Steam & Excursion > American Steam Railroad Announcement

This just in from American Steam Railroad:

American Steam Railroad
Special Announcement
A Bright Future for a Frisco Locomotive!

The closing days of 2012 have brought the next chapter in the life of a veteran railroad locomotive. The American Steam Railroad Preservation Association (ASR), a 501c3 Not-for-Profit Corporation headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and Midwest Railway Preservation Society (MRPS), a 501c3 Not-for-Profit Corporation headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio are proud to announce an agreement to house the restoration and continued preservation of ASR's steam locomotive SLSF 1352.

Built in 1912 by the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, NY, this 2-8-2 Mikado type served the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad (commonly called the Frisco) until 1956 when she was retired and placed on public display in Swoop Park in Kansas City, Missouri. In an effort to save the 1352 from neglect and vandalism, she was later moved from the park to a storage location in rural, Illinois. 1352 will now be brought to the MRPS's former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad roundhouse located in Cleveland, Ohio for completion of her restoration to operable status. After this restoration is complete she will begin a new career pulling passenger excursion trains.


This agreement unites SLSF 1352 with another well-known Mikado type locomotive, former Grand Trunk Western (GTW) steam locomotive #4070, which is under restoration in the Cleveland facility as well. The B&O Roundhouse will be one of very few locations in the United States where visitors will be able to view the full restoration of two large steam locomotives being conducted simultaneously.
The ceremonial signing of the contract between these two organizations will take place at Noon on Saturday, November 24, 2012 at the roundhouse, located at:

2800 W. 3rd Street
Cleveland Ohio 44113

After the signing representatives from both groups will be on-hand to take questions about locomotives 1352 and 4070 from 12pm - 4pm during the previously scheduled Open House event. We encourage everyone to stop by and see the roundhouse and meet both groups!

SLSF 1352 was built in 1912 as a Consolidation-type (2-8-0) steam locomotive and rebuilt in during World War II into a Mikado-type (2-8-2) locomotive. In her present configuration the locomotive weighs about 161 tons. The locomotive's operating boiler pressure is 195 pounds per square inch.

GTW 4070 was built in 1918 to the standard United States Railroad Administration "Light Mikado" design. She is also a product of the American Locomotive Company's Schenectady Plant. The locomotive weighs about 146 tons and has an operating boiler pressure of 200 pounds per square inch.


Founded in 2005, the American Steam Railroad Preservation Association goal is to restore, preserve and operate steam locomotives and other historic railroad equipment for the public's enjoyment and education. ASR will bring 1352's smaller parts to Ohio to begin work on them while they continue to raise the money to move the locomotive to the Cleveland roundhouse. Several ASR fundraising events will be announced in the Spring of 2013 to kick start this project.

ASR President Steven M. Harvey, commenting on the partnership between these two organizations, said "Since its inception, the American Steam Railroad Preservation Association has encouraged partnerships within the railroad preservation industry for the benefit of both sides. With this agreement in place, both ASR and MRPS will benefit from their mutual knowledge and expertise.

In a nod to history, they'll also be sharing a facility that was designed for steam locomotive rebuilds and maintenance. 1352 will now be moved to the B&O Roundhouse where we will complete her restoration to service. This is great news for all who love steam locomotives. SLSF 1352 and GTW 4070 are great representatives of America's railroad history, and we're excited to help preserve that history for future generations. I urge anyone who shares our passion to join both groups in working toward two operating steam locomotives."

For further information or to join us, please write or email
American Steam Railroad Preservation Association
3869 Highland Bluff Drive
Suite 201
Groveport, Ohio 43125
Web: http://www.americansteamrailroad.org
E-mail: ryan.king@americansteamrailroad.org


Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

You beat me to posting this! Thanks for helping to spread the word.

Bruce Bryan
Greensburg, IN

Tell them to go and save the B&LE steam engine that I think is still in McKees Rocks. They should have tried to get Jerry Jacobson involved to do the repairs in his roundhouse.

Is the roundhouse in good repair, that is, safe enough to have equipment inside and people in there working?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/12 12:59 by Labby.

More Great News! THANK YOU!! PLEASE go get SLSF 1522 out of the STL MOT.....please....She is so fine, and so much deserves to live again....

Glad to see you got something worked out, especially being up here in northern Ohio.

Isn't saying that #4070 is "under restoration" a very liberal use of that phrase? I think she's been on 3 sets of drivers for at least 6 years now. I also thought I read someplace there was a crack in her frame and nobody knew how to weld it.

Edit: Here was an interesting article I forgot about: http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/the-little-engine-that-might/Content?oid=2966268&showFullText=true



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/12 17:08 by Emmo213.

What railroad will it be running on?

Lurch

I will try to answer some of the questions. The roundhouse is in good repair. It still needs some work but the structure is solid as there is currently another museum using the building. The have additional stalls not usable but their (Midwest Preservation Society) long term goal is to fix it up.

I know there are a lot of questions about 4070. I encourage you to direct them to Midwest Preservation Society, midwestrailway.org or on their facebook page.

It is too early for our group to give a time line for completion of the restoration. We have evaluated 1352 and determined it to be in restorable condition however like fixing up an old car you find other problems while you are rebuilding them. There are several short lines in the area that seem receptive to running excursions however there are no current agreements for running. Once the restoration has started we will start investigating that further, few railroads will come to an agreement for operation until we have proven we can complete the restoration.

On a side note, our groups main focus will be raising the funds to move the locomotive to Ohio. We have a decent percentage already raised but we still have more to go. Our goal is by late spring of next year to have further evaluated the locomotive and be able to present a better budget for the rebuild. Once that happens the length of time for the rebuild process will be limited by volunteer hours and money raised. As the old saying goes to restore a locomotive you must first fill the tender with money. This is where you come in.

Bruce Bryan
Greensburg, IN



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/12 20:21 by columbusrailnut.

Steve, thanks for sharing the information, always great news to hear that there is the potential for new-old steam to get back on the rails.

Cheers, eh.
Karl

Its now a done deal and 2013 should be a another milestone to get done.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/11/steam_locomotives_will_be_rest.html#incart_river_metro