Surprise! 6213 is going to be moved into the roundhouse in a few weeks (By May 29), the city has issued tenders for the job, and we're preparing the engine.

Last Saturday we dissasembled the Radial Buffer, removed all the Barco flexible joints, and pulled out one of the drawbar pins. We also examined the condition of the journals on the tender trucks, and have begun on the driver journals.

Today we opened up the rear bowl on the stoker conveyor, but we couldn't get any of the bolts out of the unviersal joints. We torched off the heads of the bolts on one of the joints, but its totally seized in place. We tried heating the area up with a torch and then tried to knock it out, but nothing. 6213 has been so well looked after over the last 25 years that I was able to climb into the stoker compartment, and using a pipe wrench on the universal joint, I was able to turn the stoker screw by hand!

Joe

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Is the locomotive main line accessible after this move? It's really great that somebody, or some group, found it within themselves to keep the locomotive up over so many years. Which over display locomotives have been so well cared for in the past 50 years? I'm thinking of the Big Boy in Pomona, but I include it only based on reputation. Who can help build a list of steam locomotives meticulously cared for?

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Is the locomotive main line accessible after this move? It's really great that somebody, or some group, found it within themselves to keep the locomotive up over so many years. Which over display locomotives have been so well cared for in the past 50 years? I'm thinking of the Big Boy in Pomona, but I include it only based on reputation. Who can help build a list of steam locomotives meticulously cared for?

Nope! It's going to the former CPR John Street roundhouse which is landlocked. It is surrounded by condos, the Rogers Centre, the CN Tower and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It is going to have to be trucked about a mile and a half from the Canadian National Exhibition grounds.

As far as well kept park engines in Canada, 6213 is the only one I can think of.

The 5700 lives inside a backshop. The 6400 is well looked after unlike the other engines in that museum- that have had their cabs gutted by patrons, and the 6200 sitting out on the lawn stripped of all its parts. Every other engine I know of is a wreck. CN 81, 1531, 6167, 6069, 6077, 6218, the CP 10-wheelers in Galt and Kingston. The list of poorly looked after engines goes on forever.

And don't let the fancy paint jobs at Delson fool you. Many of those engines have been sitting outside rusting for years.

Joe I beg to differ.. Our Engine is not a wreck. Granted she needs work but her cab has not been trashed as bad as some of them. One day if you want to come down and have a look let us know and we will open her up for you.

Peter,

My point is that 6069 has not been that well kept over the last few in decades in comparisson to 6213.

Joe

Joe,
Once the museum dissolved and the Loco moved to its present site. It recieved only periodic repair and was repainted twice, the last time was about 2003 I think. That has all changed now though!

Although 4-4-0 CPR #29 was severely damaged in a fire 13 or 14 years ago, it is now fully cosmetically restored and sits out front of CPR headquarters in Calgary. Last time I saw it, it really looked well kept. But I'm sure CP puts some money into it regularly because it is a symbol of their corporate image.

81 has been cosmetically restored recently also. I have not seen it in person since, but from the photograph I have seen it looked pretty good, and painted historically accurate.

Well, I visted the 81 last August and she looked pretty wrecked to me. It appears that some one has been doing something to it lately - some landscaping for example. It seems to be completely unprotected from anything.

One thing I remember well is how all of the wooden beams were completely rotted out and all the cast steps boxes were just barely hanging on.

Of course, if the 81 has a new look, then lets see it.

I noticed that the numberboard was gone and was replaced with a triangle shaped sheet metal box.

That's the old look. It has been restored since. I found a more recent picture of it on the web a three or four months ago, but can I find it now? NO! :P