Atlantic Coast Line 1504 "Project Return to Glory"

ekrwy2 · **Joined:** Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:12 pm **Posts:** 118

It’s a continuation of the previous restoration group. If you look at the posts, the tender has deteriorated even further and they have some rats nest problems on the boiler.

usaf_andrew · **Joined:** Thu Nov 26, 2009 5:32 pm **Posts:** 30

whodom wrote:

As far as remaining (as opposed to preserved) ACL steam, don't forget 2-8-0 #712, formerly used on the Rockton & Rion, at the SCRM in SC:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=928947

The 712 is still privately owned and from what I understand for sale for the right price. A friend of mine with steam experience has looked at it, and thinks it is still a viable candidate for restoration. As for the SCRM, they are a joke. They also have the Hampton and Branchville ten wheeler that is wasting away. It had been operable and in decent shape when it was stuffed and mounted.

whodom · **Posted:** Tue Aug 06, 2019 10:27 pm

usaf_andrew wrote:

The 712 is still privately owned and from what I understand for sale for the right price. A friend of mine with steam experience has looked at it, and thinks it is still a viable candidate for restoration. As for the SCRM, they are a joke. They also have the Hampton and Branchville ten wheeler that is wasting away. It had been operable and in decent shape when it was stuffed and mounted.

The killer is that 712 was in the process of being re-flued when steam operations were stopped on the Rockton & Rion. I don't believe there are currently any flues in it. A complete brand-new set of flues was in the shop at Anderson Quarry; they were gradually used up for fence posts, air lines, and similar miscellaneous uses.

H&B #44 hasn't been operable since the mid-1970's. It was made operational when it was acquired by the Charleston Chapter NRHS in the late 1960's (?). It did participate in one excursion on the Southern but was sidelined when one of the crossheads ran warm. After that, it supposedly it blew a superheater unit while pulling trains at an open house at Charleston Air Force Base. When I joined the Charleston Chapter NRHS is 1978, they had already pulled the superheater units out and had begun removing the flues with the intention of re-fluing it at some point. We did exercise it regularly and gave it a paint job. Unfortunately the bell was stolen while it was stored on the Naval Weapons Station South Annex (former Army Depot) about 1979, and the number plate was stolen off the smokebox when it was temporarily reinstalled for an open house in Charleston and left installed for a week or two. I believe the builders plates also "walked off". I guess nothing good has happened since it was moved up to Winnsboro.

Either of these would be great engines for operation at SCRM.

Chris Webster · **Joined:** Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:45 am **Posts:** 1028

In the Jacksonville Daily Record newspaper:

Quote:

City Council is considering legislation that would declare Atlantic Coast Line #1504, the steam locomotive displayed at the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, surplus property with a declared value of $50,000.

Ordinance 2021-0293 on the June 8 agenda also authorizes the city to rescind the locomotive’s local and national historic landmark status and transfer its title to a railroad preservation organization.

The North Florida Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society Inc. has a contract to sell the locomotive to Sugar Express LLC, a division of U.S. Sugar Corp. in Clewiston.

U.S. Sugar will restore and then operate the locomotive as a “tourist” train to offer short-line passenger excursions on U.S. Sugar’s 230,000-acre property near Lake Okeechobee.

The ordinance states that NFC-NRHS will use the proceeds of the sale or transfer of ACL 1504 to Sugar Express to fund the “NFC-NRHS/Sugar Express Railroad Educational Scholarship” to provide financial assistance to Duval County high school students who wish to attend the National Railway Historical Society Rail Camp and other activities of the society.

After the locomotive is operational, Sugar Express has agreed that all ticket sales from the first year of operation will go fundraising, the ordinance states.

Link to the June 4, 2021 article: City may transfer historic locomotive at Prime Osborn

eze240 · **Joined:** Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:29 am **Posts:** 319

Well, this should be good....
Guess they won't need to buy the 113 in Miami...it's cheaper too...lol!

