FM Trainmasters

[NW Mailing List]

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 10:03 PM, Jeff wrote:


>  Bruce,

>

> Thanks for your inquiry which has brought forth a very interesting

> discussion.

>


Actually, Jimmy Lisle gets credit for opening this can of worms -- I mean,
starting this interesting thread :-)

 I do remember the rumors of the day that floated around concerning the

> "deliberate" non-action toward saving the 173, and I personally would not

> rule that out. I just don't think we will ever see any "smoking gun"

> documentation.

>

> In a later post, I appreciate the further clarification by Robb Fisher

> regarding specific dates of the program, numbers, classes, etc. Robb, you

> obviously have much more specific info than I do. I did find a note in my

> records that the 173 wasn't converted until 1981, which you verified for me.

>


I had no expectation that anyone would come up with actual documentation
(paper, an audio recording, whatever) of whichever honcho ordering the
destruction of the Trainmaster. But we are a little further along in what we
do know, that there was a slug conversion program and 173 was a part of it.
Now if there is a way to back up the Turntable Times info with a second
source, we will be even further ahead.

Part of my impetus for pushing for data and details is to better document
what we know now, while there is access to people who may know "the rest of
the story" (no matter what story we may be talking about). Ron Davis, Roger
Link, and Gordon Hamilton present the list with great news stories from 100
and 50 years ago that give a good glimpse of what was going on on and around
the N&W at the time. Some of those stories have sparked lively discussions
about "where was that location?" or "what type of engine was that and what
happened to them?" If we can gather the information that is available now,
then these types of questions 100 years from now might be easier to answer,
i.e., when someone finds the photos of that 1776-173 excursion, then there
will be a way for curious people to know when the 173 was converted (and its
eventual fate as a slug) and what happened to the 1776.

It is the least we can do as historians interested in the N&W.

Bruce in Blacksburg
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