Steam & Excursion > C&O 2700: So Close and Yet So Far

This past Saturday found C&O 2700 rusting away sadly at the Dennison, Ohio Depot. Less than a half-hour's drive away in the Age of Steam Roundhouse many of the 2700's fellow steam veterans are aging much more gracefully.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/15 18:22 by Gumcoach.

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What is the story on that engine?

Yes, what is the story? That locomotive is pretty well stripped . . . even missing a connecting rod.

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Yes, what is the story? That locomotive is pretty
> well stripped . . . even missing a connecting rod.
It's sad alright missing so many parts; however there are other more important steam engines that were famous sitting rusting away; for example look at the former Reading 2101 which was American Freedom Train locomotive # 1 and later the Chessie Steam Special steam engine that helped to celebrate the 150th year birthday of the B&O Railroad.  This engine is being allowed to rust away also by the poor management of the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.  This is a very sad tragedy for sure and to make matters worse, the management of the museum does NOT care even when there are people willing to donate money and time to help.

John in White Marsh, Maryland

ClubCar Wrote:
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> CPR_4000 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, what is the story? That locomotive is
> pretty
> > well stripped . . . even missing a connecting
> rod.
> It's sad alright missing so many parts; however
> there are other more important steam engines that
> were famous sitting rusting away; for example look
> at the former Reading 2101 which was American
> Freedom Train locomotive # 1 and later the Chessie
> Steam Special steam engine that helped to
> celebrate the 150th year birthday of the B&O
> Railroad.  This engine is being allowed to rust
> away also by the poor management of the B&O
> Railroad Museum in Baltimore.  This is a very sad
> tragedy for sure and to make matters worse, the
> management of the museum does NOT care even when
> there are people willing to donate money and time
> to help.
>
> John in White Marsh, Maryland


They are all important, IMHO.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,2016851

I did some digging and found the above discussion about the 2700 from 2009. It's enlightening about why its stripped and why it sits rusting today.

http://www.timesreporter.com/x1358728691/Whistle-blows-on-train-dispute

This article is interesting. So much for the Dennison Museum fixing it up. Wonder what happened to the grant money?

Defective_Detector Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ClubCar Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > CPR_4000 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Yes, what is the story? That locomotive is
> > pretty
> > > well stripped . . . even missing a connecting
> > rod.
> > It's sad alright missing so many parts; however
> > there are other more important steam engines
> that
> > were famous sitting rusting away; for example
> look
> > at the former Reading 2101 which was American
> > Freedom Train locomotive # 1 and later the
> Chessie
> > Steam Special steam engine that helped to
> > celebrate the 150th year birthday of the B&O
> > Railroad.  This engine is being allowed to
> rust
> > away also by the poor management of the B&O
> > Railroad Museum in Baltimore.  This is a very
> sad
> > tragedy for sure and to make matters worse, the
> > management of the museum does NOT care even
> when
> > there are people willing to donate money and
> time
> > to help.
> >
> > John in White Marsh, Maryland
>
>
> They are all important, IMHO.
However some are much more important than others for obvious reasons.  And let's face facts, they all cannot be saved.  I hope that this locomotive, the 2700, will be saved however realistically there are not enough funds nor places to protect them to save them all.
 

2700 should be at IRM

Posted from Android

Why should 2700 be at IRM?  They already have 2707.   Age of Steam seems more logical.  But they already have a similar berk, NKP 763.  If Dennison got grant money for this, why wasn't it used for 2700?

So, like the proverbial dog that chased the car and caught it, they then didn't
know what to do with it, except they were proud of having kept it from going to
IRM.

Way to go.

I cringe every time I see photos of what it looks like now. This used to be the only C&O Kanawha that was on display right along the very river that this class of C&O locomotives were named after.

Here's a 1986 scan of a newspaper article from the Daily Mail regarding the 2700. The move to Huntington was an interesting one as it took four railroads to help move it there. At the time, the B&O line through Coonskin Park was still active (this was the B&O line that ran between Charleston and Gassaway) so the engine was taken east to the interchange with Penn Central's ex NYC line at Charleston. The PC connected to the C&O directly via a bridge at South Charleston, WV but that bridge could not handle the 2700's weight. The next location to hand it off to the C&O was at Deepwater, WV where PC interchanged with the N&W's former Virginian line, which also happened to cross the river and connect to the C&O. That bridge was able to handle the weight so PC took the 2700 east to Deepwater, handed it off to the N&W, and then finally the N&W handed the 2700 off to the C&O at Gauley, WV. C&O then took the 2700 west to Huntington.

David Bailey promised that 2700 would return to Saint Albans pulling the New River Train. Obviously, that never happened. Since then there's been a lot of legal issues surrounding the 2700. I'm not sure of what the legal status of it is currently.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/15 05:48 by Appalachianrails.

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I think your mistaking on the routeing . As I remember it was Gualey Bridge and the N&W does not go to Guyandote

ClassJ604 Wrote:
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> I think your mistaking on the routeing . As I
> remember it was Gualey Bridge and the N&W does not
> go to Guyandote

That was a typo on my part with the incorrect town name. It has been corrected...