Portola Railroad Museum Needs Your Help

[Anonymous]

It's Crunch Time and The Portola Museum Needs Your Help Preserving Rare
Quincy/Southern Pacific/EMD Demo Diesel Locomotive !

In 1950, EMD built their first demonstrator for a 'cow and calf' switcher
set designated model TR-6, based on the 800 HP SW8.
This EMD demo set, numbered 1600 and 1600B, was sent to the SP and worked
the Mina and Fallon branches with much success. SP purchased the
demonstrators in April 1951 and renumbered them from 1600 and 1600B, to 4600
for the cab equipped A unit (cow), and 4700 for the B unit (calf). The SP
also purchased 3 additional TR6 sets, numbered 4601 to 4603 (A units) and
4701 to 4703 (B units), later that year and assigned all 4 to the
Northwestern Pacific for road and transfer service. At some point, they
were all renumbered into the 1100 series (A-units) and 1150 series (B-units)
along with SP's other SW8s.

Around 1961, all four of the TR-6B units were separated from their A units
and paired with 4 SP dynamic brake equipped SW8s for Roseville hump service.
Two of the remaining TR6 As were retired and scrapped while the two
survivors, SP 1100 and 1102, were assigned to Los Angeles as standard
SW-8's. The B-units were eventually scrapped.

SP 1100 would eventually replace SW1 SP 1004 as the Sacramento shop
switcher. In the mid-late 1980's, the 1100, aka EMD 1600, the very first
TR6A and now believed to be the sole survivor, was sold to Sierra Pacific
Industries for use by the Quincy Railroad's operation of the SP's former
Susanville Branch.

Only the SP and Oliver Iron Mining (which purchased 2 sets) owned TR6s.
Quincy 1100 is believed to be the sole survivor of this rare locomotive
model and spent many years serving the Quincy Railroad. In summer 2004 it
was donated to the Feather River Rail Society in operational condition for
preservation in Portola.

The current plan is to place the Quincy 1100 into the Run - A - Locomotive
program, giving visitors a chance to personally enjoy this unique engine.

However, first it must be MOVED. Sierra Pacific Industries has indicated
they will terminate their lease on the Susanville Branch in mid-October. At
that point, it is likely the line will be severed and perhaps torn up. As
the 1100 has friction bearing wheels, it must travel by flat car and before
the branch is removed. We are unsure how much time remains but it is
possibly only a matter of weeks. If the branch is severed, the cost to move
the 1100 will likely triple as we will need to make a heady duty truck move
at a much higher cost.

With less than 24 hours passing since the transportation requirement was
announced, $250 has already been donated toward the estimated $5000 required
to save and preserve this unique engine (special thanks to Greg Elems-$100,
Gail McClure-$100, Eugene Vicknair-$30 and Wayne Monger-$20) . We need the
help of all SP, Quincy and WP fans to bring this piece of Quincy and SP
history to Portola (and keep it out of the hands of the scrappers)!

Donations can be sent to:

Quincy 1100 Fund

P O Box 608

Portola, CA, 96122

OR you can now use our new on-line PayPal secure donation method at the FRRS
website.

Just go to http://www.wplives.org/FRRS_Home/Donate/donate.html for details.
Remember, your donation may be tax deductible - please consult your tax
specialist.

If you have any questions, please contact David Epling at
[e-mail] or Eugene Vicknair at [e-mail].

[Anonymous]

UPDATE:

With less than 24 hours passing since the transportation requirement was announced, $895 has already been donated toward the estimated $5000 required to save and preserve this unique engine We need the help of all SP, Quincy and WP fans to bring this piece of Quincy and SP history to Portola (and keep it out of the hands of the scrappers)!

Donations can be sent to:

Quincy 1100 Fund

P O Box 608

Portola, CA, 96122

OR you can now use our new on-line PayPal secure donation method at the FRRS website.

Just go to http://www.wplives.org/FRRS_Home/Donate/donate.htmlfor details.
Remember, your donation may be tax deductible - please consult your tax
specialist.

If you have any questions, please contact David Epling at
[e-mail] or Eugene Vicknair at [e-mail].

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill

This is a locomotive worth preserving.

Yes it is.

Let's just bring this back to page one and hope it helps some more. [;)]

[dphusman]

Can anyone give an update on this subject?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

The fund drive to move the Southern Pacific/Quincy TR6A 1100 to the Portola
Railroad Museum has nearly reach the halfway mark! As of this weekend,
about $2200 has been raised toward the goal of $5000.



We still need to close that gap. We have no word yet on when or if the UP
will sever the branch, but SPI is close to terminating their lease and the
UP wants to pull the line.



On-line donations can be made at
http://www.wplives.org/FRRS_Home/Donate/donate.html
<http://www.wplives.org/FRRS_Home/Donate/donate.html> . Donations are
processed using the secure PayPal system.



Or, you can mail a check to Feather River Rail Society, P O Box 608,
Portola, CA, 96122. Please mark it "Quincy 1100 Fund" in the memo line.



You can follow the progress on the donate page and see a recent photo of the
1100.



Any questions, please contact me at [e-mail]
<mailto:[e-mail]> or David Epling at [e-mail]
<mailto:[e-mail]> .



Thanks to everyone who has donated to help us save Q 1100!