I am going to be in Augusta Ga sometime this week and I am thinking about going up to Greenwood SC. They have a Rockton and Rion 2-8-2 up there. Does anyone know if the museum has to be open in order to see the engine. I am not sure when I will be through, so it might be late in the day.
Thanks,
Eric

ealauterbach@earthlink.net

Eric:

I rode over to Greenwood about ~15 years ago one weekend to visit the museum and it was closed.
I have heard since that the museum is open irregularly, but this may have changed. You may be able to find some information about this museum on the South Carolina Railroad Museum (www.scrm.org) webpage. The SCRM operates on a portion of the original Rockton & Rion trackage. The R&R engine is directly adjacent to a chained-link fence, so you can at least get decent photos of the engineer's side and the front of the engine.

It's a very unusual 2-8-2: sort of like a big 2-8-0 with a lot of firebox overhang. The front of the firebox is above the rear set of drivers, but extends way past the drivers at the rear. The trailing axle is rigdly mounted in the frames (i.e.- not a trailing truck).

Good Luck,
Hugh Odom

> I am going to be in Augusta Ga sometime this
> week and I am thinking about going up to
> Greenwood SC. They have a Rockton and Rion
> 2-8-2 up there. Does anyone know if the
> museum has to be open in order to see the
> engine. I am not sure when I will be
> through, so it might be late in the day.
> Thanks,
> Eric


The Ultimate Steam Page
whodom@awod.com

Was this the museum that had two former Erie passenger cars - a diner and an "American" sleeper series sleeper, later EL office car #5? If so, I'd gladly pay for as many 4x6 snapshots of these cars as I could get.

Rob Piecuch
Chemung Valley RHS
Elmira, NY

> I am going to be in Augusta Ga sometime this
> week and I am thinking about going up to
> Greenwood SC. They have a Rockton and Rion
> 2-8-2 up there. Does anyone know if the
> museum has to be open in order to see the
> engine. I am not sure when I will be
> through, so it might be late in the day.
> Thanks,
> Eric


rpiecuch@servtech.com

> Eric:

> I rode over to Greenwood about ~15 years ago
> one weekend to visit the museum and it was
> closed.
> I have heard since that the museum is open
> irregularly, but this may have changed. You
> may be able to find some information about
> this museum on the South Carolina Railroad
> Museum (www.scrm.org) webpage. The SCRM
> operates on a portion of the original
> Rockton & Rion trackage. The R&R
> engine is directly adjacent to a
> chained-link fence, so you can at least get
> decent photos of the engineer's side and the
> front of the engine.

> It's a very unusual 2-8-2: sort of like a
> big 2-8-0 with a lot of firebox overhang.
> The front of the firebox is above the rear
> set of drivers, but extends way past the
> drivers at the rear. The trailing axle is
> rigdly mounted in the frames (i.e.- not a
> trailing truck).

> Good Luck,
> Hugh Odom

The Rockton-Rion 2-8-2 mentioned is only the tip of an extremely interesting steam locomotive story. As explained by Thomas Lawson, Jr. in his From The Steam Locomotive Archives column that appeared in issue #146 of THE SHORT LINE Magazine:
The Woodward Iron Company (of Birmingham, Alabama) purchased 5 nearly identical 2-8-2 locomotives from Baldwin between 1906 and 1912; numbers 19, 26, 29, 30 and 31. Due to a need for less power during the depression and the purchase of heavier locomotives, Woodward Iron started dis-possing of the group. Three of the engines (19, 26 and 30) were eventually sold leaving only numbers 29 and 31 still on the Woodward roster. Eventually number 29 was "parted out" and finally the last one (#31) was stored in a serviceable condition. Surprisingly, in 1962, the 31 was sold (with many parts) to the Rockton-Rion Railway where #19 had been in service since 1936! Mr. Lawson points out that this was probably the last steam locomotive sold in the U.S. between two unrelated companies where the steamer was intended to be used in non-railfan service. Although numbers 26, 29 and 30 were eventually disposed of, both of the Rockton-Rion locomotives were eventually preserved.

As a further sidelight, two other Woodward Iron Company steamers were preserved; 2-8-0 #38 (in Alabama) and 2-10-0 #41 (in Wisconsin.)

midlandblb@cs.com