An update on the 4-8-0s (and two Baldwin diesels) that have been lanquishing in a Roanoke scrap yard for decades appeared in today's Roanoke Times.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/147064
No actual progress yet, but no destruction either. Hope for cosmetic restoration for at least one remains. This location has been completely overgrown for years, and the locomotives have really only been visible during the depth of winter when the foliage is absent.
There was a recent thread in this forum that spoke of the "lost locomotives" of Roanoke. The newspaper article gives them a little more notariety, at least on the local level.
Bill
Bill,
Thanks for the update. I posted this on another website and did I get blasted out of the water. I posted that how hard could it be to move these locomotives. There is a main line right there. Just free them up and get them to roll. The Virigina Museum is up the tracks.
I know I don't know much about moving these locomotives but alot of folks have had there eye on them for a while and I bet people would come from all over to help move them. Let's just hope someone will save them and not let them end up like they were suppose to...........scrapped
I was a police officer in Roanoke for 30 years, and on a couple occasions when things were quiet I walked up the tracks to do a "security check" on this area. There are trees growing up through the wheels and the condition of the steam locomotives would be in the "derelict" classification. It is not an easy proposition.
The newspaper account cites one local contractor as being willing to do it with a price quotation; but he is a specialty painting contractor and not a railroad restoration specialist. The Virginia Museum of Transportation has had their State funding stream just gutted the past decade or so, and they have had trouble financing needed maintenance on what is already in their collection (I was a museum member for 30 years until moving from the area). While most anything CAN be done, the funding commitment is another matter.
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