Ross,
A sincere "Thank You" for all the info on the 2101 and the 614.. some of it I knew... some of it I didn't. A long time ago I spent a weekend in Hagerstown helping out on the 614 (back in the days when Steve W. was running the show) and enjoyed every minute of it. The 614 is one awesome locomotive. I sure hope to see her run again in the future..

Jay Edwards

Keep in mind that C&O #614 was renumbered #611 late in its career and put into storage at Russell, KY., with that number before going to the B&O museum and ultimately to Ross. I'm not sure when she regained her original number, but try searching for pics of C&O 611, too.

I have no clue where you may find photos on the web of the burned 2101. I have seen video of the engine being pulled out of the burned roundhouse but do not remember where, possibly on RFDTV. Somewhere I have a few pictures I took of 2101 just before and during the beginning of disassembly in the Hagerstown rondhouse. They show the damage pretty clearly. I also went to the B&O Museum and took pictures of 611 before the move to Hagerstown and restoration as 614. Basically it looked like your typical museum engine with a fairly recent paint job. As I recall 614's machinery was getting pretty tired but I can not recall how much boiler work was required. During most of the time between the beginning of the cosmetic work on 2101 and late in the 614 overhaul I was busy working 7 days a week at 2 jobs. I would visit the shop occasionally but really only worked on 614 the last month or so. I am sory but I have no way to scan the photos so you can see them.

John Bohon

Video of the locomotive does exist, and to the eye, she looks like operational restoration is easily within reach. Ross Rowland and the folks at CSX felt the risk of pulling passengers behind the locomotive was not worth the restoration, and while we may have lost 2101, we certainly gained C&O 614. Ross Rowland's eye toward the mechanics is practiced, and we should certainly respect his vision, if not agree with him.

As I recall all three of the Durango and Silverton's K-28s were burned when the Durango roundhouse burned in the 80's. All three were returned to service.

I certainly hope nobody thinks I have a bone to pick with Ross over the trade of 2101 for 614. While it is true I prefer a Reading T-1, preferably in pure Reading freight black, to anything with the C&O front end there was no choice to be made in this deal. Ross was not only offered a superior locomotive to operate, especially in todays environment, but a financial package to help defray the cost of the overhaul. On top of that the railroad offered to run excursions to make the restoration worthwhile. Nobody in their right mind would turn down a deal like that. I enjoyed my limited time working on both locomotives and wish I could do it again.

John Bohon

I finally got the photo in your link to come up on my slow dial up. What you have found is a picture taken outside the Hagerstown roundhouse of 2100 mated to the burned tender off 2101. The original 2100 tender was swapped onto 2101 when the cosmetic restoration was done for the B&O Museum. If you look closely you can read the 2100 on the side of the cab and make out the striping on the running board skirt from the Reading paint scheme. I have often said 2100 was the worst looking big locomotive I ever saw returned to service. This photo conrfirms what I remember about her. The fact that the unburned engine looks worse than the fire diamaged tender says it all.

Thanks for finding the photo. I probably have a similar one somewhere in the rubble around here.

John Bohon

Good God. I went back and looked. That's hard to believe that this is the same engine I saw running last year!