Western Railroad Discussion > This doesn't look good at all

With a scrap truck parked nearby, this is the way I found MRS-1 Yreka Western #244 today. She will be sorely missed.

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

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3 More shots

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

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Somewhat better times, last year...February 2010

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This is sad news. I liked that locomotive. Here she is earning her keep pulling a box car that dwarfs her a few years back.

Robert Morris Photography
http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/index1.html

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I hope they at least save the 12-244 engine and generator; they're probably worth more intact than inpieces. I'm pretty sure the restored Jersey Central RS3 on the Delaware-Lackawanna has a low-mileage 12-244 out of an MRS1.

Unfortunately with scrap prices at $400 a ton and climbing I am afraid we may see a lot of equipment fall victim to the cutting torch.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Ugh... it's amazing what still gets scrapped as we all wonder how we
let so much other equipment meet the torch in earlier years.

Why was the engine scrapped? Not worth repair? Safe to assume it was
up for sale prior to being scrapped?

/Mitch

Not everything can be saved. Nor should it be. How many MRS-1 locomotives need to be gathering rust in an underfunded museum? Better to have an EMD and an ALCO and then spend those preservation dollars elsewhere to acquire SIGNIFICANT pieces, not nostalgic pieces.

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

Mgoldman Wrote: Why was the engine scrapped? Not worth repair? Safe to assume it was up for sale prior to being scrapped?

Reply: Yes, YW #244 has had some serious ailments and been up for sale, but so has the Mikado YW #19. It was quite a surprise to just come upon this scene yesterday with nobody having given a head's up about it.

As an interesting aside, these multi-gauge curiosities cost $500,000.00 in 1952 dollars, quite a price tag back in those days. 70 Alco and 13 EMD units were built altogether.

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/11 06:17 by fredkharrison.

$500K in 1952

They were custom design jobs built to foreign loading gauge and some had adjustable trucks as I recall. LOTS of custom engineering here

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

Looks like provisions for Euro-buffer mounts, too.
...Lorenzo

john1082 Wrote:
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> Not everything can be saved. Nor should it be.
> How many MRS-1 locomotives need to be gathering
> rust in an underfunded museum? Better to have an
> EMD and an ALCO and then spend those preservation
> dollars elsewhere to acquire SIGNIFICANT pieces,
> not nostalgic pieces.

An MRS-1 IS an Alco!

Is certain models become rarer and rarer, it is those
very things that SHOULD be saved. Why would you say
an MRS-1, an Alco product, no less, is an insignificant
piece? I'd rather see one gathering rust in a museum
then never see one at all.

Fortunately, a few remain (though Yereka's was one that
did remain until now).

What are the others? Are there many?

Heber has one functional.

I think Cass may have two, out of service.

Kentucky Blue Grass Museum had one, does it still?

/Mitch

Mgoldman Wrote:

> Is certain models become rarer and rarer, it is
> those very things that SHOULD be saved.

I think John's point is that, in terms of the history of American railroading, the MRS-1 is neither very significant nor very representative. If you went trackside in the 1950's or 60's, odds are you wouldn't see an MRS-1, an RSD-1, an RS-4TC, or any of the other military-only models that are nevertheless very commonly preserved in railroad museums today. The Diesel Shop (whose lists aren't necessarily comprehensive nor completely accurate) shows 16 preserved Alco MRS-1's (20% of production):

http://www.thedieselshop.us/PRSVDalcoRS.HTML

Compare that with 6-axle Alco Centuries: just 3 C630's preserved in the US, 3 C628's in Mexico and Australia, and three MLW units in Canada.

Or 6-axle U-boats: 4 preserved U30C's, one each U23C, U25C, and U34CH, and about 3/4ths of a U28C. Love 'em or hate 'em, these locomotives are far more representative of US railroading in their era than an MRS1 is.

Even the early SD's like the 439 lurking in one of Fred's photos haven't done so well in terms of getting saved: just 7 preserved SD7's and 9's are listed. I suspect that number is low, and in any case, unlike 6-axle Alcos and U-boats, there are still plenty of SD7's and 9's in the field that could be preserved in the future...if the resources are there to do so.

There is an "opportunity cost" associated with a museum acquiring any particular piece of equipment. It consumes volunteer hours, dollars, and space that then won't available for something else. We've had a number of extinctions and near-extinctions of significant locomotive models in the past; I don't think anyone would argue that the 1 FTA and 2 PA1's preserved in the US is representation commensurate with these models' place in the history of US locomotion. On the other hand, for a locomotive that spent most of its working life hiding on military bases, I'd say 16 preserved Alco MRS-1's is more than adequate.

Meanwhile, out of nearly 800 C30-7's built for US railroads, zero are in museums and only one on an excursion railroad (New Hope & Ivyland). There are still a few in the field, but it would be a shame if they went extinct while we were clamoring to save a 17th MRS-1.

Having said all that, let me end by saying that I appreciate the time and effort that folks expend to preserve railroad equipment. I don't presume to dictate how anyone should spend their time and dollars. I offer the above only as one guy's thoughts on historical preservation, if that is indeed the goal of these efforts.

Thanks Evan.

I didn't realize there were 16 other MSR-1's preserved.

Or should I say, as of last week, 17 preserved.

Still, it seemed to be in perfect shape for display purposes.

It's a shame it was deemed impractical to make it to a museum,
if only to be a representative example of Alco.

/Mitch

Having been an Army engineer for 3 years, Alco MRS1's were my last choice to go do a days work.

I would take EMD 1813 over the Alco's 2047 or 2074 for Range Train duty any day.

For switching give me SW8 2036 or 2037 and not an MRS1 of any type.

I think what a lot of groups are facing now is the reality that you can't save everything and that to restore this stuff costs money. More of it than most groups have sad to say. Also the volunteer pool is shirking for people who want to spend time working on railroad cars.

As always it is sad to see a piece of historic equipment scrapped, like the YW MRS-1 or the SP F-Units in Texas.

Andrew

Where is the saved one FT1 in the US??

mundo Wrote:

> Where is the saved one FT1 in the US??

The St. Louis Museum of Transportation has EMD 103, one of the demonstrator units that was later sold to Southern. They also have an FTB that Southern had turned into a steam generator car.

http://www.trainorders.com/images2/view.php?334335

There are a few other surviving FTB's in museums in the US, all ex-SOU steam generator cars, but the only other known surviving FTA is 2203A at the Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos in Puebla, Mexico:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2533423
http://visipix.dynalias.com/newsgroup/DOWN%20MOTOS00024/pictures_rail/SBC%202203%20(FT)%20nose%20view%20Puebla%20Museum%2012-18-04.jpg

See also:

http://www.museoferrocarriles.org.mx/secciones/cedif/boletines/boletin_6/boletin_6/equipo_rodante.pdf

There was also this hulk of an FTB rusting in storage in Mexico, at least in 2009:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SbSj9-iZTP4/SYi2M3vsQyI/AAAAAAAABK0/CEaBW78cWkA/s1600-h/Benjamin+Hill+FT.jpg
http://mexicanrailroads.blogspot.com/2009/01/benjanin-hill-around-shops.html