Ran across this photo of Maryland & Pennsylvania SW-9 82. Is this the way it looks today? If so, it's nicely restored. This engine pulled the last trains out of Baltimore before the rails were removed there.

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/mpa/mapa82m.jpg
ryarger@rypn.org

> Ran across this photo of Maryland &
> Pennsylvania SW-9 82. Is this the way it
> looks today? If so, it's nicely restored.

I don't think so. As of Wednesday, I have a report that the Ma & Pa Preservation Society (the group that has the trackage at Muddy Creek Forks, Pa.) is working to acquire this engine from the parent corporation of YorkRail, the Gennessee & Wyoming group. Supposedly, however, shipping the unit over road to MCF will cost three times the purchase price (reported to be under $10K purchase). Reportedly (according to one member) they have close to the purchase price in hand but not relocation price.

Meanwhile, however, I have been on the trail of the other three MPA diesels, in part because there's a *possibility* the Baltimore Streetcar Museum *may* get the Ma & Pa roundhouse in the not-too-distant future, and a party with agents in Baltimore is looking to acquire a small diesel for temporary use for a while........ possibly a long-range win-win situation in the end.

Here's what I have:
SW1 70: Reputed to be in the former Republic/LTV steel plant in Canton, OH along with 80 (there are several unidentified SW1s in the plant; one of them is supposed to be 70......)
NW2 80: EMD c/n 4160, 12-1946--definitely Republic Steel/LTV 334 at Canton, Ohio
NW2 81: At RR Museum of Pa.

There are other MPA locos about, including one in the Staunton, Va. mess (#85, an NW2?), but none of those date from the Baltimore days.

Now, right now, the "wouldn't it be nice?" pipe dream would be for the locomotive users in Baltimore to grab the 600-hp SW1 from Canton, trade it to the MPA group for the SW9, and let the MPA group have a loco that would be easier on their track, while the SW9 (1200 hp) would get used for a spell and stuffed outside (or in?) the MPA roundhouse in Baltimore by the BSM.

Hey, I can dream.


LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

> Here's what I have:
> SW1 70: Reputed to be in the former
> Republic/LTV steel plant in Canton, OH along
> with 80 (there are several unidentified SW1s
> in the plant; one of them is supposed to be
> 70......)
> NW2 80: EMD c/n 4160, 12-1946--definitely
> Republic Steel/LTV 334 at Canton, Ohio
> NW2 81: At RR Museum of Pa.

In my experience with steel plant locos (including Republic), the units are so heavily modified and rebuilt that there is little beyond the frame that is original. The cost to bring them back to anything close to FRA compliant is significant. I spent close to $20,000 just to repair trucks and draft gear on one unit so it could move dead-in-tow on its own wheels. I would certainly suggest very close inspection of any steel plant loco to determine if there is sufficient historic fabric to justify the costs involved.

Alan Maples



AMaples@aol.com

> There are other MPA locos about, including
> one in the Staunton, Va. mess (#85, an
> NW2?),

Is the loco your refering to the one that used to serve a transflow operation in Fishersville VA?

If it is than I understand what you mean by a mess. How ever it's been sold to North Fork Lumber and is now in Goshen VA along with other equipment. Currently a monument to bad wheels. The other loco that was with it is now operating switching in plant loads of ties.

btrue@vt.edu

The info on #81 (Strasburg) and #85 (Goshen, VA) is correct. Not only does #85 have terrible wheels, it lacks a main generator. (Parts of the hood were cut away to remove it.) From 1986 until the early 1990s, the unit worked for Agmark Intermodal in Fishersville. It is ex-RDG #92, built 1941, sold to MPA in 1976, to AI in 1986.

#83 (blt 1936 as SC, reblt 09/57 to SW900M) is currently operated by Rail Tours in Jim Thorpe as #11 (worked for MPA 1967 through 1986), and #84 (P&LE origin, blt 1952, to MPA 1976) is still owned by YRC. #82 will, barring complications, go to MCF.

