I have often wondered myself. Doesn't look like the website gets updated much. I remember going to see the 614 as a young child, and my father took some photos, but it was a long time ago. If I recall the group has to keep the locomotive outside, covered up. A permanent home and/ or shop would be very helpful to their efforts, I would think. You are certainly right about one thing, though...It is a very impressive machine.
Go over to www.rypn.org (Railway Preservation News), join the forum, and ask Ross Rowland yourself.... he frequently posts over there! Last I knew that was the designated power for the proposed Yellow Ribbon Express. You'll see a HUGE thread over there discussing changing it over to burning oil..pro and con.
NJT had this engine in their maintance facility for a long time.Rumor had it Ross owed Transit a bundle & they were holding it for ransom. While there,I stood next to it. The drivers were bigger than me,& I'm 5'10". It's a real awesome engine.
The locomotive is on the Reading and Northern at Port Clinton, PA. It is no longer owned by Ross Rowland.
This is Ross' original post. As of 8/15 it is about 6 pages deep in the RYPN discussion forum thread "Yellow Ribbon Express": The Yellow Ribbon Express Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:52 am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Effective today, 26 July, the YRE project website is up and running at....yellowribbonexpress.com Please keep in mind that it is VERY much a work in progress (as is the underlying project itself) and that many additions/improvements will be made in the days/weeks immediately ahead. Also, please be ever mindful of the critical fact that to become reality the project must be able to successfully garner $50 million dollars in corporate co-sponsorships for the business model upon which it is built to work. This will not be an easy task to say the least, and therefore it may well end up not happenning. We've been working in the background on this since Feb.'06 and the further we get the more optimistic I've become that we will be able to secure the necessary funding-BUT-the proof is in the pudding-so we'll see in the next 6 months or so if my optimism proves correct??? As to the many rail related questions you may have, let me say that IF we are able to get the critical corporate partners signed on and thus have a viable project, the YRE WILL be an all steam powered special train with C&O #614 as the "main" motive power in partnership with a number of additional,suitable, mainline capable steam locomotives. The 10 display cars will be custom rebuilds and each will contain a people mover identical to the system that worked so well on the American Freedom Train. The "VIP" cars bringing up the rear of the YRE will be specifically reconstructed so as to allow us to carry approx. 300 VIP wounded warriors as our special guests into thier hometowns as we make our way through the nation over the 3 year,25,000 mile journey. The balance of the 24 car long train will be comprised of various support cars. In recognition of todays realities the 614 will be converted to burn bio-diesel during its FRA work-up, in part so that she can be an environmentally clean good will ambassador and for operating practicalities. I will do my best to keep you updated on our progress and when we've been able to secure our corporate partners I will reach out for your suggestions as to how we can make the YRE the best it can be. The YRE is all about saying thanks to the brave Americans who have answered the Call To Duty and are serving our nation on the front lines in this Global War On Terrorism. Seems to me that we're going to be in this struggle for a LONG,LONG time and all of us need to do whatever we can as individuals to encourage our young people to consider answering the Call To Duty so that we can maintain an all volunteer military. From the relatively narrow perspective of a life long steam enthusiast I also see the 3 year,25,000 mile,150 display city journey of the YRE as a superb opportunity to showcase our railroad preservation industry and to highlight those properties (museums,operating tourist shortlines etc.) within a 50 mile radius of each of the 150 display sites so that they will benefit from the extensive media coverage and the average daily 15,000 visitors to the YRE. I'm confident that I carry your well wishes into this next critical phase (getting the $50 million in corporate sponsorships) and pledge to you that I will report back in a timely manner on our progress. Thank you, Ross Rowland
This is wrong. Ross still owns the locomotive. He struck a deal to have it stored at the Reading and Northern yard.
A mild note of interest....my Uncle may be the only reason this locomotive exists today. I can't prove it, but here's the story and it lines up with Ross's history. My uncle worked at Russell yard and was big into the YMCA there, just off railroad properly. In the early 50's C&O stored all of their '48-'49 LIMA 4-8-4's off the end of the roundhouse there nearest the Y. I think there were 14 or 18 total, I forget now. In the early 60's, with steam clearly dead he cut a deal with C&O to buy one of them for $1 and move it to the YMCA property for display. He gave them the $1. 5-10 years would drag on while he tried to get them to lay ~200 feet of track and shove it onto YMCA property. It was literally straight forward. The Chessie system, as it was then, would have nothing to do with it, even for money. Eventually he gave up and sold the locomotive back to the C&O for $1 to be rid of it. In the mean time all other 4-8-4's had been sent off for scrap, but this one was left, because it was his at the time. I can't prove it's the exact same as Ross's, but his story is all but one were scrapped while on the siding at Russell, and later he traded for the one that was not scrapped, so it lines up.
That's quite a story. Did he save any paperwork? If so, there would be some real treasure! Boxcab E50
When I was a young kid, there were a couple T-3 Mountains (4-8-2) sitting in the yard at Garrett Indiana. Apparently the locals in Garrett finally got around to asking B&O/C&O about getting one for display in a city park. but they didn't get the required paper work in on time (or maybe couldn't raise the money to buy one) - I think I would have a stroke if I ever find out that B&O/C&O needed $1.00 to seal the deal. Anyway, no T-3 got saved, and the scappers cut them to pieces...
Not that I know of.... All I have is a picture of 614 at Sandpatch he gave me with a hand written note on the back that says something to the effect that it was the engine he tried to get to the Y. Alas, it was long after he was gone I was old enough to realize the significance. Another good story. When I was about 7 or so we visited them over the summer. He took my dad and I to the yard, and took me out to a set of engines working the hump run by an engineer nicknamed mousey. He let me push a cut of cars over the hump. At school next fall we had to write "what we did over the summer", so I wrote about it and presented it to the class. Well, the teacher called home and told my parents I had been lying in class about running a train. Rather than argue with her my mom just said she would talk to me, and the next morning gave me the pictures and said take these to your teacher and show them to her. Ah, if only I had been old enough to appreciate that as well!
