611 move to East End Shops

[NW Mailing List]

On 9/6/07, Ken wrote:

> Not necessarily, I don't know, and can't say it was malicious, but

> there are a variety of parts, i.e. air pumps, that were completely

> rebuilt, sitting in plastic on the shop floor that were sold, empty

> shells were placed back on the locomotive, when it would have been as

> simple to hang the rebuilt pumps back on. There are no flues and

> tubes in the locomotive, there are hardware store bolts holding the

> firebox together, not stays. Both flues, tubes and staybolts for 1218

> were sold at the auction. Now there was/is a boxcar with a bunch of

> parts shipped back to Roanoke with 1218, that stayed with it while

> stored in the old paint shop.

>

> It could run again, probably, but the costs of doing such are

> exponentially higher because of missing materials that were already

> on hand that could have been saved with the locomotive.



>From my page at https://filebox.vt.edu/users/bharper/nwrwy/1218.html

with comments from Steve Lee about the state of the 1218 at the
auction:

I saw the engine in the shop during the auction and got a good look at
it. The work that was in progress at the time was primarily firebox
work that was needed at the time the engine was restored but wasn't
completed at that time because of budget and time constraints. This
consisted of new partial side sheets in the firebox, a new door sheet,
most of a new mudring, and some new side sheet sections at the
mudring. This was in addition to replacement of flues, tubes and
superheaters and some appliance work that was normal maintenance, not
left over from the restoration. When I saw the engine, the new sheets
had been rolled and the staybolt holes punched, and were tackwelded in
place in the firebox. The ashpans, grates and grate bearers were out,
of course, as were the flues, tubes and superheaters. As I said, the
sheets were only tackwelded in place. There was still a great deal of
work to do in finish welding the sheets, riveting the mudring, and
making and driving several hundred staybolts. None of this work was
fully completed; the grates, grate bearers and ashpans were put back
in for appearance by Scott Lindsey and his crew.

NS's entire stock of flues, tubes, and superheater material was sold;
most of it went to scrappers because it was odd-sized and not of use
on any locomotives now running or under restoration. Some of the
appliances (injector, air pumps, lubricators, water pump, dynamo, etc)
now on the engine are shells, put back on for appearance only. The
appliances that had been rebuilt brought a much higher price at the
auction than would empty shells, of course, and no one at the auction
could stand the thought of fully-rebuilt appliances being put on a
locomotive that probably won't run again for many years, if at all.

As noted, N&W used a lot of odd-sized stuff, including odd-sized
staybolts and odd-sized flues and superheater units. Because these
things weren't adaptable to any other locomotives out there now, the
scrappers got it all. Of course, this stuff can be made new again from
scratch.

IMHO, NS could have simply scrapped the 1218 and all the machines,
parts, tools and supplies at the end of the program. Instead, they
spent some money putting 1218 back together, and made the other stuff
available to other users. Contrary to popular belief, they did not
make much, if any, money on the auction sale when all things are
considered, and much of that stuff is being used all over the country
now to keep other engines going and even to help in some restorations.
AFAIK, no one has ever given them any credit for that.

------------

Bruce in Blacksburg