It's obviously important to keep grounded in reality regarding hidden locomotives as Alex #4 opines. We've all chuckled at the "Pennsy B8a in the quarry". On the other hand, two beautiful 0-4-0 tank locomotives were discovered under a pile of discarded timbers and wall material in England, about ten years ago. Chasing the elusive locomotive that got away is a bit like buying a megabucks lottery ticket. The odds of winning are incredibly small, yet I love the thrill of the chase. It's not necessary to burst every bubble. It is important to recognize the flim-flam of rumors.
Now about that Niagara....

Frisco 1522 -

Your bringing up a Rock Island 4-8-4 jarred my memory. I recall seeing a photo of the five Rock Island steam locomotive's set aside for preservation; three 4-6-2's, a 4-8-2 AND a 4-8-4. The three Pacific's (887, 905 and 938) all ended up donated, but what happened to the Mountain and the Northern? Perhaps Area 51, but I'm hoping there is an old, abandoned Rock Island structure somewhere.......!


Les

Yes, Richard, about that Niagara. A cursory search of industrial buildings in Indiana that had rail into their interiors in 1949 that were in " country" settings totals about 1950. Of those nearly 3/4's have since severed their active rail connections or disappeared entirely.

Therefore, it is possible that some steam/history lovers on the NYC leadership team could have disobeyed Pearlman's order " to scrap every damn steam engine asap" and hid away a 6000 class locomotive in one of those buildings.

Not very likely, BUT until someone takes the task of examining every last one of those still extant buildings we'll never know.

Ross Rowland

Various "insiders" and "pros" have been doing/trying that for decades. Brother Rowlands managed to secure parts for his J&L narrow-gauge operation through them in their piles. But they, like most junkyards, don't cotton to random time-wasting "tire kickers" wandering around.

Your memory is correct Les. I made a post about this looooooooong ago asking about them

I believe the Rock Island 4-8-4 was of a later batch, 5114 if I’m not mistaken. Don’t recall the number of the 4-8-2. No idea what happened to them or why the rock scrapped those pieces and not the Pacifics. It’s a fairly large loss considering the rock had the most 4-8-4’s of any railroad.

There’s always stories though about “abandoned” engines. Like I’ve heard those of a PRR J1 buried in the Pitcairn PA yard under a duck under.

Steamguy73 -

The story of the PRR J1 2-10-4 that I heard was that it had gone down a hillside somewhere, was on the way to scrap anyway, and was deemed too dangerous to send crews down with torches and too costly to try to crane it back up, so they just left it there and sent gravel sliding down the hill to cover it up! Whatever, it would sure be nice to have a J1 hulk to try to restore.

Les

I do love the apocryphal stories, but they sprout like mushrooms, and pretty much
because they're based in the same material.

It would probably be a lot less expensive to build a new J1 from scratch than attempting to restore one that has been buried for over sixty years. Frankly, I would have preferred seeing a J1 built vs a T1, but there is fair amount speculation surrounding the rise and quick downfall of them. They want to prove that they weren't the failure that the company alluded.

While the prospects of finding complete locomotives are indeed nil, as mentioned above, there may still be a buried treasure of vintage engines out in the wild.

I have seen reports and photos of just about every large engine make in the basement of "X" building, because said building was built around the engine, and thus no way to get them out.

I have seen recent photos of a steam generating set in the basement of a NYC apartment building. Every large city is likely chock full of old iron that nobody sees.

742 was cut up by the Morristown & Erie circa 2014. I have some of the cab gauges and one of the sand filler hatches that I removed from the locomotive myself during scrapping. The PRR logo was showing through on the hood as it left the yard in pieces.... sad sight.

There are always rumors about locomotives being hid away someplace from prying eyes and scrappers. In Texas anyway, there was a rumor that the Southern Pacific had hidden away a freshly shopped Pacific used on the Sunbeam somewhere near the Houston Ship Channel. LOTS or warehouses with rail in them, but so far, the search has been unsuccessful.

Heres one that turned out to be true, The White Pass & Yukon steam locomotives used as landfill in Skagway that were recovered

"Erie 4-6-2 2524 if it's still out there"

This is the engine that was in Korea. The late Hal Carstens made it a personal quest.

However, it is gone. A 1970 Korean National RR roster showed 100 Standard Gauge steam locomotives, including two Pacifics, both KNR Class PaSi-5. Neither was used in passenger service but several MiKa-3 2-8-2's were working passenger.

The Korean railroad was built by the Japanese to Standard Gauge and US clearances but with left-hand drive as Japan National Railroad operated on the left. This made right-hand drive engines sent over from the USA undesirable versus the indigenous engines.

The US Government even bought the Koreans new MiKa-5 2-8-2's (left-hand drive) until the US Army brought some EMD SW-8's. Diesels were all the Koreans wanted after that.

Phil Mulligan
US Eighth Army Depot Command 1969-1970.

The old car shop at Juniata had all the old presses and equipment; most had Steam Locomotive gauges that unscrewed very easily! The faces were imprinted with "Main Steam", "Fine Coal" etc.

The far end had a set of T-1 Tender Trucks.

Of course there is the never found AT&SF locomotives that are still buried in a river
Kevin K