Steam & Excursion > Restoring the Kepner Steam Locomotive Collection

Over on the Western Board, PhotoBob posted shots he took yesterday of Pickering Shay #8 as she now rests in Merrill, OR. She had been stored in Cottage Grove, Or for 15 years and was finally moved to Merrill last October.
Many people are dismayed about the condition of Fred's collection and the fact that it is not being restored. I understand the sentiment. Fred purchased and moved the collection more than once to keep in protected from scrapping. While he may never restore it, the engines will be available for restoration.
Here are 3 photos of the 3 engines that PhotoBob posted. These show the engines after overhaul - restorations they went though years ago to put these engines back into shape after years of hard service.
The point is, that these engines were restored before and they can be restored again. If they had not been saved in the first place restoration would not be an option.

To illustrate my point, look at the Skookum (Deep River 2-4-4-2 #7). If Charlie Morrow had not had the foresight to buy the engine as she laid on her side in the woods 54 years ago, she would have been scrapped by the scrappers cutting up the Deep River Logging line. In 1960 he took the engine apart and trucked it to Snoqualmie where it sat rusting in pieces for decades. One could easily have concluded the Skookum was beyond restoration. Hardly! Even though Mr. Morrow never restored the engine in his lifetime, she is now undergoing a full restoration back to operation. Again, we owe a debt of thanks to those individuals that had the foresight to save these engines in the first place even if they themselves never restore them in their lifetime.

For reference, here is the roster of the standard gauge steamers at Merrill, OR.

Sierra #18 (2-8-0)
Sierra #36 (2-8-2)
Sierra #38 (2-6-6-2)
Pickering Lumber #8 (3T-Shay)
Santa Maria Valley #100 (2-8-2)
Weed Lumber Co. #4 (2-6-2)
Oregon Pacific & Eastern #1 (2-6-2T)
Long-Bell #104 (2-6-2T)
Long-Bell #105 (2-6-2)
Great Northern #1246 (2-8-0)


Martin

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1851622

Martin

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So why is it when a group asks for an engine to restore the answer is always "NO!!!!"???? And why is it some of these engines had to be taken from where they were? Did the Sierra engine REALLY have to go up to Merril in order to be "saved"???

Fred paid thousands of dollars to save each piece. You ask why groups are told "no" when they ask Fred to simply give them an engine for no payment. The answer should be obvious. Also, since I field most of those inquiries, most of the groups that have asked for engines to be given to them have no money to move them let alone preserve and restore them.
The owner of the land that the Sierra was stored on had hired a scrapper to cut her up. We moved her just before the deadline was up. Fred paid for the move through an equipment trade.

Martin

And if anyone wants to see rusting parts, go to Snoqualmie.

Ed

Or just about any RR museum/low budget tourist line in North America!!!!
Edwardjb Wrote:
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> And if anyone wants to see rusting parts, go to
> Snoqualmie.
>
> Ed

I hope the SLRG guys can get the 38 someday. That locomotive would be PERFECT for that line. No it's not California or Washington or Oregon, but I couldn't care less about that. Only problem is it would not like the 30+ minutes of 30-35mph that they do before climbing the mountain. It has slightly larger drivers than 110 but that doesn't matter. Trust me, the driver diameter to speed ratio or whatever they call it doesn't apply to a mallet. It doesn't apply to anything in my opinion but particularly to these little logging mallets. I think the fastest I went with the 110 was MAYBE 20 and I could literally feel the low-pressure piston as it went back and forth. Now, I had very little steam on so that is probably some of it. If I were wide open at that speed the story might have been different. As in I might not have felt anything until at 25mph or more.

Martin, we understand that nothing is free, but maybe you or someone else could give us an idea how much each one might be worth.

Martin, I would love to see a picture of Fred's 30" gauge engine. I assume it's not a Merrill with the rest of the stuff?
Chris Allan

The 30" gauge engine is at Merrill, Or. I just listed the standard gauge pieces. He has 2 narrow gauge pieces at Merrill at this time.

