Some time back there was a post about someone who claimed to have found two boilers from SP cab-forwards, still in use at a lumber mill out west. Any newer news/comments on this discovery?

There was something on the Rumorweb Yahoo Group some time ago. I think the boiler found proved to be too small for a cab-forward, but start your inquiry here:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/r ... essage/203

The boiler from AC-11 #4268 was still in use at a Placerville, CA-area lumber mill into the 1970s, fired off sawdust. I believe there were one or two other ex-SP boilers at this outfit, though I can't recall from what. (MT, perhaps?)

What made the news of this discovery (if that's what it is) so interesting is that those early claims mentioned that the discoverer was able to obtain at least one builder's plate-I recall seeing a picture of that.

What would be even more interesting is to know how those boilers got there-were the entire locomotives brought in and partially scrapped, or what....

Furthermore, do the boilers rest onthe original frames, and do any parts of a recognizable locomotive configuration remain? Otherwise, apart from relic status, I'm not sure there is a reason to preserve these beyond curiousity status. Other opinions?

A naked boiler would make a neat display in the historic Sacramento Shops building at CSRM...

Erik-were you thinking "sectioned" boiler, i.e. with part(s) of the shell cut away for interpretive/learning purposes? Sounds like a great display.

I can't speak for Erik, but I would stongly oppose sectioning another locomotive or a part thereof. The alternative is a G scale brass setioning. The B&O Museum has such a model of 4-6-2 #5300 aka President Washington sitting in front of the prototype in the North Car Shop.

A more proper display would be to show the boiler with the flues partially removed so people could see what it really looked like half disassembled.

*sigh*

Okay, folks, one last time:

Has anyone actually SEEN this damn alleged boiler, or even the alleged builder's plate? Photos, GPS coordinates, escorts by sherpas, satellite photos, photos by military drones??

"Buehler? BUEHLER?"

[crickets chirping]

................................

I assume we now have the Western U.S. version of the alleged PRR T1/NYC Hudson/B&O EM-1 stashed in a cave/quarry/steel mill/barn..........

This link, WITH PHOTO, was included in an earlier e-mail on the subject in 2004. Alas, the boiler is gone, ca 1974.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... ?11,730464

Wesley

I heard it was at the bottom of a flooded quarry.

Usually I agree with Kevin, but after seeing the BR engine at York about six years ago, I have to disagree. They did a great job cure into that, and its impact was immediately apparent, as my "newlywed" wife at the time said "oh, so that's how it works...."

TJ

It is a great exhibit, but it was completed at the singular cost of a Merchant class Pacific. I think what Eric was proposing was a use for a locomotive boiler that has no hope of ever being employed as an operative locomotive. In that respect, the point is well taken.

........... of which there are so darn many of in the UK, in conditions ranging from main-line-running to derelict ex-Barry hulks rusting away....... by my count there are THIRTY-ONE of these Pacifics (Merchant Navy and Battle of Britain classes of Bullied Pacifics) still around. We aren't talking a UP 4-8-4, PRR K4s, SR Ps-4, or SP Gs-4 here.

In addition, many surviving locos are "basket cases" bereft of many parts. A dozen of the aforementioned Bullied Pacifics were pulled from Woodhams Bros. scrapyard in Barry, South Wales, in very derelict condition in the last days of the scrapyard clearance. In such cases, the "sectioning" of an otherwise very redundant locomotive may certainly be by far the best use for such a loco.

Indeed, and thanks, Richard. My idea was more to replicate, diorama style, the kind of scene that might have been typical in an SP backshop or boiler shop--a big locomotive boiler on cribbing, perhaps with typical tools around and interpretive signage about the boilermaker's trade. And I was really not predicating it on the actual existance of the specific boiler being dicussed, just trying to make the general point that even a plain boiler, in the right interpretive context, could make a neat display.

Personally, I happen to be a fan of sectioned locomotive displays, but that was not where I was going with this specific throw-away idea--I actually think you need a complete locomotive for that, not a boiler alone.