One of the delights of being involved in railroad preservation is hearing the stories from the past about preserved engines and cars that were supposed to go to various tourist railroads or museums but never quite did for whatever reason. Some that come to mind that never came to pass:

-Wolfeboro RR 2-6-2 No. 250 to Black River & Western (1980s);
-Magma Arizona 2-8-0 No. 5 to Valley RR (1970s);
-LIRR No. 39 to BR&W (1970s);
-FEC 4-6-2 No. 148/DL&W No. 565 to the Adirondack RR (1980s);
-B&LE No. 643 to Steamtown (1990s);
-PRR I1 No. 4483 to RR Museum of Pa (1980s);
-Southern Ry 2-8-0 No. 385 to NH&I (1990s);

Any others?

-K.R. Bell

It was actually Magma Arizona 2-8-2 #7 that had been purchased by Stephen D. Bogen, one of the founders of the Valley Railroad (and long-time Vice President of VRR). Steve B. bought #7 in 1970, and was dismayed at the high cost that the railroads wanted to get #7 east ($25,000 in 1970 by ATSF just to get #7 to Chicago). He even offered #7 for a ten-year lease to any "qualifying" railroad for free, figuring that any "qualifying" line would be east of Chicago, and thus get #7 closer to her intended home. He eventually gave up and sold #7 to Texas State Railroad.

VRR did get a 2-8-2, Aberdeen & Rockfish #40, in 1977. Word at the time was BR&W was the hot competitor for #40.

Sam Freeman owned 148 and was involved with the Adirondack RR.; 565 and 148 were both being taken apart on the NH&I at about that time.

I was involved with Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. Red Arrow Lines single truck snow sweeper 3, which the Delaware Valley Short Line attempted to buy about 1960. The car barn foreman, Mr. Passmore, offered to tow it into the shop, but my father discouraged him, since it was falling through wide gauge track where it was sitting. Soon after, a near-by fire spread to it.

I might counter this with the bizarre situation that resulted in the Wilmington & Western in Delaware getting a HUGE collection, most of which never actually ran there or was only used sporadically at best.

The honor roll includes:
Buffalo Creek & Gauley 14, now in Gaithersburg, Md.;
0-6-0 AB&A 58/VBR #something, later to leave the W&W for Avondale, Pa. and then to return and finally steam;
PRR 0-6-0 60, still on display in Hockessin, Del.;
A massive PRR tender from Hagerstown, Md., used as a fuel tank and later sent to the PRR I1sa 4483 guys in New York;
leased SR 722, used for a season on trips on the Octararo;
Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson 2839, stored there post-SR steam duty and steamed for one trip on the Octararo in late 1982;
2-8-2T 37, owned by a couple members and I think finally departed for its native West Coast,
Navy #3, an 0-6-0T now stuffed outside a development in southern Delaware;
controlling interest in NYC 0-6-0 6894 in Hagerstown, Md. which finally went to a better home recently;
a Delaware native 0-4-0F (am I remembering it right?) still stuck in a siding mid-line......
"Hangar queen" 2-6-0 CN 92..........
Star loco 4-4-0 98..........
a GG1 that now languishes in New York State...........

Am I forgetting anything?

While I know that the folks in the Buffalo area are quite proud of this engine and have even recently done a little work into fixing her up cosmetically, I think that this idea needs to be revisited. She really needs to be reunited with the rest of the PRR collection in Strasburg where she can be better and more properly cared for.

Didn't the NYC 6894 go to Utica?

NYC 0-6-0 from Hagerstown went to Whitewater Valley in Indiana, rather recently. WVRR is on a New York Central branch.

NYC 0-6-0 that was on display in Dayton, OH went to Utica for display a few years ago.

Dammit, now you got me playing Devil's Advocate when I should be in bed.........

