That one looked fairly ropey 8 years ago...

Is it actually owned by the NKP Museum, as it doesn't appear on their stock listing?

My guess is that it’s one on the property of the Tennessee Central Railway Museum.

If it is, then there’s probably eventual plans to fix that locomotive up, or, like with the B&O E9, use it for spare parts to keep the E8 running.

As far as I can tell the PC E8 in Bellevue is ex-NYC 4070 which was renumbered PC 4371 when equipped with cab signals to run on ex-PRR and NY&LB track in North Jersey and to Harrisburg.

The renumbering was necessary because PC E-units with cab signals were numbered 4200 and up. Simple, eh? 4200+ can lead on ex-PRR; 4199- must trail on ex-PRR.

The name "Sea Island Passenger Service" came up in references to the E8. Sea Island Beach was an ACL 6 Double Bedroom-Buffet Lounge built in 1949 by ACF and shown on some sites as preserved by Mad River and NKP but is not listed among their equipment displays.

Phil Mulligan

The ex-PC E8 in Bellevue is not owned by the Mad River & Nickel Plate Museum. It is privately owned.

Rob Gardner

There is one or two people in this debate that for what ever reason, looks at this issue with blinders over their eyes. I get it. I understand 100%. You are saying this locomotive is a nothing but a big pile or rust, nearly worthless, and should cut up on spot. Let someone else deal with it. You want it gone then tell people you want it gone.

What I have repeatedly said on these issues is there is people that will raise money and remove that locomotive for you. You need a crane? Don't worry about it we will take care of it. You need a heavy duty truck? Don't worry about it we will take care of it. We can handle it down to the smallest detail. All you need to do is cash your check and wave good bye to your locomotive.

I do not own a railroad, and I am well aware there is F and E units for sale including the ones in Alamosa. People realize these locomotives have value. They don't want to sell them for scrap or even double or triple scrap value. They may want $100,000 or more for a locomotive. If the locomotive sits there for the next 10 years it is no big deal. It's not taking up that much space. So don't assume just because a locomotive looks abandoned it will go for dirt cheap. Larrys truck electric had four E units and sold two of them. Not sure what they went for but I doubt if they were picked up for under $50,000 a piece. If I am not mistaken the Minnosota Zephyr dinner train sold for a little under a million with two F units.

To those who have said "put your money where your mouth is". I have. We have. Where do you think that money comes from in fundraisers to save these locomotives? It's people like myself and others on this forum who donate cash to save these locomotives which is overwhelmingly successful. Just recently we saved a 65 ton locomotive which I am sure you read about in here not that long ago. Nobody knew that locomotive was there and just like the E and F units it had not run in 30 years. People cared and instead of getting cut up it will be restored.

I was thinking about that nose section that was scrapped. I remember Caboose hobbies in Denver had a ex BN, E unit nose on display inside that store. The owner said she was asked almost daily if it was for sale and removed it to stop the questions.

Finally I would like to say that if someone offers a locomotive with a deadline for removal or it gets cut up. At least we can attempt to fund raise, spread the word, and make a effort to save the locomotive which the majority of the time we do. However if someone says "you have a week to come up with the cash or the locomotive gets it". What can we do then? The railroad industry is full of shady people, especially in the aftermarket parts department. Many times I have pulled a wad of hundreds out of my wallet, spread it out in my hand like a fan and said "see this? This is money walking away and it's not coming back". Even then these people often scrap equipment for pennies on the dollar just out of spite. A part I would have paid hundreds for ends up in the scrap pile for 3 dollars. There is no logic in their thinking.

In a sense, you are operating with blinders on as well--wilfully oblivious to the good that can come from such scrappings.

Today's news:

http://railfan.com/new-roof-will-push-s ... n-forward/



Emphasis added. More at the link.

In a similar vein, the Grand Canyon Railway recently scrapped one of its "basket case" spare FPA-4 bodies, letting some other groups grab what they wanted/needed. They have at least two other derelict bodies, plus a couple of Slumbercoaches, that I'm sure they'd be happy to sell you as soon as your check clears and you demonstrate that you have a firm plan paid for to get them out. As long as they retain the right to salvage parts from the ruins of your attempt later.

One other note for Tom F:
Were you ever inside that B&O unit in question?
I was inside both the E-units the B&O Museum acquired at one point as part of the effort--considerable effort-- to make them fit to be shipped out. I can't quite remember which one I took a reciprocating saw to in order to cut out enough of the rust in the nose that we could shovel out both the damp sand left in the boxes (the source of the body rot) and the hundreds of drug needles and other drug paraphernalia tossed down there. Or which cab had been completely torched by fires set by those same vagrants to keep warm and to burn insulation off the copper they were chopping out willy-nilly. This wasn't just wanton vandalism; it unintentionally rose to the level of you couldn't do much more to SABOTAGE restoration or preservation than had already been done, save for taking cutting torches to the wheels or trucks.

The annals of the auto-preservation folks are full of stories of guys spending $100K to fix up a car that would bring at most $40K at auction. But most cars you can put on a roll-back or trailer and run down public highways, and then put in a backyard or garage. Even a short-distance relocation of a stripped-down PCC or single-truck trolley is going to run you about $10K unless the trailer is donated and you don't incur oversize/overweight fees. And then where are you putting it? The car can be a hobby; a big boat or railcar will eat you alive.

