Alright, having done some digging, you're right about 611. Did find this:
- from VMT Itself at some point supposedly. So I don't feel its was that big a mistake to make for someone that was 10 years old at the time and on the other side of the nation to boot.... I still feel like I've read somewhere that she had had recent maintenance or something, but I can't be bothered to go digging beyond what I have, particularly since I just proved you right on this point.
It's no big deal, Falcus. : ) But other than the constant maintenance, inspection, and general repair on a regular basis that all steam locomotives require, I can't remember #611 going in the shops for any
major repairs after she was restored in 1982 through the day of her final run in 1994.
5As for 1218, I did mention that alot of my post was rumor and speculation. Though I'm not sure what to think when I read that its a legend that "1218's boiler is completely empty now" (Which by the way I never said, I only mentioned the Crown Sheet), and then in the next line say "The only missing pieces are the boiler tubes and Superheater Return pipes" which is a good 70+% of what would sit in the front half of the boiler, and probably 60% of the total innards of the boiler assembly itself..... Either way, I'm not really interested in a semantics debate about "complete", but either 1218 is missing pieces or its not..... And you yourself agree it is (or was).
RE: the so-called "missing pieces": To meet current FRA requirements for steam locomotives, you'd have to strip the boiler inside and out to physically get at everything for inspection of every sheet, seam, rivet, support parts, etc. So the fire tubes that are "missing" would have to be cut out if they were still in place, to do a proper inspection. Then you'd have to acquire new tubes, then fit and weld them back in place, etc. New tubes can be made, and pounded by in, welded in place, etc. It's no "biggie." The fact that 1218's boiler tubes are already out is a good thing because that makes inspection possible.
I think a lot of people seem to think that 1218's boiler was misplaced, got loaded onto a boxcar that turned up "missing", or somehow, someone removed it on some darken night and sold it for scrap and now 1218 has nothing what so ever under her boiler shroud. Maybe someone should walk up to #1218 and rap their knuckles on the underside of her firebox to see if it's made of real iron or if it's just a papier-mâché mock-up!
She may be missing her old worn out boiler tubes but there's more to a steam locomotive's boiler than just tubes.
A very literal cutaway view of a steam locomotive boiler...
Finally, the primary crux of my post was "1218 vs 2156" as a candidate restoration. With regard to everything brought up, I still believe 1218 is the more likely candidate. I'd have to hear something like "Bob and Andy have been out there every weekend for the last 50 Years in the hot & dry Climate we stored it in to do routine small maintenance on her!" Before I'd think 2156 would be in a better position as a restoration candidate, or something to that effect....
Cheers,
-Falcus
Well, Scott Lindsay, president of the Birmingham, Alabama based
Steam Operations Corporation, was on the 611 Restoration Team, acting as project coordinator and was in charge of the mechanical team that rebuilt #611. If the Virginia Transportation Museum (VTM) gets to the point of being seriously interested in exploring the the possibility of restoring #2156 and #1218, I suspect Lindsay's firm will be called in to inspect the locomotives and provide a rather detailed report that evaluates each locomotive's potential for restoration. Until that sort of inspection is done, it's anybody's guess as to which locomotive would make the best candidate for restoration.
Both No. 1218 and No. 2156 left the N&W in 1959. No. 1218 was sold to the Union Carbide plant in South Charleston, WV, where she has was used a backup boiler for the plant, so she spent her early retirement years at Union Carbide, and I believe she was stored indoors for most or perhaps all of her time there. But she sold and went to Steamtown in 1965, and I'm pretty sure she then spent several years
stored outdoors, until she was finally stolen, err, I mean "rescued", by the Transportation Museum in Roanoke, which was sometime in the early 1980s, I believe.
The photo above shows what No. 1218 looked like in 1969. I don't think No. 2156 was ever allowed to deteriorate to that point anytime after the N&W donated her to the museum in St. Louis.
No. 1218 looked real nice and shiny in the 1980s after she was restored, and she still looks great today, but it's not like she has lead a completely sheltered life.
A very literal cutaway view of a steam locomotive boiler...
