Steam & Excursion > A&WP 4-6-2 290

Next in my steam series, is A&WP Lima-built 4-6-2 No. 290.  This engine had a short-lived operating period based in Atlanta and is now at the museum in Duluth, GA.

1.   On display in Atlanta  5/28/58.  Bill Volkmer photo. 32 years later,  it was back in action.

2.   Macon, GA on a loop excursion during the Cherry Blossom Festival.  3/24/90

3.   Leaving Birmingham, AL for Chattanooga  4/6/91  With diesels but at least they're F-units in CofG livery.,



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/20 07:46 by masterphots.

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4.  Passing Sloss furnaces (now a museum) leaving Birmingham  4/6/91

5.  Exiting Lookout Mtn tunnel in Chattanooga  4/6/91

6.  Reece City, AL  4/6/91



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/20 10:12 by masterphots.

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7-9     On New Georgia Railroad's  Atlanta loop line (CSX trackage).   A fantastic charter by John Craft on 5/3/92   On photo 7,  the scanner deleted the "A" on the tender....Epson strikes again



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/20 10:11 by masterphots.

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Too short of second life for that fine engine.  Got to ride that fine loop trip around Atlanta behind her.  Nice shots.  Love this series.

Tominde Wrote:
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> Too short of second life for that fine engine. 
> Got to ride that fine loop trip around Atlanta
> behind her.  Nice shots.  Love this series.

Agreed. A very elegant engine.  We lived in Atlanta in the early 90s and was able to ride behind and chase her several times, but you don't know what you've got until it is gone.

I've never heard why she was shut down.  Rumors of tram and other running gear issues.  Anyone have the straight skinny?  I saw her in 1994 in pieces when we were in Atlanta in 94

Great photos.   Notice the extra pains taken for historically accurate details on the John Craft charter.    I am always being criticized for bringing these things up.   I constantly hear "we are so lucky to see any steam at all."    Yes, I know.   So here is what John Craft did.....    painted out the white tires, and changed the more modern twin bulb headlight back to single bulb...as built.  Any of you guys  notice this?  Great photos Alan.  And great detail job John.   I was aboard John's charter, and scored a nice cab ride...taking 16mm movies in the cab.   A wonderful day.

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> I've never heard why she was shut down.  Rumors
> of tram and other running gear issues.  Anyone
> have the straight skinny?  I saw her in 1994 in
> pieces when we were in Atlanta in 94

The engine was wrecked in the late 40's, and has at least one driving box that was smaller than others, and was heavily shimmed on the A&WP to keep it true.  The running gear issues were caused by the initial contractor dropping the shoes and wedges and all of the shims that had held her in tram on the A&WP, and not marking their locations, and then truing the pedestals.  The shoes, wedges, and boxes were reinstalled without being machined to match the newly trued pedestals.  When that contractor went out of business, and the engine was towed to the New Georgia shop to be completed, it ran hot in the first ten miles.  This continued for a while even after it was put in service, with the crew finding new and innovative ways to get it over the road....grease cakes made entirely of octagon soap, water lines going to the boxes, ect.  Finally Bill Magee, a longtime NS steam shop employee, was brought in. The engine spent some time in the NS Shop at Irondale, AL, where the machines and tools were available to square up the running gear and turn the axles which had been fairly well scorched by running hot for 2 years.  They had her running well by 1992, but the new Governor Georgia, Zell Miller, decided that the state didn't need to be spending huge amounts of tax dollars on a tourist railroad.  It should also be noted that the original creator of the New Georgia had passed away shortly after the 290 made her first excursion, and his successor was likely not as sly about hiding expenses related to the railroad (boiler work on the 290 charged to the account code for the state capitol building, as an example), or was simply unwilling to do so.  290 returned to the museum in early 1993.  It was due for a flexible cap inspection, had one or two severely worn hub liners on the lead truck, and the drivers were badly in need of turning.  A group of volunteers led by Bill Purdie removed the drivers and attempted to have the engine ready for the aforementioned 94 convention, but the lack of facilities at the old 12-acre museum site, as well as the usual lack of money and skilled volunteers prevented this from happening.  There was also talk of NS leasing the engine to sub for 611 in the first part of the 1995 steam season, before the plug was pulled on the steam program.  290 was put back together enough to be moved to the new museum site, and is stored in the shop.  The museum has been busy with other projects, such as developing the site for a better visitor experience, getting more of the collection under cover, and improving its governance structure, but hopefully 290 will be back together and on display along side S&A 750 in the near future.  There are always pie-in-the sky comments on facebook and other sites about sending her somewhere to operate.  I can report that there has never been a single, credible proposal to operate the engine since steam ended on the NS (the first time).

Keystone1 Wrote:
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> Great photos.   Notice the extra pains taken for
> historically accurate details on the John Craft
> charter.    I am always being criticized for
> bringing these things up.   I constantly hear "we
> are so lucky to see any steam at all."    Yes, I
> know.   So here is what John Craft did.....  
>  painted out the white tires, and changed the
> more modern twin bulb headlight back to single
> bulb...as built.  Any of you guys  notice this?
>  Great photos Alan.  And great detail job John.
>   I was aboard John's charter, and scored a nice
> cab ride...taking 16mm movies in the cab.   A
> wonderful day.

I'm totally with you where the 290 is concerned.  People seem to love white tires, and think 290 is supposed to have them.  There are literally no in-service shots of her with anything other than black tires and running boards.  Lima used white trim in the builder's photo, and the railroad trimmed her out at Hulsey (first pic in the thread) before donating her to the City.  That's it.  There are a few further details that could've been tweaked, like replacing the vulgar brass number plate with the original gold numbers on black, putting the black number boards back in the headlight, getting rid of the candlesticks, using black A&WP herald on the cab instead of red, but overall it was a good representation of how she looked for most of her life.

Thanks for the explanation.  At least some of the rumors that I heard involved the running gear.
As for the "Fire up 290" thing goes, I've had "Fire up the 1522" until I've ground my teeth down gritting them.  Several have attempted the proposal and have been turned away.

It seems that Democrat Zell Miller's, signature achievement was funding a new scholarship program for children who maintain a B average in school. Too bad he could not have linked 290 trips around Atlanta with ticket money partially for "the children."      A cab ride for himself and the winners.   Good photo publicity for the program, the kids, himself and the 290.  Too bad he chose not to support the 290's return to steam.     Alas, Zell Miller died in 2018.     I hope the 290 runs again.

She was a great locomotive to watch run. To be honest, I would be shocked to see her on display in the next 10 to 15 years. She is a very very low priority for the museum. They have a massive list of projects to get through first. 
Eric 

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> Thanks for the explanation.  At least some of the
> rumors that I heard involved the running gear.
> As for the "Fire up 290" thing goes, I've had
> "Fire up the 1522" until I've ground my teeth down
> gritting them.  Several have attempted the
> proposal and have been turned away.

Indeed...the museum has received a few hairbrained overtures re:290 over the years, mostly from the same individual.  They usually fade away when told they're going to have to put up a bond at the outset, to get the engine back to the museum once they throw in the towel.

Nice pics!!  I like the tunnel pic...