I’ve been looking at these for 20 years and I noticed that the place is being cleaned up the past month and there is a forklift nearby. Don’t know if the forklift has been there all along or if the train is going away, so I decided to take a photo and at least find out what it is. I've been wanting to do this for a very long time, but never had a camera. cool:
its a loco,caboose,tankcar and a switcher! just looking at the pic i was able to tell what they are!!! J/K
Looks to me like the steam locomotive is a "tank engine" (think Thomas the Tank Engine), where the fuel (coal or oil) and water are carried onboard and not on a tender. Looks like there is a saddle tank over the boiler to carry the water. I'm a little surprised to see one in the US as I thought they were much more common in Europe. If you know the name of the property it's sitting on, it might be possible to determine exactly what it is and its history. Neat little find!
That’s pretty funny, but I hoping for a little more. laugh: Actually I was more interested in the Loco. I believe its steam, but never seen one of these.
The lokey reminds me of old "Docksider" type model switchers we have seen many times. That tank car is interesting. Looks like its domes are a little closer together than many I recall? Boxcab E50
I’m going to go back and try to take some better photos later today. I was in a hurry because there were some unsavory characters hanging around and I didn’t want a confrontation. I was only going to take a photo of the steam switcher, but at the last moment I decide to go for all of it. it wasn’t until I started to load it up in Photobucket that I noticed the 44 ton switcher in the back. I never knew it was there before because of all the junk surrounding it over the years. I do want to know more about the caboose and the tanker. Maybe if there isn’t a lot of people standing around, I might be able to get a road number.
Lehigh Valley used some like these (this one is an 0-4-0) for switching at their Bronx Terminal (next to the CNJ Bronx Terminal): And the BEDT in Brooklyn:
Lookd up the tanker, PAR is the Pacific Railway Society according to one site. NCO is either Newport Division of Tenneco Chemicals, or North Central Okalahoma & Midland, except that both o those are NCOX. I cannot find an NCO. I'm curious, is this a scrap line? Or do you know why this equipment is there?
I see you are in the CA high desert. Were these taken in Lancaster? I read a few years ago about the delivery of a loco to a collector in Lancaster. I can't recall his name, nor the location of his property. I lived in Lancaster for 35 years. :tb-biggrin:
I believe these are someone’s private collection that is being stored here. According to www.rrpicturearchives.net, the #717 Saddle Tank 0-6-0T Switcher was bought from the Blue Grass Railroad Museum, Versailles, KY in 2005 by an Unknown buyer in California. I assume that the other stuff was bought and stored the same way. I don’t know what NCO means but if you look closely the 44 Ton Switcher was clearly marked US Army on the left. .