Soo 2-8-0 at Shoreham roundhouse, Minneapolis, 9/57. Donated to New Town, ND in 1959. How's it doing today?

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?april03/04-09-03/soo451.jpg
ryarger@rypn.org

> Soo 2-8-0 at Shoreham roundhouse,
> Minneapolis, 9/57. Donated to New Town, ND
> in 1959. How's it doing today?

This is what it looked like in 1998. The New Town Chamber of Commerce provided this photo, which was said to have been taken shortly after a complete cosmetic restoration of the locomotive.

Soo Line 451

> This is what it looked like in 1998. The New
> Town Chamber of Commerce provided this
> photo, which was said to have been taken
> shortly after a complete cosmetic
> restoration of the locomotive.

I'd have to say that #451 is THE best preserved Soo engine in North Dakota, if not of all the preserved steam in the state (a contender to that title would be NP #4?? in Bananzavile, USA in Fargo)

Other preserved Soo steam in North Dakota are the follwing:

2-8-0 #440 in Harvey: In fair condition. If something is not done in the next 10 years, it might be looking pretty rough.

4-6-2 #735 in Minot: This engine was on the brink of being dumped in a hole becuase of a asbestos scare on the part of city council and city park board (discusses last fall on here). Here is an update by the person spearheading an effort to have the engine abated and saved:

"It's strange that you should ask today. We had a meeting, today,
with the parks committee on this project and the head of the park
district recommends we get rid of 735. We haven't given up yet. It was
encapsulated last week by 2 gentlemen from the Air National Guard
Technical Center. The talk at the meeting was "maybe we can save it
until spring". It need to have the holes around all of the piping
covered with tin. Then the idea arose to spray in an insulation
material in those holes and spray over them with a material such as is
sprayed in pickup boxes as a bed liner. Now the Chief engineer at the
Technical Center, wants to do a full blown removal. Probably will start
on it in the next couple of weeks, if we can get shelter installed by
then. This has to be EPA approved for a negative air atmosphere. I
haven't heard if the Park people will concur with this, but we can get
it done for no labor cost. Just material for wetting down asbestos and
shelter materials. Should be able to get by for, maybe, $2-3000. We
couldn't recommend this to anyone else. These guys were friends of
mine, when I worked at the Base. Guess they're paying me a favor, if it
happens , as it might. They are all aware of the plumbing situation, so
I feel they won't ruin very much and it won't be anything they can
accomplish with out breaking. I did ask the question if this engine
belonged to the Park Board or citizens of Minot. The original newspaper
printing said "Soo Line donates engine #735 to the citizens of Minot".
It certainly became quiet in that room then. I also recommended that if
it does belong to the citizens, we will have to have a special election
to see if they are ready to dispose of it."

2-8-0 2425 in Enderlin: This engine is the example of how not preserve a park engine. By 1999 2425 was in dire condition as it sat outside (uncovered) in a park since 1957, most if not appliances were long gone, tender rusted through, firebox full of discarded pop cans and garbage, timbers on pilot and cab rooted to the point of being dangerous if anyone climbed on them.

Luckily, the manager of the local bank set up a local found and committe to save and cosmetically restore the engine with help from CPRR. They were able raise a completely enclosed shed in 2000 to arrest the decay due to the harsh Dakota winters. I think someone from DRS or Steam Operations came up and took and evaluation and estimate for the committee.

But so far nothing that I have heard has been done to the engine, it seems that they are still raising funds before they start on anything.


terry_dempsey@hotmail.com