CA1 · **Joined:** Fri Nov 11, 2016 10:17 pm **Posts:** 246

Wow that's exciting and big news.

Will be neat to see a USRA pacific under steam.

Maybe one day it or the 148 can make an appearance on the FEC

Dave · **Posted:** Sat Jun 05, 2021 7:41 am

It makes we interested in how ambitious their plans are for maintaining steam in service in Florida. I left Florida in 1975, but there wasn't much there where they are back then..... a neighbor was an engineer who worked for US Sugar and spent a lot of time up there. Presume the area has grown up a lot since then.

mcgrath618 · **Joined:** Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:54 pm **Posts:** 210

CA1 wrote:

Wow that's exciting and big news.

Will be neat to see a USRA pacific under steam.

Maybe one day it or the 148 can make an appearance on the FEC

Is RBMN 425 not a USRA Pacific? Genuinely curious.

CA1 · **Joined:** Fri Nov 11, 2016 10:17 pm **Posts:** 246

I'm not an expert but 425 is definitely not a USRA pacific.

The ACL unit is a USRA light, the AWP 290 is a USRA heavy copy, but with 73 vs 80 inch drivers.

mcgrath618 · **Joined:** Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:54 pm **Posts:** 210

CA1 wrote:

I'm not an expert but 425 is definitely not a USRA pacific.

The ACL unit is a USRA light, the AWP 290 is a USRA heavy copy, but with 73 vs 80 inch drivers.

Just looked it up. I had thought that 425 was built for the M&O, rather than the GM&N. It was built a few years after the USRA Pacifics.

Kevin Gilliam · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 10:28 pm **Posts:** 292

CA1 wrote:

the AWP 290 is a USRA heavy copy, but with 73 vs 80 inch drivers.

....except that it isn't. It's more complicated than that. Both the 290/190 and the Southern Ps-4 got the firebox and cylinders of a USRA heavy, but with a smaller boiler that's somewhere in between a USRA light and a USRA heavy. Both the Ps-4 and the 290 have a 76 5/8" diameter boiler. The USRA light is 76". The USRA heavy is 78". There's some minor differences in heating surface, superheaters, weight and tractive effort between all the designs. Both the Ps-4 and 290 have more superheater surface than either of the USRA designs.

One big difference between the 290 and the Ps-4....the frame for the 290 is basically a USRA heavy (14' vs. 13' for a Ps-4).

One could argue that both the Ps-4 and the 290/190 were custom designs, built as a modification of the USRA principles.
Kevin

Finderskeepers · **Posted:** Mon Jun 07, 2021 7:31 pm

Thought some of you might appreciate the read, confirming it’s a zero mileage engine
https://www.asme.org/wwwasmeorg/media/r ... a-1919.pdf

nathansixchime · **Joined:** Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:03 pm **Posts:** 940

The motion passed. Indeed, 1504 will return to glory.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/photo-ga ... ut-of-town

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2622

Finderskeepers wrote:

Thought some of you might appreciate the read, confirming it’s a zero mileage engine
https://www.asme.org/wwwasmeorg/media/r ... a-1919.pdf

Interesting, I'll be curious to see how serious the overhaul was back then, plus what being outside did to it.

Crescent-Zephyr · **Joined:** Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm **Posts:** 1717

Dave wrote:

It makes we interested in how ambitious their plans are for maintaining steam in service in Florida. I left Florida in 1975, but there wasn't much there where they are back then..... a neighbor was an engineer who worked for US Sugar and spent a lot of time up there. Presume the area has grown up a lot since then.

Seems like a great location to me. Less than 2 hours from several large population centers (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm, Fort Meyers.) and within 2 hours of the Everglades.

I know I’ll be planning a trip to ride Brightline and see some US Sugar Steam as the world re-opens!

Atlantic Coast Line 1504 "Project Return to Glory"

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