From the RMNE website- “We’re a not-for-profit educational and historical organization whose mission is to tell the story of the region’s rich railroad heritage through our educational exhibits and operation of the Naugatuck Railroad.

Founded January 1968 as the Connecticut Valley Railroad Association, we are more than 500 members strong and growing. Our museum includes a diverse collection representative of New England railroading including locomotives, passenger and freight cars, and cabooses.” https://www.rmne.org/about-rmne

New England’s railroad history is definitely a focus of RMNE. Artifacts and equipment have been deaccessioned in the past because of their “fit” in the collection. However, 103 and 1246 remain in the collection as they are the only examples of steam locomotives RMNE owns. 103 will allow RMNE to demonstrate an operational example of a steam locomotive. I’m sure RMNE would graciously accept the opportunity to own a native New England steam locomotive, if someone had one to offer….

1246 was running at Steamtown, Vermont, back in the 1980's. Why not restore that gorgeous Pacific? Is it a matter of operation economics?

I seem to recall someone saying on here that Steamtown used to fire those engines up very quickly back in the day, which wreaked quite a bit of havoc on the #1246's firebox. The NPS brief on CPR #2317 also mentions #1246 being knocked out of service due to a cracked firebox.

If someone would only invent Welding Rod.......

the 1246, my personal favorite, needs among running gear work, a completely new firebox at a minimum, some say a complete new boiler. let RMNE tackle this first project with the 103 and see how it goes.

I would love to see 1246 restored as well, but 103 is, as I said before, is a more realistically achievable goal under the circumstances. 1246 is both larger and more complicated. 103 is simpler in that it isn’t superheated, it doesn’t have a stoker or power reverse, and it has a “simple” air compressor. It seems to me that a restoration of those items on 1246 alone would potentially add up to a substantially larger price tag. I think the idea is to start off with the smaller 103 and “cut our teeth” before we graduate to the “big engine”.

I don’t know how long it’s been since a complete survey was performed on 1246. I do know that the firebox was a major source of concern as was also mentioned by Al P. I recently read that 1246 was hard on the track it operated over after the move to Pennsylvania and that contributed to its removal from service. I had never heard that before. Maybe someone could shed light on that. I always understood 1246 to be a branch line engine.

CPR 1246 (now part of the RMNE collection) was last operated by Steamtown in Scranton, 1986. The firebox is in poor condition, which is why it was retired by Steamtown. The 1970s-era "45-minute fire-ups" and lack of proper water treatment were a major cause of the firebox ailments. Some running gear repairs are required (trailer tires, driver hub liners, etc). 1246 was thoroughly surveyed by two different steam locomotive experts (respected "names" in the biz) in 1992 and again in 2017. It's a good candidate for operation, and it will probably cost 4 times what 103 is estimated to cost.

RMNE has been rather rigorous in concentrating on New England railroad items; for example, New Haven Alco RS-3 #529, now getting some substantial work on its 244H diesel engine (liners, heads, pistons, rings, bearings)-- it was documented as a regular locomotive on the former New Haven branch line operated by RMNE's subsidiary. Besides EBT and D&RGW lines, not many heritage operations have locomotives and rolling stock that regularly operated over the lines "back in the day".

No entity is perfect in every way. We should all strive for high standards in operations, restorations, collections, governance, and the many other parts of keeping heritage railroad preservation alive and vital to our public.

Howard P.