Hoping to bring some passing attention to a locomotive that seems to have been mostly forgotten in more recent times.

Atlantic Coast Line #712 is a 2-8-0 built in 1903, sold to the Rockton and Rion in November of 1943, a mining railroad located near Winnsboro SC, about 45 minutes north of Columbia SC and 75 minutes south of Charlotte NC. Of the 5 surviving Rockton and Rion and locomotives, 712 is the only one to my knowledge that is still on the property, now the South Carolina Railroad Museum, is the oldest surviving steam locomotive of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and the only one to be a locomotive primarily suited for freight service (the others being two 4-6-0’s, a 4-6-2, and an 0-6-0).

Reported by several sources, 712 is privately owned and has been privately owned since its retirement. According to an RYPN post in 2002, the locomotive entered a 15 year lease to the SC Railroad Museum to cosmetically restore it, and to abate the asbestos. However, given the photos taken of it in more recent times, it appears that if any work has been undertaken to preserve it, it has been minimal, and seemingly sits buried in brush according to a 2015 photograph in the link below (last photo on the page)

https://www.scpictureproject.org/fairfi ... m.html/amp

This isn’t a post to blame any of the parties involved for the reason this locomotive has deteriorated, or to make a plea to see the locomotive operate (I’m quite aware the condition of this locomotive makes it very unlikely to see steam ever again). Rather, it is to simply bring attention to this locomotive, perhaps find someone more associated with the locomotive to provide more information about it, and maybe one day, see it finally be fixed up and be put properly on display as it deserves to be.

Any information is appreciated. Any way to suggest potentially helping in to save 712 is also appreciated.

Rarely hear much about them here but SCRM had a 12 mile short line ROW, the Rockton and Rion Railway, donated to them by Martin Marietta, and owning one's track is an enormous advantage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockton_and_Rion_Railway Not sure if it came with track, but they now operate on 5 miles of it.

cripes they can't even have some one run a weedeater around that poor engine?

Dave L-to respond to the idea of running a weedeater around 712, please let me elaborate on the first post in this string. 712 is privately owned, by a local family with ties to the area for a long, long time.

Decades ago I was involved with SCRM, and from what I remember, when you mix a long-time local family with the museum board, things got bogged down in some fashion.

There used to be an SCRM member who posted here, but that's been years ago as well. My knowledge isn't current, so if there are any SCRM members who can give updated info here, all the better.

John I understand it is privately owned.

There was also a largeish 0-4-0T at the old enginehouse keeping 712 company when I was there last, a long while back. No idea if it's still there or not. Both were pretty well depreciated even in the 1980s.

Dave, the 0-4-0T was there in the early 1990s, when I was last there.

PMC-the donation from Martin-Marietta to the museum group did include existing trackage. Not surprisingly, some locations were in better shape than others.

The line itself was 12 miles. IIRC, the last .5 miles (end-of-line) was tied up in ownership issues with the same family that owns 712. I believe that is why the museum only claims 11.5 miles.

It is an amazing time capsule to travel. In my time there as a volunteer I got to see all of it. It's unfortunate that the railroad/quarry machine shops online had their contents scrapped by the owners.

I had the good fortune to get a free tour of the locomotive shop around 1979 or so. I lived in Charleston and drove up with some friends one Saturday just to look around. We found the shop at Anderson Quarry and I stopped to peak through the cracks in the front doors. An older gentleman pulled up in a pickup and asked if he could help us. I explained we were just looking around, he opened the front door and invited us in.

The first thing we encountered was a big stack of new 2” boiler tubes. He explained they’d been purchased for the 712 around 1965 but were never installed. The stack was slowly diminishing in size as the tubes were used to build road gates, air lines, etc. The shop was fully equipped to keep a hard-working stable of steam locomotives running, with a full complement of hand and machine tools, a wheel lathe, a drop table, and IIRC, a small bridge crane. Of course the building itself was made from granite block mined right next door, with a steel roof, so it would have probably lasted another hundred years with minimal maintenance.

I didn’t find out the whole thing was demolished until years later. What a waste.

Sadly, SCRM is reminiscent of the ITM situation in several ways, including poorly maintained donated track (free to use in ITM's case, free in SCRM's case) and equipment being allowed to deteriorate, if they aren't careful their local government, as with ITM, might start to give them unfavorable scrutiny.

I recall seeing a photo of the 712 a number of years ago, before she was surrounded by vegetation. I remember thinking that she was a very good looking little 2-8-0.

Les

Les, when I was last down there in the early-mid 1990s, there was a faint ACL logo barely visible on the tender.

Here is the post from 2002
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3218
the museum then say the agreement is for the removal of the asbestos.

And here are some pics

1969
http://rrpicturearchives.net/locoPicture.aspx?id=237474

2007-2015
http://rrpicturearchives.net/LocoPicture.aspx?id=90534

It look like they made the minimum and remove the asbestos.

Technical data see here: Class L (Locobase 7679)
https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobas ... ilroad=acl

The posted photos show the boiler jacket removed, including in the cab on the backhead, so we can say that the boiler no longer has any insulation. But the steam chests did not have their covers removed, unless these were put back in place, and there still may be asbestos on the cylinders.

Sounds like a bit of spite going on. Unfortunate for the loco to be in the middle. Clearly it is at the end of the rail so it becomes irrelevant to both parties and it just sets turning into soil from which it came. If the lease has expired and it has been now what 5 years, the museum should just file a storage lien against it and take it by court order. But I doubt the museum wants to sink any more funds into the final asbestos removal which by now is even more costly. So the solution is to just ignore it.

Just moving it from where it is at now would be costly. No longer an asset but now a liability. If this was in a municipal park, the asbestos people would be demanding a removal or final cleanup.

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