Victor I do remember your article in Trains. I have lived in Central Mass all of my life and have always been interested in New England railroading. Over the years there has been mention of these engines in several New England RR oriented publications. If I recall correctly there was a magazine called Downeast Magazine. over 45 years ago they published a softcover book that had all the railroad articles that they had published in the magazine. This was not a railfans collection of storys just general interest articles about Maine Railroading,some pretty good stuff. It had an article about Eagle Lake logging line. I will have to dig through my piles of "Stuff" to see if I can find it.
I have never been there .I do know it is a remote location. My best guess would be cost is the reason not much has been done with them.
Ron High
riogrande5761 What about that D&RGW standard gauge articulated steam engine buried in the old tunnel at Tennesee Pass which parallels the active tunnel (before the line was closed in 1996) =P
What about that D&RGW standard gauge articulated steam engine buried in the old tunnel at Tennesee Pass which parallels the active tunnel (before the line was closed in 1996) =P
Proven several times over to be a wild exaggeration.
I have several videos about Tennessee Pass from different commercial sources that all claim there is no truth to the rumor.
At the bottom of Half Moon Lake about 35miles north of Grand Rapids Michigan there is a whole freight train and the bridge it was crossing. This old steamer has been a diving target for at least 60 years and it has been down there a lot longer than that.
What railroad was involved in the Half Moon Lake accident? Any idea when this happened?
Tom
Reference the two locos on Eagle Lake, Maine: Those in charge said it was part of Maine's logging history and wanted the locos to stay there. Perhaps it's not unlike the unwillingness of some states and countries to allow their ship wrecks to be exhumed. I did not make friends with the Park Service and my guide when I wrote about my feelings about that.
Unfortunately, more of the location has been looted since I was there in the 1980s, but I do admit it was very exciting to disembark from my canoe and began to notice things like a large, broken boat propeller on shore, skeletons of logging cars with their trucks, rails and then the two locos in the woods. The locos are not big by today's standards, but they look large in the woods when flanked by trees that have grown up around them. It's much the same effect when you see steam locomotives in a roundhouse. They seem bigger than life or bigger than you see them out on the railroad.
I have often toyed around with writing a book about the logging operation, though I'm deep in other book projects right now.
Victor A. Baird
www.erstwhilepublications.com
The sunken (in the Atlantic off Long Branch, NJ) locos that were described in the 2004 TV documentary that initiated the initial thread on this subject are still there, six miles off shore in 90 feet of water. While they were 'arrested' at the time (which was supposed to protect them from scavengers) they are now listed as a popular target for advanced scuba divers. I interpret that to mean that they are now well-plucked chickens.
The sheer expense of raising and conserving them has prevented any action in that direction by the discoverers. To get an idea of what that would entail, check out the expenses run up raising and conserving CSS Hunley.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
There are stories like this probably in every location in the U.S. About 11 miles from where I am right now (Walker, MN) there is supposed to be a logging locomotive that went through the ice and is not real deep. In the winter, the Red River Logging Company (based out of Walker here) would lay tracks across the frozen lakes in the area to reach cleared land that couldn't be reached during the summer. Suposedly late in the spring, they tried to make one more trip and loco went through the ise. This stroy has been told to me by several people and varified by a scuba diver I know.
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
BRAKIE wabash2800 Researching and writing about railroads for a living, I can tell you that most stories like this are urban legends. Most locos that went under water were recovered. A very few were not, for various reasons. I think the ones already recounted here are fact, however. I have often wondered about that..Stories abound of Great Lake ships that sunk during storms with all hands and tells of gold and other treasures still laying on the bottom of the Great Lakes. Stories of sunken Railroad car ferries with their cargo.. Wasn't there a means of recovering the freight car's lading or was paying for the freight car and their loads cheaper?
wabash2800 Researching and writing about railroads for a living, I can tell you that most stories like this are urban legends. Most locos that went under water were recovered. A very few were not, for various reasons. I think the ones already recounted here are fact, however.
I have often wondered about that..Stories abound of Great Lake ships that sunk during storms with all hands and tells of gold and other treasures still laying on the bottom of the Great Lakes.
Stories of sunken Railroad car ferries with their cargo..
Wasn't there a means of recovering the freight car's lading or was paying for the freight car and their loads cheaper?
Sunk railroad ferrys are not urban legands. The SS Milwaukee went down in 1929 taking all 52 lives and 28 boxcars to the bottom of lake michigan. The wreck was not located until 1972. I have dove the site 4 times, I would say the cars are in fair condition at best. That ship took one H3LL of a beating before sinking. It seems most are single sheathed wood boxcars. some reduced to kindling and underframe. YES some still have their cargo in them, several with bathroom fixtures. One car with the siding mostly gone is full of cast iron bathtubs standing verticly. Atleast one was carring automobiles. This is in a heavily damaged area, the engineblock and frames are all that is recognizable every car is derailed and uncoupled, but not one broken knuckle(they uncoupled verticaly!). several cars are sideways inside the hull and one punched partway through the side. You can find videos on youtube.
Ann Arbor #5 is also in lake michigan, but only the stearn half, sinking on the way to be cut up for scrape.
Rere Marquette #18 went down in 1910, and there has still not been any publicly anounced finding of the wreck.
tim