Does anyone know the fate of the three EMD 567's and the Winton 8-233A in the Alfred I. duPont Building in Miami? Are they still there, retired in place? Or were they removed.....

Any recent news of other old diesels hidden in large buildings? There are dozens of 1950s engines in old AT&T buildings, municipal lighting plants, and retired powerhouses at Universities and Military Bases.

Sometimes the cost of removal exceeds the costs of just leaving them sitting decommissioned.

PC

The salesman must have did good in Miami that month..

Engine 5475 16-567 11/20/1938 Florida Power & Light, Miami - Mounted in Rail Power Car for Emergency use

Engine 5476 16-567 11/26/1938 AI DuPont Miami Power House

Engine 5477 16-567 11/23/1938 Florida Power & Light, Miami - Mounted in Rail Power Car for Emergency use

Engine 5478 8-233A 11/22/1938 AI DuPont

The next two engines are Winton 158's for AT&T at 195 Broadway, NYC.

If one looks at the various trade magazines of the era, such as Diesel Progress, you will see there are engines of damn near every make and model (Winton, Enterprise, Atlas, Chicago Pneumatic, M&S, the list goes on....) sold to various utilities, as well as of all things, department stores, for basement installation. There could be quite a large amount of old iron, thats simply trapped below the sidewalks, but would be fantastic to document if they still exist. The Winton/Cleveland records are just littered with engines all over the country (and world..) for smaller power uses.

Thanks for nailing down the two 158's in NYC, the notes I have did not provide the address and NYC is a big place to search for diesels in large buildings.

There are some of 567 B's and C's retired in place in New England, I have been able to visit some of them. Also an FM OP 38D8-1/8 in a town office, an ancient M&S retired operable but not run in years, etc.

Another place for Fairbanks Morse relics is Nebraska..........

PC

Back in 2001 what was widely regarded as the last Alco 16-244 in North America was found in a building in Pennsylvania and put up for sale on ebay of all places. It got some attention here, but apparently there was no interest in preserving it. I assume it was scrapped.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2416&p=9798&hilit=alco+244#p9798

I remember that Alco 16-244. It was in the Philadelphia Gear Company in King of Prussia. I believe the story goes that they wanted to give it away but found out how rare it was and that raised the price north of $50k I believe. That building was knocked down and is a Home Depot now. It was visible from Interstate 76.

NB. 195 Broadway isn't just any old office building. It was the *headquarters* of both AT&T and Western Union.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/195_Broadway

I'm sure it has some interesting mechanical features.

-Philip Marshall

Not sure if this fits into the intent of this thread or not?

Not a diesel guy but I have seen no mention of this so far on RYPN. Mid Continent took delivery of NW2 #1001 donated by publically unknown donor who bought and paid for the transportation according to the story. Was built in 1949, prime mover rebuilt to 567C in 2003 with many other upgrades {wiring and paint} in 2004. Came from Domtar {Nekoosa mill}. Originally AL&M #1001 Believe this had been advertised on Ozark at one time. Apparently there is another 1953 SW7 for sale from same mill or at least it was? Pictures in link here

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0502/alm1001.jpg

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr1200/mm0001.jpg

https://www.midcontinent.org/equipment- ... ocomotives


WPS shut down its coal fired power plant in Green Bay a little more than a month ago. They always had some vintage diesels at that plant but don't know what and if there are any plans to dispose of the locomotive or not. I think the plant is to be tore down eventually? Was kind of hoping it could be mothballed but EPA regulations probably prohibit any kind of common sense. Regards, John.

Well, if you're looking for a truly ancient diesel in large buildings, there's a 1929 Westinghouse locomotive, Armco Steel B70, that hidden away in the back corner of the shops at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, Georgia for the past twenty years. She was the first Westinghouse diesel locomotive commercially sold. Sadly there hasn't been a recent effort yet to cosmetically restore her, despite her historic value. This article sums her up: https://www.train-museum.org/locomotives-rolling-stock/locomotives/armco-steel-b-70/.

It would be great to get her cosmetically restored again, as there is now a going to be a bit more covered space at the museum since the museum is now going to add two more lines into one of their buildings.

The two units you are talking about are 54 and 60 years old. I'd imagine they are more expensive to maintain than newer plants. Even regulated utilities are not fully shielded from economic reality.

Do you think a museum would want them?

Brian

I have seen a few diesel light plants still in existence in my neck of the woods. The diesel light plant in Weatherford, Texas appears to still be intact.

Not only is the light plant in Granbury, Texas still intact, but it is occasionally opened and operated for visitors:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 7cf6bf02a8

Awhile back I was driving through Minden, Louisiana looking for their cotton compress and other historic buildings when I stumbled on their old light and water plant. It looks to still be operational; even though a more modern plant was built nearby in the 1950s or 1960s. I have no idea what equipment is/was installed.

When I worked for Entergy in the 1990s, they still had three diesel light plants on the books:

* Thibodaux, LA
* Rayville, LA
* Homer, LA
* Lake Providence
* Homer, LA

Lynch Plant, 5800 Lynch Dr., North Little Rock, AK also had some diesels installed along with the steam electric equipment.

The Homer diesels were listed as no longer running 1/1/83.

On the same trip I passed through Minden, I also swung through Rayville. I found what looks like was the Rayville diesel plant; the building was still more or less intact; but it looked like the equipment was scrapped out.

All but one of Dallas' steam pumping stations was intact until a few years ago, when we lost what was left of Turtle Creek Pumping station when the dairy it was part of was demolished. I went around and took pictures of all of them.

I was even able to get access to Cadiz Pumping Station. This pumping station is located right at the intersection of I-30 and I-45E in downtown Dallas. At the time of my visit, they were building a syphon to replace this sewage pumping station, and it was thought it would be demolished in the I-30 expansion; but as I type this, it is still standing.

The steam pumping equipment was gone; only the gauge board still remained on the wall. But there was a pair of Worthington diesel pumps still in place.

My neatest find was Waco Pumping Station. Not only was the building still intact, but it's horizontal cross-compound steam pumping engines were still in place. We got to tour them a few years ago.

Anyway, old pumping stations may also be another refuge for diesels; though along with steam most of them were replaced by electric pumps in the 1970s; the electric utilities offered them low electric rates to encourage them to retire their steam and diesel pumping stations so the utilities could add them to their base load. The Minden plant I posted earlier looked like it may have some diesel powered pumps in it.