Per facebook posts from Mike Tilley with the Watauga Valley NRHS chapter, there is a 1943 Porter diesel in Bristol, VA. Used in conjunction with the Bristol & Northwestern shortline. Last operated 30 years ago. Rebuilt trucks, but friction bearings. Will have to be trucked out. Owner is willing to let go for scrap value, but time is VERY limited.

Any serious offers, please get in touch with Mike Tilley of Watauga NRHS. I do have a phone number for Mike Tilley if needed.

That's interesting, a streamlined light switcher.
Here is a photo of it in service,
https://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr4427.htm
https://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr1105/bnw5.jpg
According to the Don Ross pages, it was apparently was #5


I had forgotten that the Bristol and Northwestern was a tourist railroad that featured CB&Q 4960.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1947923
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2257846
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3701109

I thought Porter only made small steam engines. What prime mover did Porter use?

Porter built steam locomotives up to 2-8-2 for logging operations. IIRC, during World War Two it built some of the US Army narrow-gauge 2-8-2s that were used (or intended for) overseas use.

I hope it finds a good home. How complete is it? Does anybody know how much it weighs?

For what it's worth, Porter also made narrow gauge diesel locomotives. A very interesting example was used on the 3' gauge FCHH (Huancayo & Huancavelica RR) in Peru. It looked much more streamlined than this one. I had found a photo of it, but lost which site it came from.
Take care and be safe,

John

P.S. OH! How could I forget about the IRCA 154-156, which were fairly large 3' gauge 2-8-2s built in 1930. (They were about the same size as the D&RGW K-27s.)

The Porter diesel there in Bristol, VA looks as if it could be a sister to the Porter here at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum. Our Porter is s/n 7391 built 9/42 and is a Model DE65. The Porter there in Bristol does have a different headlight casing, but otherwise seems to be similar. The photo shows s/n 7391 in HVRM's Shop as she undergoes a slow but steady restoration to active service. Not sure how many of these DE65's were built, or just how many still survive. Would be nice if some organization could save the engine in Bristol.

Les

I rode the B&NW, and always wondered why it failed.

I was provided this information by Mr. Tilley:

It looks like about everything is still on engine and the trucks and traction motors were rebuilt just months before it was parked in 1990. It can be trucked out but with it setting out in weather and the windows broke out, it's going to be a rebuild. I understand it's 55 tonner.

There are more photos/info at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 8221843231

According to the sources I'm looking at, this should be a 65-tonner, not a 55-tonner; Porter built 45- and 65-tonners, with 49 of the latter built between 1942 and Porter being taken over by Davenport in 1950. The specifics of this loco date it to the "middle" phase between 1943 and 1946 or so.

My understanding is that it will be saved. There are two interested parties, with one being a bit faster to stake its claim than the other.

Rest easy gentlemen.

Chris

scratchyX1 said:

I was curious too. From what I see on RYPN, we have a few inklings:

A post in 2003:
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4757&p=22230


2010
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30062&p=146908


2011
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31743&p=161189


... but those three references seem to be about it.

According to data from Westinghouse Electric Corp. files Porter b/n 7646 was shipped on 4/3/1944 as Jackson Iron & Steel #2. It is a 65 ton d/e powered by two Cummins HBIS-600 engines rated at 175 HP each. It had two Westinghouse 193PC main generators and four Westinghouse 1443A traction motors with a 16:1 gear ratio to 36" wheels. Westinghouse's involvement included the presence of a field service engineer at the Porter plant during final tests of the loco. Reports filed by that engineer that have provided details of Westinghouse-equipped Porters.

When I found this loco at Jackson, OH in the late 1960s it was still #2 and appeared to be in frequent use. One oddity is that it did not have the expected Porter badge shaped bullder's plates. Instead there was a framed placard inside the cab explaining that it was serial number 7646 and that wartime material shortages necessitated the omission of serial number plates. Of the many WWII era Porters I've seen and examined this was the only case of plate omission that I've come across.

It's not surprising to me that a couple of JISCO Diesel switchers ended up on the Bristol and Northwestern. A few on here, like me, know that #4960 ended up in Jackson, OH around 1980-'81 for overhaul work while Jerry Jacobson was rebuilding 0-6-0 JISCO #3 (BLW #26). For awhile the old JISCO mill site was something of a hotbed of railroad restoration, with those two steam locomotives and Dave Corbitt's ex-D&RGW, ex-PM lounge car Eagle Canon (I don't have the capability of adding the Spanish accent mark) all there being worked on. It all ended rather quickly by early 1983 when something happened (I think the site had been sold for scrapping), and everything had to be removed or lose their connection to the outside world. It was at that point that Jerry arranged to move and store #3 at the Mad River & NKP Museum in Bellevue.

Chris -

Please keep us posted, as best you can.


Les

Sorry to be this type of guy, but did the 65 tonner eventually move?