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Mystery Steamer in Maryland
https://rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35195		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Mystery Steamer in Maryland
Someone over on a CSX/Baltimore based Facebook group posted the below photo to Facebook today, taken ca. 1980,:

Image

Now, I know where this loco is TODAY; the owner has asked privacy, and I ask that anyone knowing its present whereabouts keep them quiet. It's well-hidden enough at the moment that I walked RIGHT PAST it without knowing it when I was on the property, and you're not going to be able to get onto the property without permission or see it from public property.

However, neither I nor the rail preservation friends friendly with the owner know anything about the ancestry or maker of this loco, and I can't find any likely match-up in various steam locomotive lists, online or elsewhere.

Any ideas?

UPDATE: I've tentatively eliminated one "suspect," former US Navy 0-4-2T 5, last used at a quarry along the B&O near Greenbelt/College Park, Md., and believed scrapped in the late 1990s, on the basis of side-by-side photo comparisons.

Attachments:
File comment: Navy/AH Smith Sand & Gravel 5, 1950s, photographer unknown, Md. Rail Heritage Library collection
042T.jpg
042T.jpg [ 42.08 KiB | Viewed 12429 times ]
Author:  steaminfo [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
Though I cannot tell if it ever had a trailing truck, the frame aft of the last driver looks long enough that it might have. It bears a resemblance to U.S. Navy 0-4-2T No. 5 which was supposedly scrapped at College Park a few years back.

I have a photo of the locomotive, pre-scrapping, but no permission to publish it, unfortunately.
Author:  Mike Stillwell [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
I used to pass by the College Park/Greenbelt locomotive every day. I'm very sure it was scrapped. I worked for a good friend of the owner and he confirmed it was scrapped when the old man passed. The dome bases on the mystery loco indicate to me that it's not a saddle tank locomotive. It's also much smaller than the Greenbelt locomotive.

Mike Stillwell
Buena Vista, VA.
Author:  EDM [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
I don't think they are the same locomotive. A quick look shows different crossheads and guides, and in the larger 'dis-assembled' image, I don't see any evidence of there ever having been an air compressor. I sure others will spot many other differences.
Author:  Dave [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
The dome bases appear to fit the radius of the boiler shell, so it probably was not a tank engine, but some sort of Forney or 0-4-2.......based on the length of the frame and water tank on the rear frame extension.

There are two vertical holes in the smokebox and what appears to be a rusted circlular area surrounding them..... so I'd be looking for a builder of smaller industrial locomotives (very small lap seam boiler and no sign of air brakes or compressor) who used a circular builders' plate with vertical mounting holes.

It's too well proportioned to be a Glover......Davenport, Porter or Vulcan would be the obvious culprits for a first glance.

Perhaps this is an old elevated railroad lokie?

dave
Author:  RDGRAILFAN [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
could it be US Navy #7




http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/s ... sage/15761
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
Negative. #7 is a clone of #5, and there are enough detail differences that I can categorically say "not the same loco as this one".

This turned up somewhere else:

Quote:
The story I heard was that it was owned by a gravel quarrying operation. As quarrys are wont to do there was frequent flooding of the digs. I was told that an unseen washout caused this eng to tumble into a position that made it impractical to recover, due to the unstable area. the story went on that it was actually covered and nearly forgotten for years.


No. PLEASE don't start THAT story going around. No no nonononono............. <:/
Author:  joe6167 [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
Just curious, did anyone check to see if the builder and boiler number were stamped on the steam dome?
Author:  Charlie [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 8:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
Given the bent supports and other damage, I was going to ask if it had been involved in a rollover. The quarry story sounds plausible to me.
Author:  wesp [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
What is the number and information stamped on the cylinder?

Wesley
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
As things stood the last time I was there, it's so well "buried" that it would take an hour or three to get in far enough to find either set(s) of numbers, and another couple hours to "re-bury/re-hide" her. I'm NOT about to ask the owner to do so. It's in a place/area where such "hiding" is somewhat justified.

I'm also of the opinion that even the owner doesn't really know what he has........

And because I now notice that I didn't make it clear in the original post, this loco is currently in what I will call central Maryland, not too far from CSX trackage, which is how the subject came up.....
Author:  robertjohndavis [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:
As things stood the last time I was there, it's so well "buried" that it would take an hour or three to get in far enough to find either set(s) of numbers, and another couple hours to "re-bury/re-hide" her. I'm NOT about to ask the owner to do so. It's in a place/area where such "hiding" is somewhat justified.

I'm also of the opinion that even the owner doesn't really know what he has........

And because I now notice that I didn't make it clear in the original post, this loco is currently in what I will call central Maryland, not too far from CSX trackage, which is how the subject came up.....



So then the owner isn't really that curious of her origin? I mean, if it is not worth a few hours of dectective work to him, it doesn't sound like he is all that interested.

Rob
Author:  BrassPhoenix [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
what is interesting is that the middle dome shows no signs of damage but the third dome is bent and the smokestack shows signs of being torn off, none of these seem to be from scavengers or scrappers. from the brackets on the boiler and how tall the domes are, the locomotive seemed to have some sort of saddle tank but as said before there are no signs of compressors or any indication of air brakes. A H.K. Porter type locomotive seems to be most likely however most porters seem to have a spacing in between the first and second dome for the bell while this locomotive does not.
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
robertjohndavis wrote:
So then the owner isn't really that curious of her origin? I mean, if it is not worth a few hours of dectective work to him, it doesn't sound like he is all that interested.

I suspect he knows but isn't talking.

The guy is known to a few of the "right" preservationists, and he has supposedly facilitated the preservation of a few other sizable artifacts, and may be still sitting on one prize piece better than this, according to our mutual friends.
Author:  survivingworldsteam [ Fri Jun 21, 2013 2:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery Steamer in Maryland
I think it is a 1900-1930 period Porter, the bell on some including this one was between the first sand dome and the smokestack, you can see the mounting holes for it.
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