Hello Everyone-
The curiosity has gotten the better of me. I've seen it asked seemingly hundreds of times, but I have yet to see a full list of what Spence had, and worse, surprisingly few photos seem to exist. Putting my efforts where my mouth is, I have found the following, through a variety of sources. Its still nowhere near complete, but there just HAVE to be others who can help with this. I've listed their L&E #'s behind the wheel arrangment, if I could find it. Spence seemed to have no cares about switching numbers on the same locomotive, which may explain some of the difficulty in tracking the collection:

1.) Texas & Pacific #800 (2-8-2), LE #9
2.) GM&O #486 (0-6-0), LE #18
3.) GTW #7526 (0-6-0), ?
4.) NKP #171 (4-6-4), ?
5.) NKP #172 (4-6-4), ?
6.) NKP #173 (4-6-4), ?
7.) T&NO #260 (4-4-0), LE #2 (survived)
8.) Red River & Gulf #104 (4-4-0), LE #1 (survived)
9.) GM&N #425 (4-6-2), LE# #6 (survived)
10.) Miss. Central #98 (4-4-0), LE #7 (Survived)
11.) Miss. Central #120 (2-8-2), LE #14
12.) GM&O #45 (0-6-0), LE# 17/ 21

That's only 12 of the 30+ ---- time for other's to start digging up the rest. From what I can tell, scrapping commenced in 1961/ 62 or so; yet to determine and end date?

T.J. Gaffney

I have this information somewhere, from the late Wilbur Golson, who was a frequent guest engineer at Spence's RR. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find it at the moment. Perhaps someone else who corresponded with Wilbur may also have the same list. Railroad magazine apparently printed a roster in the February 1961 issue; Just looked and I do not have that issue.

I seem to remember there was a New York Central engine in there, perhaps a Mohawk? I have seen info on this but its been years ago. I always thought it was one of those "ones that got away" situations.

There were some other sweatheart engines as I recall. There was an article on all this in either Trains or Railfan some years ago.

I also remember seeing some of this in Herrons video he mentioned.

I was in Roanoke one week before the last Pocahontas ran, as our family rode the train from Cincinnati for one last trip. I remember poking around the Y6's with my younger brother, and have some slides of them. I did not know the 2174 was the same one on the July 1959 fantrip. I was eight, and rode that one.

Recently I have been working on Burlington project and we have some trips with 4-8-4 5632, which was scrapped in the 70's, so these threads on late scrappings really hit home. I regret never seeing the 5632 in action.

Greg Scholl

Per Steam Locomotive Info, a sister locomotive to Mr Spence's Mississippi Central engines survived. 2-8-2 # 141, Alco 1923, survives in Georgetown, Ms.

Years ago there was a photo roster in TRAINS magazine. By checking the magazine index at the Klambach website I find that it was back in the March 1963 issue.

Found the March 1963 Trains, which has over 20 photos, but no listing of engines, plus the list I got from Wilbur Golson. I won't attempt to include the phony numbers Spence gave them, nor previous RR numbers. Here goes:

SP 260, 4-4-0 (now at Stone Mtn.)

GM&O 580, 4-6-2 (now at Reading & Northern)

GM&O 581, 4-6-2

T&P 700, 4-6-2 (LFM drivers)

IC 1180, 4-6-2

IC 1196, 4-6-2

NKP 173, 174. 175, 4-6-4s

Canton & Carthage 202, 2-8-2

Abilene & Southern 20, 2-8-2

Mississippi Central 120, 2-8-2

L&A 562, 563, 565, 2-8-2s (1936 Limas)

IC 3769, 2-8-2

GM&O 475, 485, 2-8-2s (light USRA)

T&P 800, 810, 2-8-2s (light USRA rebuilt w/ LFM drivers, etc.)

GM&O 45, 0-6-0 (USRA)

T&P 472, 478, 0-6-0s (USRA copies)

GTW 7524, 0-6-0 (USRA)

GT New England Lines 7528, 0-6-0 (USRA)

IC 303, 305, 0-6-0s

IC 3519, 3572, 0-8-0s

L&A 252, 0-8-0 (ex-FEC)

IC 2037, 4-6-2

Red River & Gulf 104, 4-4-0 (now at Stone Mtn.)

Mississippi Central 140, 2-8-2 (scrapped 1960)

Mississippi Central 98, 4-4-0 (now at Wilmington & Western)

IC 3334, 0-6-0 (scrapped in 1951)

L&A 82, 2-6-0 (scrapped 1951)

L&A 425, 2-8-0 (ex-Colorado Midland, scrapped 1951)

All scrapped except the four engines so noted.

I guess I stand corrected regarding the NYC engines. I guess the engines that stood out most to me were the three Nickel Plate Engines. If you look at the list all the engines were from the southern region except the three NKP engines from the North.
Greg

Greg,

Up here north of the mason-dixon line, we like to think of New England and Canada as "north," so I also mourn the loss of the GT/GTW engines. ;-)


Sarcastically yours,

Rob

Amen, my brother railfan.

Thanks to all by the way, for filling in the gaps!

TJG

Umm I'm very new to this. Who was Spence and what was his railroad? He really had all those engines?

-Eric

Yes, he really did. Go back to this thread from a few days ago and read it through and you'll know pretty much what there is to know:

http://www.rypn.org/interchange/viewtopic.php?t=2048&topic_view=flat