If there's someone out there with the interest, intent, AND wherewithal to want to procure and mount for display a "streamlined diesel," a bunch of cabooses for a motel, or whatever, it's incumbent UPON THEM to go beat the bushes and find them--or, better yet, hire one of us "walking encyclopedias" to find them. It takes "experts" to know where to look beyond typing "caboose" into Craigslist or eBay. No matter how widely someone like Mr. Levin, Rowland, Muller, or whoever might advertise their spare stuff, Mr. Moneybags ain't likely to see that ad. More often, someone sees a "For Sale" sign on the piece, and suddenly gets smitten with the idea of making it a dentist's office, a side room to the bar, a wedding chapel, a motel room, or whatever.

And a reminder:
People who do that might be "railfans" somewhere in their brains, but they're not preservationists. Just as taxidermists are not zoologists.

And if you want to call the guy whose directive caused the scrapping in the first place, given that the individual in question made it possible for me to ride behind a pair of operable PRR E8s running on two 567s each "as God intended" (actually, "again"--I was also behind them on what turned out to be the very last CR OCS before the CSX acquisition attempt was announced), I'm willing to cut him a whole lotta slack. Ditto the guys who had to make the decisions to part out Alco FPA4's in Ohio and Arizona, for similar reasons.

Now: Who has some cabeese to spare, the bigger the better?

UPDATE: This is allegedly the locomotive slated for scrapping at the CVSR, or what's left of it, in June 2018.
Good luck with that, Tom F.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=5063592

That would be (have been?) ex-CN, ex-VIA FPA4 6767. Long a parts donor for the CVSR's other FPA4s.

Seen here in better days: http://refarkas.rrpicturearchives.net/s ... id=3816478

The good news is that the roof section of CVSR FPA4 6767 is being harvested to help restore ATSF PA 59L in Texas, as announced recently on the 59L facebook page.

I would say that FPA-4 body you posted is about what Doyle McCormack had to work with when he brought those two PA-1's on flatcars from Mexico. I would often stop by the round house after work watching the progress. Look at it now. Nickle Platte Road #190 is one of the jewels of the preservation world. The other one is just as bad.

http://shastaroute.railfan.net/PA.html

http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/staff/archiv ... texas.aspx

I have spent a good portion of my career repairing, rebuilding, and overhauling locomotives and passenger cars. There is no such thing as too far gone. If it is metal it can be easily reproduced and replaced. I am not sure if those who criticize are jealous or what the deal is. Seriously what do you care? It's our money not yours. It's our time not yours. You don't like it then don't worry about. It's not your problem.

I received another report that this "loco" was the subject of a third party's abortive attempt to rebuild the 6767 into a cab car; the backers supposedly ran out of money.

"Seriously what do you care? It's our money not yours. It's our time not yours. You don't like it then don't worry about. It's not your problem."

One could say the same to these speculative wannabe-owners.

You actually WANT it? Be PROACTIVE.

I know of a group where one of the duties of the Secretary was to send annual letters to two companies reaffirming their interest in acquiring certain pieces of rolling stock should it ever become surplus. Well, lo and behold, one year the reply was "show us proof of your non-profit status and we'll arrange for your pick-up....."

As a particular character I know is fond of saying, "He who has the gold makes the rules!"

I'll second the idea of staying in contact with owners if there is something that you are interested in.
Back in the 1980s, I started watching a passenger car that was being used as an office. I kept in contact with the owner and just waited. Almost 30 years later, the car became available and I was able to help get it saved and moved to where it fit a collection.
If you are interested, make sure the owner clearly knows, and also knows that you are serious and have a plan. I've asked and received a number of pieces of rail equipment from across the country because of the contacts and having a basic plan. However, I also know of people who never received anything - and would never - because they were a pest instead of a professional in the request.

We do the same thing with streetcars that have been built into houses. We introduce ourselves to the owners and keep in periodic contact with them. In one case, we've offered to build an addition to a house and upgrade the electrical system to meet code if they let us remove the car.

As a kid that grew up in the late 1950's the EMD E8 type was or is THE locomotive. We watched them and played on the tracks. I learned my lesson about 15 years ago when someone offered me a pair of Baldwin 0-4-0's from some Ohio gravel operation. Worked hard to save them, get them shipped and a place to put when my local city officials told us my horse ranch was to nice an area for a couple of large yard art's. With that they were kind of dismantled and turned into restaurant advertising and some one else s yard yard. They had history.

As a kid growing up on a ranch we had bounds of land and my family did not care what kind of rusty iron I drug back. Stuff others were scrapping or dumping in ditches. Soon I was known as a junk collector. Come the 1970's that scrap had value, come the 1980's it was really valuable, come 2010 it was pricey and still in my junk pile. I never did nor do not sell for scrap anything. I call it " resources ".

The loco in the pic will not be a loss, roof is saved for others, the nose we know will not be scrapped. The trucks we know will not get melted down so that leaves the frame box. Someone out there may need the bottom frame rails for rust repair and that only leaves the side rails. Knock out the fasteners and bundle up the rails for flat car storage. It gave its best so that others may be saved.

God Bless the EMD E8 of my childhood.

Dan

The unit is former BN E9 9912 and is actually owned by Larrys truck and electric and is for sale. Currently stored at Tennessee Central Railway Museum.

I bought 2 ex-N&W GP-9's from LTEX back in the '90's. While visiting, George (or Spiro?) told me that they had recently crapped a couple of ex-METRA E-9's and caught all kinds of hell from railfans. They had one in the shop that was being scrapped, hidden from view of any fans.
Wish I could have bought a couple of ex-VIA F's they had instead of the GP-9's.