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Levins' Equipment in Philly
https://rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39130
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Author:  TrainWatcher [ Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:18 am ]
Post subject:  Levins' Equipment in Philly

So, was on a trip from Wilmington to the Big Apple yesterday on the NEC. Around MP 83 we passed an abandoned factory site and yard. Surprisingly, there was a consist of of equipment stored behind a chainlink fence. An Amtrak coach, E8A (no visible number), a flat car, 2 PRR B60b baggage cars and a PRR N5. I was wondering if anyone had info as to owners.

Author:  junior [ Sat Feb 20, 2016 1:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lost Equipment in Philly

Bennett Levin's warehouse.

Author:  Ed Kapuscinski [ Sat Feb 20, 2016 1:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lost Equipment in Philly

And it's not abandoned.

It's just intended to look "uninteresting".

Author:  dinwitty [ Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Lost Equipment in Philly

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-1 ... -car-glass

Author:  Trainlawyer [ Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:55 pm ]
Post subject:  A Question of Terminology

TrainWatcher wrote:
So, was on a trip from Wilmington to the Big Apple yesterday on the NEC. Around MP 83 we passed an abandoned factory site and yard. Surprisingly, there was a consist of of equipment stored behind a chainlink fence. An Amtrak coach, E8A (no visible number), a flat car, 2 PRR B60b baggage cars and a PRR N5. I was wondering if anyone had info as to owners.

James,

This is intended as a question not a criticism.

Many of us on this board are aware of Juniata Terminal's facility in the express building at Fairhill. We also are aware that uninvited visitors are not terribly welcome. My real question for you is why you considered the building abandoned and the equipment lost prior to asking if any of us knew what it was that you saw?
'Lost' and 'Abandoned' have very specific meanings which do not apply here. So far as I know the building is not abandoned (Was there a City notice on the door?) and I believe Brother Levin is aware of where his equipment is.

Now if some of what is inside had been sitting outside that would really have been interesting.

GME

Author:  ns2110 [ Sun Feb 21, 2016 8:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lost Equipment in Philly

Being from Philadelphia and knowing how much of an armpit this city really is, that section of the city is rough. Most of what lines that section of the Northeast Corridor is pretty run down looking and can in most respects look abandoned. Riding the Regional Rail through some sections can be sketchy too. All of this can be seen in this spectacular video shot from the tail end of a PV from New York Penn to Washington DC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiCS2wdnAFw Bennet's building can be seen around 1:42.30 on the far right hand side.

This raises another question for me. The building has rail access inside. What was this building before it was a storage location for the Es?

-J.T.

Author:  Ed Kapuscinski [ Sun Feb 21, 2016 8:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lost Equipment in Philly

I believe it was a Pennsy freight station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniata_Terminal_Company

Author:  TrainWatcher [ Mon Feb 22, 2016 6:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lost Equipment in Philly

Train lawyer, it did not look to be in the most savory part of town, and the warehouse from the west (rail side) looked closed or abandoned. Mr. Levin does some amazing work, and being from Michigan, I was, until now, unaware of his equipment being stored or kept at that location in Philly. I do know some of his well known pieces sometimes hang out at 30th Street Station with other Amtrak equipment. To me, it looked to have been in a collection that had been forgotten, as there was heavy graffiti on most of the equipment and the PRR N5 looked to have been bombed out. Also, noticing the conditions of another PRR cab we pasted a few miles before (heavily graffitied and in need of TLC) in a community garden, I wondered about the equipment, hense why I asked.

As a follow up question, what is the history of that particular E unit stored there?

Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Mon Feb 22, 2016 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lost Equipment in Philly

TrainWatcher wrote:
As a follow up question, what is the history of that particular E unit stored there?

It's a former B&O unit that was acquired "on the cheap" to provide a spare nose in case there's ever a grade-crossing accident with the Pennsy duo.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4019

Author:  davew833 [ Mon Feb 22, 2016 9:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Levins' Equipment in Philly

(quote) "It's a former B&O unit that was acquired "on the cheap" to provide a spare nose in case there's ever a grade-crossing accident with the Pennsy duo."

This may be true, but Levin also has the cab and nose from an ex-BN commuter E9 tucked away inside the shop. I guess you can never have too many spares...

Author:  Les Beckman [ Tue Feb 23, 2016 1:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Levins' Equipment in Philly

What's the condition of the B&O E-unit? Restorable, or beyond hope?


Les

Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Tue Feb 23, 2016 8:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Levins' Equipment in Philly

My report in the 2002 thread:

Quote:
The unit, I can tell you, was perhaps in the most horrible condition of any E-unit I have ever seen, save for an E7B at Striegel Scrap in the 1980s that had entire side panels rusted off. Substantial repairs to the brake lines had to be carried out before the unit could even leave the B&O Museum.


In addition, it was missing both prime movers and all its traction motors.

If you're desperate to "save" a B&O E-unit, go help the West Va. RR Museum, which "saved" the other of the two E-units that showed up there, in marginally better shape.....

Author:  dinwitty [ Tue Feb 23, 2016 11:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Levins' Equipment in Philly

put a model railroad in it, we've had an O scale layout in a real South Shore car...

Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Tue Feb 23, 2016 8:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Levins' Equipment in Philly

Attachment:
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B&O/WVC 92 at Belington, WV May 2011, by Alex Mayes, shared with permission.

The hole you see under the cab window/sand fill hatch and to the right of the ladder is one of two rusted-out holes I enlarged to shovel out dozens of hypodermic syringes while prepping it for shipment in Baltimore.......

Author:  philip.marshall [ Wed Feb 24, 2016 3:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Levins' Equipment in Philly

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:
If you're desperate to "save" a B&O E-unit, go help the West Va. RR Museum, which "saved" the other of the two E-units that showed up there, in marginally better shape.....


Here is a more recent picture of the same, taken in October of last year when I randomly found myself driving through Belington. The nose has apparently received a coat of primer, which I guess is progress, but the West Virginia Railroad Museum people have their hands full at the moment. (That's West Virginia Northern 2-8-0 No. 8 under the blue tarp behind the E-unit, to point out just one example.)
Attachment:
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-Philip Marshall

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