WMSR Gets Second ex-NS GE Dash 8

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Dec 29, 2023 9:36 pm

From their Facebook post:

Quote:

In September, WMSR purchased two B32-8’s from Northern Illinois & Wisconsin Railway dba NIWX Corporation’s John Howell. Both units started life on the Norfolk Southern. Many railfans and WMSR followers will remember that #558 was leased for its first year in Cumberland from NIWX. Thank you John for your support.

#561 arrived in September under the cover of darkness, and stored awaiting service. Her most recent service had been with our friends at Everett Railroad Company.

So, if you were watching this afternoon…you may have seen this. Welcome #561 to her new home! She entered service today and will be painted to match #558 this spring.

ATSFRyan · **Posted:** Sat Dec 30, 2023 12:17 am

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

From their Facebook post:

Quote:

In September, WMSR purchased two B32-8’s from Northern Illinois & Wisconsin Railway dba NIWX Corporation’s John Howell. Both units started life on the Norfolk Southern. Many railfans and WMSR followers will remember that #558 was leased for its first year in Cumberland from NIWX. Thank you John for your support.

#561 arrived in September under the cover of darkness, and stored awaiting service. Her most recent service had been with our friends at Everett Railroad Company.

So, if you were watching this afternoon…you may have seen this. Welcome #561 to her new home! She entered service today and will be painted to match #558 this spring.

Who needs 1309 operating anymore when you can have diesel freight units! (sarcasm).

CMDoc87 · **Joined:** Sat Apr 09, 2022 12:59 am **Posts:** 10

Overmod · **Joined:** Thu May 24, 2012 1:37 pm **Posts:** 2239

I for one am thrilled that B32-8s can be seen operating.

It's not 'either-or' -- and I'd be delighted to see a train 'coming or going' the way they currently operate 1309...

JDLX · **Posted:** Sun Dec 31, 2023 4:42 pm

It's been reported elsewhere- but somewhat strangely not here- that the 1309 is down again indefinitely, as per what they posted to their facebook page it now needs full replacement of the piston heads and rods, they say it was work they were planning to do but it needs to be done now. And a number of their other diesels are either down or not available. Appears they need all the power they can get at the moment.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2305

JDLX wrote:

It's been reported elsewhere- but somewhat strangely not here- that the 1309 is down again indefinitely, as per what they posted to their facebook page it now needs full replacement of the piston heads and rods, they say it was work they were planning to do but it needs to be done now. And a number of their other diesels are either down or not available. Appears they need all the power they can get at the moment.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... operation/

Crescent-Zephyr · **Joined:** Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm **Posts:** 1500

I hope I didn’t miss out on the 1309 - halfway sounds like they are throwing in the towel if they are fundraising for 734.

nathansixchime · **Joined:** Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:03 pm **Posts:** 925

FWIW they've been quietly fundraising for 734 for a while: https://wmsr.com/our-locomotives/western-maryland-734

BWills · **Joined:** Thu Feb 02, 2023 1:55 pm **Posts:** 39

maybe they have realized that the 734, once back in service, is a little easier to deal with from a maintenance perspective etc than the 1309.

+1 for the comment on hoping I didn't miss seeing it run.

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2305

Is 10-12 years of service life typical before needing to replace pistons and rods? I honestly don't know.

QJdriver · **Posted:** Tue Jan 09, 2024 9:37 pm

I'm going to take a wild guess that they end up swapping pistons and rods with C&O #1308.

msrlha_archivist · **Joined:** Sat Mar 02, 2013 3:33 pm **Posts:** 125

QJdriver wrote:

I'm going to take a wild guess that they end up swapping pistons and rods with C&O #1308.

Given that the 1308 probably saw a similar service life to the 1309, why would the condition of the 1308's pistons/rods be any better? Or did something happen on the WMSR that caused the issue?

Donald Cormack · **Joined:** Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:41 pm **Posts:** 165

WMSR is free to do as they please with their equipment. The justification behind their decisions is of no business to anyone on this forum.

DC

NJDixon · **Joined:** Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:36 pm **Posts:** 224

QJdriver wrote:

I'm going to take a wild guess that they end up swapping pistons and rods with C&O #1308.

They have said that they are fundraising for new pistons and rings for the #1309.
From their event description for the January 6th/7th Steam & Snow fundraising event: "This event will help fund new pistons for 1309 and other winter maintenance work. "

Dave · **Posted:** Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:27 am

I don't know the specifics but unless there was some deterioration due to water being where it shouldn't or simple damage from misuse or accident those components normally have a very long service life. If the cylinders were bored out, excessive clearance between the piston OD and bore may be the issue. I've built up pistons and made oversize rings to solve those problems in the past and keep the trains running, but new is probably the better choice.Those guys know what they're doing better than I (or anybody else not aware of the specifics) do.

WMSR Gets Second ex-NS GE Dash 8

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