Why *$&^%#@ Strasburg? Don't they have enough g@dd@#(&d PRR steamers? And once something gets added there, it never can get deaccessioned without an act of God co-signed by Buddha, Mohammed, and L. Ron Hubbard..... which is why you'll never see a Pennsy 2-8-0 in steam, ever.........

My first pick for 4483: Altoona. Native, what they used on the mountain, and the museum will have a roundhouse for her. (Maybe.)

Second pick: Somewhere else in rugged PRR territory. Can you stuff and mount it in Shamokin, Pa.? Or across the highway from Enola Yards? Or........ ahem...... somewhere along the, errr, Buffalo Line........ like, say, Hamburg, NY?

Lewistown, Pa., home of one of the oldest PRR depots and a PRR archive?

Think outside the freakin' box, for gawd's sake!

Dagnabit! The 4483 IS in Hamburg, NY! http://www.trainweb.org/wnyrhs/4483Frame1Source1.htm

As you can see, she looks better then some the PRR engines at Strasburg too.

JKB

CN 3254 to leave Ashland and travel to New Hope for repairs and then to the Adirondack Rwy. late 1970's It was said that she was too big to run on the NH&I, weight-wise.

Rob

4483 was part of the original collection at Northumberland, correct? I was thinking in terms of keeping that collection together. While true enough, anything going into RRMPA will never come out to play again, 4483 will never see a fire in her firebox again regardless. And why would you want to run her? -- she's a track wrecker!

She makes a great display piece. You're right, Altoona is a good location for the I1.

As I understand it. 4483 was on a piece of track at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. It was promised to the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona. Several members of the Horseshoecurve Chapter of the NRHS actually went to Westinghouse and started to prep the engine for the move to Altoona. Several weeks later, much to their chigrin, they read in the newspaper that the locomotive ended up in NY. A sad but true tale. It appears to me that the group that has it in NY is taking care of it. However it will always be a personal dream of mine to have that locomotive in Altoona , housed in the roundhouse of the Harry Bennett Center (the next phase soon to be under construction.)
This story was told to me by M. Richard Charlesworth of the Horseshoe Curve Chapter of the NRHS. He was one of the guys that went to Westinghouse to prep the engine. He tells the story in all its glory including how dirty he got cleaning out the grease cellars under the alxes and how much crud was mixed in with that nasty hard grease!!

I would love to see the 4483 in Altoona, basically because it would put her alot closer to mE. But, it looks like the fine people in Hamburg are taking good care of her.

C&O 2700, supposed to be restored and returned to St Albins, but years and miles from there, and not looking too good.

The 37 is still on a siding along the W&W in DE. (BTW, it was owned by one W&W member). 37's new owners in CA are trying to raise funds to restore and relocate the engine. The plan is to send 37 first to Strasburg for restoration before heading out west.

As for the "gottaways",

After Sam Freeman removed his ex-FEC 4-6-2 148 from the Black River & Western in NJ., one of the steam locomotives the BR&W was very much interested in was Fred Steck's ex-CNR 2-6-0 91, then in Reese, MI. (and of course today on the M&H in PA). As mentioned by Howard, the BR&W was also interested in buying A&R 2-8-2 40, before the Valley got it.

DL&W 2-6-0 565 got a way from the Morris Country Central RR TWICE! First in 1968 when the MCC's John Maris bought the engine from the BR&W. Plans were to restore 565 for use on the MCC at Whippany, NJ. However Maris sold the engine to Tony Citro, who displayed the engine at his restaurant in Wayne, NJ. The second time was in 1975 when Citro bought into the MCC when it moved from Whippany to Newfoundland, NJ. Citro planned to restore 565 to operation for use on the MCC at Newfoundland. 565 went to the NH&I for an overhaul by contractor Frank Menair. The overhaul was aborted and the MCC eventually closed down in 1980.

Regards,
Jim Robinson

Espee 4-6-2 2472 was supposed to travel from the Golden Gate Railroad Museum to the Grand Canyon Railway, but the SP derailed that plan.