Taken directly from the new website:

"Durbin & Greenbrier Valley RR (DGVR) has awarded a contract to Sistersville, West Virginia-based Sistersville Tank Works to build a new, welded boiler for Buffalo Creek & Gauley steam locomotive No. 4.

The family-owned, custom-vessel fabrication company, has been in operation for over 120 years. Sistersville previously built the current boiler for Cass Scenic Railroad Heisler No. 6, which has given the railroad excellent service for nearly two decades since it debuted in 2004!

“We are proud to partner with a West Virginia owned company to help us return this legendary steam locomotive to operation,” said DGVR Pres. John Smith. “The team from Sistersville will be working closely with our Cass crew and the FRA throughout the build process to ensure the best quality possible.”

Once restoration is complete, the No. 4 will operate on the recently restored, 15-mile, Cass to Durbin line, departing from the Cass Scenic Railroad depot.

The new boiler will cost $675,000. To date, over $135,000 has been raised for the project. For those interested in helping fund the boiler, donations can be made on our [url]steamthe4.com[/url] website!

Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad No. 4 is a 2-8-0 steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1926 for the National Railway of Mexico, but never delivered. Originally intended to burn oil, it was converted to burn coal and eventually sold to the Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad in West Virginia.

During its life on the BC&G it was used to haul coal and passenger trains for the Dundon, WV based short line.

On February 27th, 1965, the No. 4 hauled the very last revenue train for the railroad. It was soon sold to the Quakertown and Eastern in 1972, a tourist line located in Quakertown, PA. Following a short-lived career in the Keystone State, the locomotive was purchased by Southwest Virginia Scenic Railroad of Hiltons, VA where it remained until 1978 when it was purchased by the North Carolina Transportation Museum. There, it operated until 2001, when much needed repairs forced the museum to take it out of service. The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad purchased the beloved BC&G No. 4 in the Spring of 2015.

To learn more about the BC&G No. 4, visit http://www.steamthe4.com"

In other news, via Trains magazine (probably behind a paywall):

"— The pandemic and a subsequent steel shortage stalled work on the Greenbrier River line to Cass in early 2020 at a bridge spanning Trout Run, 6 miles from Cass and 9 miles from Durbin. But work is now set to resume.

“A contract was signed in late August and the steel will be onsite no later than May1st,” Smith says. “It will take between four and eight weeks to set the girders and assemble the myriad of cross members and gussets to have the bridge in service. We’re planning on nothing earlier than Sept. 1st to open the line between Cass and Durbin.”"

That's great. A much deserved overhaul, I wonder what will happen to the old boiler.

Sanity finally prevailed. #4's boiler was in REAL bad shape. If it had been saved and rebuilt, every major piece of steel would have had some sort of major repair done to it. Spencer had already put a new crown sheet in it, and the throat sheet "hips" have been replaced. It needed side sheets, door sheet, a major backhead patch, and firebox wrapper sheet repaired. The dome course had a crack where in the past one of the air pump mounting studs had leaked. A big gob of weld had been applied. A nice crack grew out of the weld going forward, that a ever-lengthening weld had been applied. The front course was paper thin at the bottom, the front tube sheet was cracked, the bottom portion rotted to nothing.

It was about as used up as it could be.....

As to be expected after so many years of service. Maybe it will be cut up.

It is always good to see an engine get a new lease on life. Looking at the web sight I notice that the tube arrangement is square. That is an odd pattern. Are thy going to redesign with a hexagonal layout? Just curious.

Good to learn of another potential supplier for future replacement boilers.

If Sistersville has an open house during the build, as they did with the Cass boiler, go if you can. They’re proud of their work and it shows.

Great News!


Now if someone would just rescue the 722 at GSMR....

Hearing this news brings a smile to my face, and resurrects some old memories.
I was a low man on the totem pole that day as a student brakeman, but being on crew its last day in service at Spencer & the sentimental importance of seeing her under steam again means a lot.