Rick,

If it hasn't been posted before.

What's the history behind how all those engines survived especially with such an odd gauge. Was someone trying to set up a railroad somewhere. Seems like there would have been a lot better candidates back in the day to preserve then those things and then to save what 4 of them or how many survived into the modern era?

When did J&L quit using them in preservation? As someone whose watched your successes over the years congratulations on another great addition.

The locomotives weight about 93,000 pounds! It says something about how the modern multi-wheel flat beds have advanced in recent years!

I hope they are an easy restoration. They are coming with so many more parts than the #58 did. Just think about how heavy that smoke box cover was! And you have both of them this time.

I hope you can find a construction number on the frame some place! It will give you definitive data about which one you have. My guess is #60.

Ted Miles, two-foot gauge fan, WW&F Member

Great news, Rick. I know it has been very restrictive getting objects and bodies across the border but have you had a chance to put eyes on the locos to an extent that would allow you to determine which is the operational candidate (57 or ?). If so, have you been able to come up with an estimated operational restoration budget based on your success with 58? Thanks for taking the time to post of your progress.

You accomplish so much and still have time to change diapers on RYPN when necessary. And before anyone posts outrage regarding this comment, I will say now, "I stand by what I said." No matter the stench.

They actually weighted about 75,000 lbs. each due to not having the weight of the saddle tank and water to account for. By comparison 58 weighed a mere 60,000 lbs. when it arrived. A full 1/3 of it was missing and had to be replaced.

The story of these locomotives is rather involved and I will probably do a video explaining their histories to my understanding someday, but suffice to say that Crown Metal Products bought six of them from J&L and moved them to their farm in Wyano, PA. They then were dispersed with two going to Canada, one to Colorado, 58 was sold and moved around a few times and two were scrapped. I have been diligently tracking them down and buying them up with one more left to go before they will all be here.

The one locomotive is certainly 60, verified by the builders number stamped on the combination lever. That was the first thing I checked when they got here this morning.

At this point I do not see why we cannot restore all of them to operation eventually. Our capabilities and knowledge have grown since doing 58 and since they are identical, work done on one can just be repeated for the other. The one nice thing is that since they are state inspected, there is no 1472 day requirement for pulling the tubes. With the water treatment and oxygen scavenger that we are using, the boilers should remain in good shape for quite a while.

What we are doing is rather rare in rail preservation. Not many places have multiples of the same locomotive. We will eventually have four which puts us up there with the EBT and the two former D&RGW operations in terms of identical sisters. I certainly didn't plan to do that, it just happened as the locomotives became available.

I see you still didn't receive the memo that says "this can't be done"! Congrats to you and your team on being unusually productive. Regards, John.

The great philosopher Rush Limbaugh used to say that the largest obstacle to achievement is one's own self imposed limitations. So just eliminate those limitations and get it done!

Yes, but he only applied it to how much more he could eat.

Steel mills routinely had small fleets of identical or nearly identical small locos. Having the four of them will improve your overall display. Depending on how you roll, you can have one or two working and one in the shop to demonstrate maintenance. If you decide to do yard rides, etc. you should have almost no down time.

Even better, when something needs a part made, rather than salvaged, you can blueprint and, if it’s a reasonable size, build a spare. Big engines are a lot of fun to look at and justifiably get a lot of attention, but there’s a lot to be said for the small ones in the right venue.

Yes if my dream comes to fruition we would have an addition to the rear of the Tod Engine building that would become the backshop with at least one locomotive in there being maintained, with 58 up the hill in its enginehouse and the remainder inside another enclosure. Perhaps once a year all of the operable locomotives would steam up for an EBT inspired "Fall Spectacular", but otherwise 58 would be the regular runner as it has been modified to suit our operation.

Having identical locomotives does mean that it is possible to have the same spare parts that fit everything. And since 59 was dismantled in the 90s and we have all of those parts here, there are extra driver sets, running gear parts and even a boiler held in reserve.

This is very much what a steel mill would have done with regards to narrow gauge steam operations.

No, he didn't.

In his later years, he lost quite a bit of weight--long before the lung cancer that ultimately killed him, so don't blame that.

So I should have included smoke?

Rick, excellent work. You’ve got spare parts and three identical machines now in one place. I really need to make a trip out there to see this all first hand…

Rick,

This is an amazing effort you are leading. You and the folks supporting the project have really earned a lot of respect in preservation.

First Class Operation.

Congratulations, Rick. This is so great.

I just watched your new Youtube video on the engines and really enjoyed learning about all the little design differences, e.g. Johnson bar notches, builder's plate mounting, etc., and also the significance of the Garfield injectors on a saddle tank engine.

Keep up the amazing work.

-Philip Marshall