Mystery Loco of the Month

wilkinsd · **Posted:** Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:02 pm

This locomotive, which appears to be a 2-8-2 was in the box of slides I scanned. It wears two numbers, 10 and 502. Taken in 1971, presumably in Ashland, KY with the other C&O slides. Any help would be appreciated.

David W.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:59 pm

Well, that took me longer than I care to admit, but I got her:

Toledo, Angola & Western 2-8-2 100, Alco #65430, 1924, on display at Huntington, West Va. since 1963 and still there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk_River_ ... any_No._10

http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... splay=1363

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/lists/se ... A&state=WV

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

David -

The number 502 on the cab is the mystery. I wonder what that was all about?

Les

David H. Hamley · **Joined:** Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:07 pm **Posts:** 705

Could that be a cab off one of the S&A 2-8-2's that migrated to the BC&G/Elk River Coal & Lumber empire in the late 1950s? They were numbered in the low 500s.

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

David H. Hamley wrote:

Could that be a cab off one of the S&A 2-8-2's that migrated to the BC&G/Elk River Coal & Lumber empire in the late 1950s? They were numbered in the low 500s.

David -

Very good thought! I pulled up a Buffalo Creek & Gauley site on the internet and it showed the three Savannah & Atlanta 2-8-2's that the BC&G had acquired from the S&A were numbered 15, 16 and 17. A roster shows that number 15 was Baldwin s/n 52301, which would make it ex-S&A #502, so your cab theory seems to check out. BUT, that very same site shows a photo of S&A #500 (s/n 52299) and says that it was BC&G #15! So, perhaps a clarification is needed from someone to clear up this discrepancy. My guess is that the photo caption is wrong and that the cab from the pictured number 10 was off of the S&A Mikado.

Les

Alan Maples · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:01 pm

Les Beckman wrote:

I pulled up a Buffalo Creek & Gauley site on the internet and it showed the three Savannah & Atlanta 2-8-2's that the BC&G had acquired from the S&A were numbered 15, 16 and 17. A roster shows that number 15 was Baldwin s/n 52301, which would make it ex-S&A #502, so your cab theory seems to check out. BUT, that very same site shows a photo of S&A #500 (s/n 52299) and says that it was BC&G #15! So, perhaps a clarification is needed from someone to clear up this discrepancy. My guess is that the photo caption is wrong and that the cab from the pictured number 10 was off of the S&A Mikado.

Les

William Warden's fine softcover book "Buffalo Creek & Gauley" published in 1991 includes a roster indicating that S&A #500 became Elk River Coal & Lumber #15; S&A #502 became ERC&L #16, which was later part of a private museum before it was scrapped sometime around 1970. I think it is unlikely that any cab swap took place and someone, for reasons unknown to us, stenciled the "502" on the #10's cab while the locomotive was stored at Huntingdon.

More on engine 10 here: http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/06000901.pdf

Alan Maples

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Alan Maples wrote:

Les Beckman wrote:

I pulled up a Buffalo Creek & Gauley site on the internet and it showed the three Savannah & Atlanta 2-8-2's that the BC&G had acquired from the S&A were numbered 15, 16 and 17. A roster shows that number 15 was Baldwin s/n 52301, which would make it ex-S&A #502, so your cab theory seems to check out. BUT, that very same site shows a photo of S&A #500 (s/n 52299) and says that it was BC&G #15! So, perhaps a clarification is needed from someone to clear up this discrepancy. My guess is that the photo caption is wrong and that the cab from the pictured number 10 was off of the S&A Mikado.

Les

I think it is unlikely that any cab swap took place and someone, for reasons unknown to us, stenciled the "502" on the #10's cab while the locomotive was stored at Huntingdon.

Alan Maples

Alan -

You may well be right, but I wonder why anyone would stencil such a number on the cab and why that particular number that just happened to be the number of a S&A 2-8-2 that was on the property at the same time. Changing cabs was not unheard of, even on short line railroads. The cab of our C&O Kanawha (#2789) had rusted out rather badly over the years and a welding company agreed to work on it for us, IF we could get it to their shop. We took off the cab of the 2-8-4, and trucked it out and eventually it came back nicely restored. If a small time museum like HVRM can take a cab off and put it back on, certainly the BC&G could have done it. Like you say, maybe unlikely, but I'd certainly like to know for sure.

Les

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Aug 30, 2016 3:08 pm

Mystery Photo of the Month:
We have come upon this photo of a large 2-8-2 numbered 502 on the cabside. The photo print is dated "OCT 70", and other photos in the same box date from that approximate period--Nickel Plate 759 on High Iron trips, WM cab units, etc.
We've gone over lists of preserved steam in North America, and steam locos known to have been scrapped since 1960 in North America, and this doesn't show up. The tender looks suspiciously like something thrown together with a different frame. The tender behind the loco to the left shows the teaser "& OW--" lettering.
One guess that's been made is that the loco was renumbered "502" for some movie shoot, and later scrapped. The dimensions don't match a couple other 2-8-2's known to have been scrapped, including Livonia, Avon & Lakeville 17 and Soo Line 1017.

Any ideas?

Kelly Anderson · **Joined:** Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:52 am **Posts:** 2477

NYCRRson · **Joined:** Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:25 pm **Posts:** 512

Well, the tender in the background could be lettered for either;

BOISE, NAMPA & OWYHEE

or the

ITHACA & OWEGO

It looks like the letter after the OW could be a "Y". It does not appear that the upper portion of an "E" is present above the locomotive in front.

But I don't really know if either of those where steam roads ?

Is it possible that the "OCT 70" on the print paper is when the paper was manufactured and the photo was printed after 10/70 from a much earlier negative ?

Cheers, Kevin.

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Weren't there some 2-8-2's once used by the coal company near the Buffalo Creek & Gauley that were not part of the BC&G roster? I think one of the Mikes got preserved but the others were scrapped. Not sure if they made it as far as 1970 though.

Just a guess!

Les

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34914

Train Detainer · **Posted:** Tue Aug 30, 2016 6:05 pm

Ithaca & Owego disappeared as an operating entity long before there were 2-8-2s, so I'd rule that one out.

The number on the front plate is 10 (or maybe 40) in the Wilkins pic but the headlight board definitely looks like 70 in the current thread - the 502 on the cab appears to have been painted over something that could very well be a much larger '40', '70' or '10'. At the resolutions posted, I'm not able to clean up the tender lettering enough to read any of it on either pic.

Benjamin J True · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:53 am **Posts:** 79

Can't explain the numbering, but I nominate it to be this engine...

http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... splay=1363

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

That is it, as ID'd by Sandy in the link I posted. Pretty little thang.