#81 was retired due to electrical ailments, which were supposedly not very serious. Of course, it has now been idle for something like five years, so it may NOW take some major doing to get it running again.

#82 (blt 11/51) leaks water like a sieve due to a warped cylinder head, but is otherwise operable.

The former MPA #86 (blt 05/53, to MPA 03/76, renumbered 1506 in 1992, originally RDG #621) was sold to the Reading Technical Society last January. It's operable, but needs TLC.

The three MPA CF7s (1500, 1502, 1504 -- ex ATSF 2417, 2426, 2425) are all still active in York, and are the backbone of that operation -- excellent locomotives they are, well-liked by the crews. CF7s might not be beautiful, but they are some tough workhorses -- ATSF built 'em to last.

#70 went to Republic Steel in 1959 (#326), and served there until the late 1990s (I think 1999...), when it was sold to Oxychem, retaining #326. In a photo from the early 1990s, the unit looked pretty much intact, except for the retrofitting of sealed-beam headlights. I have not heard anything else about this unit since it was sold (reported in Loco Notes II), and it's probably a waste of time contacting Oxychem about it.

#80 also went to Republic in 1959 (#334), and was retired by 1989 with a worn-out prime mover. Supposedly it was then converted to some sort of remote-control unit drawing its power from an overhead wire.
#70, #80, and #81 were all built 12/46.

I haven't heard anything about BSM acquiring the MPA roundhouse, but that would be great if it happened. Current owner Baltimore City Dept of Public Works IS looking to get rid of it.

Jeff Ellis
Baltimore, MD

> Is the loco your refering to the one that
> used to serve a transflow operation in
> Fishersville VA?

> If it is than I understand what you mean by
> a mess. How ever it's been sold to North
> Fork Lumber and is now in Goshen VA along
> with other equipment. Currently a monument
> to bad wheels. The other loco that was with
> it is now operating switching in plant loads
> of ties.


joydivision350125@yahoo.com

Having been through the escapade of returning ge13031 to decent operation after 50 years of steel plant type maintenance I can testify to the shortcuts (torchcuts) taken.

There are several additional places to look for problems namely transom cracks in the trucks ...the ones over the journal boxes should be readily apparent and welded wheels (a money saving scheme for insular railroads).


lamontdc@adelphia.net

> #80 also went to Republic in 1959 (#334),
> and was retired by 1989 with a worn-out
> prime mover. Supposedly it was then
> converted to some sort of remote-control
> unit drawing its power from an overhead
> wire.

*I have a roster from Republic which lists only two SW1's as having been converted to electric-overhead: former Canton RR (Baltimore) 22 and a lifelong resident of Republic Steel, 333. There ARE still four SW1's still unaccounted for, and therefore unless someone gets specific data we can still shrug our shoulders.

> I haven't heard anything about BSM acquiring
> the MPA roundhouse, but that would be great
> if it happened. Current owner Baltimore City
> Dept of Public Works IS looking to get rid
> of it.

This is a case of "don't count the chickens before they hatch". The City IS pulling out of the roundhouse, and the BSM in effect has first right of refusal. I've been helping the BSM with the necessary research and photos to help write a concrete proposal to the City for acquisition.

The basic idea would be to preserve it as an auxillary to the streetcar museum, since the BSM is NOT a "Ma & Pa Museum" (even though they display Ma & Pa photos and memorabilia). The ideas being floated about include a track or two into the roundhouse for display of older cars, possible garage display of the numerous buses the Museum owns but stores off-site, additional shop and library space in the adjacent buildings, and possibly some Ma & Pa equipment on display (bringing us back to those ex-Baltimore switchers).

Of course, one thing that's going to have to be factored in is the damage, if any, to the building's framework and floor from 40 years of rock salt filling the building literally to the rafters.

LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net