J #604 builders plate

[NW Mailing List]

About 1950, N&W started moving the builders plates on the J's, K2's and
K2a's to just below the running board. We first noticed this when the 611
was built with no visible builders plates. But they were there - just in a
new location where they were not easily visible. I suppose this was a
cosmetic consideration (the streamlining was not interrupted by the builders
plate, or maybe they didn't want people noticing how old the K's were.)
Anyway, this was what happened, but all the J's still had their plates
firmly attached to the smokebox - just lower than they had been. Don't know
about the 604, but some J's were stored temporarily at Bluefield before
being sent to the scrappers in Portsmouth. So it is just possible that some
fine Bluefield person stole one while the 604 was there. Or maybe they got
it from the scrapper and returned to Bluefield with it. Who knows? But if
two more people should say they have a plate from the 604, then at least one
of them is suspect. BTW, the J plates were chrome plated, with the recessed
area being painted black. If yours doesn't look like that, I would consider
it suspect.    Jim Nichols


-----Original Message-----
From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org
[mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2009 6:32 PM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: J #604 builders plate

Greetings from Dry Branch,
         Would anyone have any ideas on how I can authenticate a "J" 
builders plate I came across a couple weeks ago?  I would have thought all 
14 numbers had been accounted for by now but this does seem to be the real 
deal. It's from the 604 and the only history I have is that it came from 
Bluefield. I've noticed that pictures dating from after the wreck on 
6/12/46 show no builders plates and wonder if they could have been left off 
after the repair. I know it's going to be difficult to piece together the 
history but I'd like to try. Any suggestions or info will be greatly 
appreciated.

Chuck Speicher
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