The thread on the value of the Climax has me wondering - earning potential aside, what would be its repacement cost? How much to build a new Climax from scratch today?

Does anyone know how much was paid several years ago for that new Chinese steam locomotive? It must have been a standard design with minor modifications made to conform with US requirements. I wonder if that company does custom orders? Someone with very deep pockets could order a reproduction of say...a NYC Hudson or Milwaukee Road Hiawatha 4-4-2. Anyone know if Bill Gates a closet railfan...?

tmanz@afo.net

> I wonder if
> that company does custom orders?

Strasburg scratch built a steam locomotive for a private individual a few years ago. I have no idea what the cost was.

> Anyone know
> if Bill Gates a closet railfan...?

Bill Gates is well out of the closet. It is very well known he is an avid railfan.


robsterne@hotmail.com

Tom,
I have a pack of MM&V (Marathon Music & Video) train videos. One of them is made by The New York Central System. It mentions that a Hudson costs 200,000 and a lot of investment money, but remember this video is from that day in age! It shows all about the railroads in that day (Steam Locomotives, The Freight Yard, and The Railroad Signal. Plus all the innovations!) . It is a very interesting video, and I suggest on trying to find a copy.

Aaron B.



norfolk_western_611@hotmail.com

from a magazine article it cost $390,000 for New York, Susquehanna & Western's engine. It's a off the shelf design custom built to meet U.S. standards of construction. These were some of the last steamers built in that plant.


UPspeeder@netzero.net

Bill Gates is well out of the closet. It is
very well known he is an avid railfan.

Are you serious ?

Spencer Shops
cookiemonster@rrmail.com

The thought of building a new steam locomotive in todays industrial environment is a tall order.Not impossible, but very tall.
This afternoon I was looking over the disassembled air pump on our ex-GT 0-6-0 #7470,and was thinking to myself,what a great amount of effort must have gone into making just this pump and the bracket that mounts it to the boiler!
I think america would be hard pressed to manufacture equipment of this type today.
Like most railroad buffs, I'd love to see new steam locomotives being built in the USA, but I think we'd better concentrate on whats left.
However...anybody got Bill Gates e-mail address?

Brian



bhebert@rypn.org

Why don't you contact DLM and ask them? This Swiss company was formed about a year ago when the Swiss Locomotive & Machine Works (SLM) sold off their steam department. In the 1990's, SLM built several brand-new technically advanced rack steam locomotives for rack railways in Switzerland and Austria. These 0-4-2T engines were oil-fired and set up for one man operation, and included very heavy boiler insulation, high superheat, improved exhaust systems, feedwater heaters, and other improvements.

Recently, DLM has made proposals for new narrow gauge adhesion engines for the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway in India and for rack-and-adhesion drive engines for the Nilgiri Railway in India (see the India Railways official webpage for information on the advertisements for these locomotives). DLM has new designs for several other classes of steam locomotives as well.

I'm sure they would be more than happy to provide a quote for a new U.S. steam locomotive, although it won't be cheap.

Click on the link below for their webpage.

Good Steaming,
Hugh Odom
The Ultimate Steam Page
http://www.trainweb.org/tusp/

> The thread on the value of the Climax has me
> wondering - earning potential aside, what
> would be its repacement cost? How much to
> build a new Climax from scratch today?

> Does anyone know how much was paid several
> years ago for that new Chinese steam
> locomotive? It must have been a standard
> design with minor modifications made to
> conform with US requirements. I wonder if
> that company does custom orders? Someone
> with very deep pockets could order a
> reproduction of say...a NYC Hudson or
> Milwaukee Road Hiawatha 4-4-2. Anyone know
> if Bill Gates a closet railfan...?


Dampflokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik DLM AG
whodom@awod.com

"...it cost $390,000 for New York, Susquehanna & Western's engine. It's a off the shelf design custom built to meet U.S. standards of construction. These were some of the last steamers built in that plant."

Dang! That's relatively cheap. That's about the price of three buses!! Now, if there exists somewhere in the world, an industrial plant capable of building large steam locos, what about a custom order. Tooling up for a one-time loco project...let's say ten times the cost of this Chinese Mikado (would that be a Mao-kado?), that would still bring our fantasy locomotive in at around $4 million.

Who wants to write the business plan?


tmanz@afo.net

Notwithstanding the smaller size and less raw stock needed, the live steam bunch does it all the time. Some of the machining I've seen is exquisite. Perhaps their skills could be tapped when us 12" = 1' guys need something fabricated.

> what a
> great amount of effort must have gone into
> making just this pump and the bracket that
> mounts it to the boiler!
> I think america would be hard pressed to
> manufacture equipment of this type today.


wyld@oc-net.com

If I remember correctly, there was a shop in Poland that offered to build a working replica of an American steam locomotive. Any class you want, all they needed was the drawings and the cash... or am I imagining things?

rjenkins@railfan.net

> If I remember correctly, there was a shop in
> Poland that offered to build a working
> replica of an American steam locomotive. Any
> class you want, all they needed was the
> drawings and the cash... or am I imagining
> things?

The company was "INTERLOK"- they have done lots of steam work for various groups in Europe. The link below is for their webpage, but it doesn't seem to be working this morning.

Good Steaming,
Hugh Odom

INTERLOK/ "Times of Glory"
whodom@awod.com

>

> Bill Gates is well out of the closet. It is
> very well known he is an avid railfan.

I have not heard if this is so, but the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation is interested in educational issues; perhaps the restoration of an important steam engine can be addressed in terms of elementry school study?

Ted Miles

ted_miles@NPS.gov