Sure looks like good advice up on the eaves of the building!

Kurtz's paintings are most certainly the most accurate representations of the locomotive as he was the son-in-law of Mr. Fuller and interviewed surviving participants of the raid at great length and in great detail.

Only eight were executed. The entire company (excluding Mr. Andrews) was some 21 or 22 soldiers from a couple of Ohio volunteer regiments. Half of the survivors escaped and made their way back to the Union lines and the others were traded as prisoners of war. All but two of the survivors were awarded the new Medal of Honor-the first recipients of the new award. All of the survivors rejoined their regiments and all survived the war.

I recall the "Russian" decapods built to 5' gauge. The last ones were ready to ship after the Communists overthrew the Czar. An embargo was placed and they were never sent to Russia.

It is my understanding that they were built to Baldwin's "light decapod" plans. They were regauged to 56.5" gauge (only 3.5" narrower) and sold domestically.

The Gainesville Midland (Georgia) owned nine (9) decapods from about 1947-1959. Five of which were Russians (built 1918). Four decapods survived the SAL purchase and were placed on display - 203, 206, 208, 209. Only 203 was a Russian. The other three were buiilt after 1918 (as late as 1930) but the local myth is that they are all Russians.

Point is, gauge change is not a great change, mainly frame spacers and so forth. No boiler change. Maybe no cylinder changes, no cab change, no smokebox change, probably no major changes to the tender.

If you are interested in changing gauges and what it takes, look into the D&RG(W) who changed loco gauges several times including the from 36" to 56.5" and back, the K37 which was a SG boiler on a new NG frame with a SG tender with SG truck frames - axles changed for the wheels to be NG, and the two K27 2-8-2s sold to Mexico and later standard gauged. Very interesting topic.

FWIW

Doug vV

As far as the Russian story:

Two very different thoughts...

First on the locomotive.... Before any "restoration" I would expect a "preservation study" detailing the history of the artifact, and any options (from do nothing, to clean and paint (and in what colors with what striping and lettering) to back date to date "x" (maybe various date "x"'s....

High grade models might be a good option for showing the changes to the locomotive over the years... explaining how it looked in 1863, and how it changed.

Second... Someone commented on the cost of admission to the zoo... I did a quick fee comparison to other zoos... This is important for all of us to understand what a possibly competitive attraction charges... does the family go to the zoo or do they go to your museum...

Atlanta, Adults 22.99, Seniors & students $18.99, children $17.99, under 2 free
(note, discounts for military)

San Francisco, Adults $19.00, Seniors $16.00, Children $13.00, 3 and under free
(note, discounts for City residents)

Los Angeles, Adults $20.00, Seniors $17.00, Children $15.00, 2 and under free

San Diego Zoo, Adults $50.00, Children $40.00 (the admission includes a tour and some rides)

Brookfield Zoo (Chicago) Adults $16.95, Seniors $11.95, Children 11.95, under 2 free

Denver, Adults $13.00 Seniors $11.00, Children $9.00, under 2 free
(quick comparison, Colorado Railroad museum charges (for both admission and a train ride, which are separate tickets) adult, $14.00, children $7, with some discounts)

Tampa, Adults $29.95, children 22.95, under 2 free, ($2.00 off if tickets are bought on line)

Miami (next door to Gold Coast Railroad Museum) Adults $19.95, children $15.95, under 2 free (Gold Coast charges adults $8.00, children $6.00 with a $6.00 charge for a ride in a caboose or coach...)

Washington DC (National Zoo) Free (but charges for parking)

The quick survey above suggests that the cost of the Atlanta Zoo is very typical... I would suggest that museums might want to compare their rate (admission and cost of a train ride) to the cost of their local zoo... You are likely appealing to the same demographic.

Randy

Much of that is right--the last 200 or so Russians were stranded by the revolution, and would be resold at bargain prices to American roads. Erie may have had the biggest collection, something like 75 of them.

The guage change was even easier than suggested. All that was done was to refit the drivers with wider tires, and of course respace the other wheels. This would lead to some problems with those wide tires on a switch or turnout that had a self-guarding frog. There was a published account of the machine in Union, Ill., being towed in a train, cut in ahead of the caboose, and the conductor said there were no self guarding frogs in a yard. Just then there was a loud "WHAM!" and the caboose seemed to jump a foot into the air. While everyone was wondering what happened there was a second "WHAM!" The conductor pulled the air and stopped the train, where an investigation found the engine sitting on top of one of those non-existent self guarding frogs.

"I thought you said there weren't any frogs like this in the yard? How many are there like this?"

"The yard's full of them!"

The engines were noted for a number of strange features, at least in North American practice. They included copper fireboxes and possibly some unusual control arrangements such as screw reverse.

The Russian Decapod seems to have predated the Baldwin light Decapod by a number of years. The Baldwin light Decapod is not a copy of the Russian by any means--too many differences in dimensions, starting with driver diameter--but it's my opinion that Baldwin took note of how useful the Russians were in a lot of places, with reasonable size and a light axle load, and I think the Baldwin light 2-10-0 very likely was inspired by the Russian machine.

Thanks for the clarification on the decapods. I've never been real clear on the specifics.

Doug vV

Another clarification:

Comparing random zoo admission rates is kind of like comparing random excursion or rail museum rates. Often, "you gets what ya pays for." The San Diego Zoo is generally regarded as being in the same leagues as we would put, say the Durango & Silverton, Western Md. Scenic RR, or the Grand Canyon RR. Thus the higher admission. The National Zoo has the same situation as the SR 1401 and John Bull: Smithsonian oversight.

Happy Great Locomotive Chase Day. With all of the attention brought to Spencer by 611 did anyone get a photo of the Texas restoration project? Hadn't heard or seen anything since work began.

I believe Scott Lindsay is in charge of this restoration.

Yep. from the Atlanta History Center website "The Birmingham, Alabama-based Steam Operations Corporation, nationally recognized experts in restoration of steam locomotives and other historic rail equipment, will conduct the first major restoration ever of the 159-year-old Texas.

The public will be able to witness the extensive process at the Spencer Shops, an historic rail facility that is now part of the 57-acre N.C. Transportation Museum. Spencer Shops was once Southern Railway’s largest steam locomotive repair facility and remains equipped to handle the largest of restoration jobs.

In Spencer, 295 miles northeast of Atlanta and 45 northeast of Charlotte on the Southern Railway mainline between Atlanta and Washington, the Texas will be the subject of detailed historic research spanning many months before it undergoes restoration. When research is complete and restoration begins, visitors to the N.C. Transportation Museum can enjoy public access and viewing opportunities of the work."
http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/atl ... estoration

And a good PDF from the center http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/sit ... inal_0.pdf

That's the duality of war. It all depends on your perspective, time elapsed notwithstanding:

*Your side does a commando raid on their side in civilian or enemy uniforms, and does damage or killing their enemy? That's audacious, cool and gutsy.

*Their side does a commando raid on your side in civilian or enemy uniforms, and does damage or killing their enemy? That's despicable, horrible and cowardly.

You only have to see the perception of this by reading about "Operation Grief" during the Ardennes offensive in 1944, where Germans dressed as GIs and caused all kinds of confusion. But the allies did the same kind of thing plenty of times before that and those actions are celebrated today.

The old saying is, one man's terrorist, is another man's freedom fighter, it all depends on who wins the war. Also, just think, how the firebombing of Dresden, and the area firebombing of Japanese Cities would have been viewed as if the Allies had ended up loosing??

Here is a video that NCTM just posted, showing Scott Lindsey, 611, Texas, and the Lehigh Valley #126 with updates..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH38HroRsGE