As for CPRR's comment of value, I do a fair amount of buying and selling of steam engines like these, and there is plenty of value in the pieces, even in thier current condition.

Martin

Fred Kepner may someday be revered in the same breath as Nelson Blount or Paulson Spence (or Richard Jensen!) in the annals of steam preservation, but the things said about him seem to be at worst, vehement, and at best, ambivalent. This seems to be especially true in regards to his locomotives which were removed from operating railroads (though the locos were not in use at the time) like Heber Valley, disassembled, and seemingly left to return to the elements. I've never met the man, but he certainly engenders strong feelings among those who have tried to do business with him. I guess time will tell.

Martin; Interesting, and thanks for taking a minute to
answer the questions that many were asking. I totally agree;
Fred Kepner should and will, in time, be given the credit
he deserves for saving this equipment. I'd hope to meet him
some day.

JDL

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> Fred paid thousands of dollars to save each piece.
> You ask why groups are told "no" when they ask
> Fred to simply give them an engine for no payment.
> The answer should be obvious. Also, since I
> field most of those inquiries, most of the groups
> that have asked for engines to be given to them
> have no money to move them let alone preserve and
> restore them.
> The owner of the land that the Sierra was stored
> on had hired a scrapper to cut her up. We moved
> her just before the deadline was up. Fred paid
> for the move through an equipment trade.
>
> Martin

In reply to Davew833,

Not one of these engines had a current FRA boiler certificate at the time Fred bought them and many had not been operational for decades. Each were either purchased from owners such as towns that did not want them and needed them out of their parks, or from individuals who preferred selling them to Fred rather than leaving them on the railroad where they were at the time of sale. Some were simply purchased from scrappers when no one else stepped in.
I handled many of these transactions and Fred was either the top bidder or the ONLY bidder at the time.

Martin

Lets see....three ex Sierra engines in Kepners collection in Oregon, three at Jamestown and possibly one at Niles Canyon?.....that makes 7 surviving, am I correct??...are there any others?

engine3420 Wrote:
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> Lets see....three ex Sierra engines in Kepners
> collection in Oregon, three at Jamestown and
> possibly one at Niles Canyon?.....that makes 7
> surviving, am I correct??...are there any others?

There are eight. Click on this;

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?line:Sierra;country:USA

It's a page from steamlocomotive.com

I'm a relative newcomer to all of this, only getting involved in the last
couple of years, but I've noticed that a substantial percentage of the
questions asked here can be answered by looking at the above referenced
site. Wes Barris does an excellent job running the site on his own time
and at his own expense. He's posted a couple of my pictures there. Some of
you guys have pictures that I'm sure he'd appreciate if you sent them to him.

JDL

Just a small correction.
Shay #2 is from the Feather River Railroad and was given to the state of California. It is back in service at Jamestown/Railtown 1897 but was not an original to the Sierra locomotive as the other 7 listed were/are.

Somehow the State ended up with the #2 when they acquired the land for the Oroville reservoir, which inundated the Lumber Co's interchange with the WP (coincidentally named "Land").
Chris

Martin,
I didn't know Fred owned any narrow gauge stuff. What exactly are the pieces he has at Merrill?

Brian


LoggerHogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 30" gauge engine is at Merrill, Or. I just
> listed the standard gauge pieces. He has 2 narrow
> gauge pieces at Merrill at this time.
>
> As for CPRR's comment of value, I do a fair amount
> of buying and selling of steam engines like these,
> and there is plenty of value in the pieces, even
> in thier current condition.
>
> Martin

Brian,

He has the Lilihue Plantation #4 and a 36" 0-4-0T that is in pieces. I forget it's heritage. The Lilihue engine and 4 flatcars came from the Gene Autrey collection along with Weed Lumber #4.


Martin