Steam & Excursion > Interesting picture of 1218

This picture is of 1218 before she was restored, not sure if this was taken at the Union Carbide plant or at another location.

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WAG...

Looks to be AFTER 1218 returned to Roanoke,. ( 1969-1970?)
After Charleston WVA, ( where she had been virtually stripped of all her appurtenances...) 1218 had been purchased & moved to Steamtown, Vermont.

At the request of Bob Claytor, N&W, Ross arranged with Steamtown to return the 1218 to Roanoke---- over the winter of 1968/69.
While at Vermont, she had her RR jacket and asbestos lagging intact.
1218 had been " Q&D" painted black in Vermont, ---- and the smokebox front ( in this pic) seems to be from that paint job.

At Roanoke, she was completely, cosmetically restored by the N&W Shops....a virtual miracle when compared to her sad state after the Union Carbide stint in Charleston. My guess is that this pic is during the N&W's fix-up, before public display ...
She spent some time in the city park, under the highway bridge--- for a while she was parked next to the big C&O Allegheny, 1604, WHAT A PAIR!

Later, she was restored to operation by Scott Lindsay & crew, Birmingham, AL..

She's still a beauty!

W.

That looks like a roller bearing siderod on the rear engine, which were only applied to the last five class A's (1238-1242). Does that look like a roller bearing main rod to anyone else?

Scott Griggs
Louisville, KY

Not a chance, Scott...
It's an illusion..

W.

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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> She spent some time in the city park, under the
> highway bridge--- for a while she was parked next
> to the big C&O Allegheny, 1604, WHAT A PAIR!


Anyone have any pictures of that? That's something I'd live to see.

Especially interesting would be a photo of the 2-6-6-6 in Wasena Park after flooding undermined the track ballast. As I understand, the C&O H-8 and track actually leaned over a bit until it came to rest against the overhead highway bridge! It was something like 15 degrees out of alignment but it was enough for the H-8 to lean against the bridge pier. After the proposed Chessie/N&W merger collapsed, the H-8 was shipped to Baltimore.

NKP779 Wrote:
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> Especially interesting would be a photo of the
> 2-6-6-6 in Wasena Park after flooding undermined
> the track ballast. As I understand, the C&O H-8
> and track actually leaned over a bit until it came
> to rest against the overhead highway bridge! It
> was something like 15 degrees out of alignment but
> it was enough for the H-8 to lean against the
> bridge pier. After the proposed Chessie/N&W
> merger collapsed, the H-8 was shipped to
> Baltimore.


I did find these
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=610506&nseq=40

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=610507&nseq=39



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/17 12:08 by Spoony81.

Wow, some washout there. 1604 is so heavy it's not hard to understand her leaning over like that. Good photos, thanks.

nycman Wrote:
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> Wow, some washout there. 1604 is so heavy it's
> not hard to understand her leaning over like that.
> Good photos, thanks.

It was a five hundred year flood. You never would think something like that could occur so suddenly. It had been raining for about five days if I recall, but not enough water to cause severe flooding. The grounds were super saturated though. Then one morning, the skies opened up. I've never seen anything like it, how fast the flood waters came up. I watched downtown Roanoke flood from N&W GOB-S. Fortunately for myself, I parked my car on the high end of the parking lot that morning. but it took forever to find a route home that afternoon.

In the photos, its interesting to see the flood's floating material piled-up on the smokebox running boards...fireman's side.
Wow, that's DEEP water...

It's amazing to me that the RR's wrecking crews were able to drag the 1604 out of that steep a hole ...and that she was leaning so badly..

Thanks for the reference to finding the on-line pics..

Any similar pics of the N&W1218 and the same floods?

W.

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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>
> Any similar pics of the N&W1218 and the same
> floods?
>
> W.

Fortunately the 1218 had been pulled out earlier in the year to begin its rebuilding.

If 1218 was restored in 1985 what was the reason/ reasons she went back in the shop in the early 1990's after operating excursions for such a short period of time.

Posted from iPhone

According to Wikipedia, #1218 was pulled from service in 1991 (after 4 years of excursion operations) to have her flues replaced and firebox repairs. I believe a new firebox had been fabricated and tack welded into place when the plug was pulled on the overhaul in 1992.

Sometimes an operational restoration doesn't address ALL the issues necessary to return a locomotive to "like new" condition, and the restoration of #1218 posed unique challenges given its history of stationary boiler service at Union Carbide, where some unnecessary parts were removed and scrapped. Other parts were scavenged from the other two "A" class locomotives to make #1218 as complete as possible when she was selected for preservation. I'm not surprised some problems arose after the initial restoration.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/17 23:14 by davew833.