This has everything to do with standard gauge and the real history of our hobby. Some very key pieces of our most important railway history has been left on a rail to rot in upstate NY. This is bad, disgusting and needs to be fixed.
Do you like 402's, 408e's, 1912's, 42'2, 54's or how about a Rare Ives Black Rubber Stamped 3243 found in weeds! Along with AF 4687. Well, the prototype for all of these and quite a few other classic standard gauge and o gauge trains was the New York S-1.
You ready to puke? The reddish looking loco in the picture is the original New York Central S1 Motor #100. That isn't a typo. It's the original loco that started our hobby off. Built in 1904 by GE/Alco. I actually saw one of these (not this one) in Grand Central many years ago and it was really amazing. The other loco is a New York Central T3a Motor #278. Probably one of a kind at this point. They are rotting outside of Albany, NY right now and have been there for at least 20 years.
My friend Dave pointed this out to me and I am kicking myself silly. I saw this S-1 years ago in NY State rotting away and thought that surely it must be slated for restoration.
Well, follow the link above and you will catch some of the sad story of how this absolutely critical part of our railroading history has been left to rot in the forest in the ass end of Upstate NY.
To quote Indiana Jones "These belong in a museum". Supposedly these folks own these locos and a few more left to rot (including a U25B): Mohawk & Hudson chapter NRHS. Does anyone know these folks? Why hasn't this been fixed? Does anyone want to jump in my SUV and haul up to Albany with a digital camera and some mosquito repellant to get some pictures?
Can't we get these to a reputable train museum for storage and restoration? I sure as hell am going to make some phone calls, donate some money and bring this up at a few train meetings. If I had a huge helicopter or some heavy machinery these would be gone faster than a jack rabbit on a Nascar track.
This is definitely NOT a fitting end to a major piece of railroad history like this. It belongs at the TCA Museum (at the very least) or at a reputable train museum anywhere in the world. This just isn't right.
Marc
2 comments:
Well at least it didn't get scrapped yet. I might be driving by that way this weekend, will see if I can locate it for pics.
FYI: Some abandoned trains are visible on Google Maps satellite view near Glenmont, NY.
Bert
Has anyone looked into saving these since your post? I went by there this weekend and it looked like someone was at least starting to fix them up. The wooden bits were removed and stored inside and there are new "no trespassing" signs up.
-John
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