While not ignoring the damage to the other, more historically significant equipment, I noticed that of the photos posted by the museum to date, none showed #11.

Any word on how the last of the PM diesels fared?

-fm

Pere Marquette Historical Society web site

> While not ignoring the damage to the other,
> more historically significant equipment, I
> noticed that of the photos posted by the
> museum to date, none showed #11.

Judging strictly from the overhead view that appeared in the Baltimore Sun, I'd guess pretty well. No obvious dings in the cab, and she seems to have been missed by all the heavy falling structural members. Barring contrary informaiton to emerge later, I'd guess that sheet metal work and a repaint might more or less take care of her. Though we've all talked mostly about the other artifacts she's a great favorite of the Museum's resotration people and I'm sure will get lots of TLC.


eledbetter@rypn.org

This is great news for us die-hard P.M. fans, and defiinitely for a certain retiree here in the Thumb. I did let Orv know; he had a very "I told you so" tone to his voice. Never argue with a man who knows the #11 almost as well as he knows his own children!

TJG

Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

> This is great news for us die-hard P.M.
> fans, and defiinitely for a certain retiree
> here in the Thumb. I did let Orv know; he
> had a very "I told you so" tone to
> his voice. Never argue with a man who knows
> the #11 almost as well as he knows his own
> children!

> TJG

T.J.
Please sit down with this gentleman and do an oral history of his experiences. We are losing people with very important remembrances like his everyday. The odds of the equipment outliving the people that worked on it is great but without the human element, the equipment not nearly as interesting. PM #11 will be around for a long time but it can only tell a small fraction of it's own history. Orville must tell the story of the SW1's triumphs and failures.
Don C.

milw261@comcast.net