Does anyone know if there are any Erie RR steam locomotives that somehow escaped the scrapper's torch? Any larger ones preserved and/or on display anywhere?
An Erie Pacific was exported to South Korea during the war. There's persistent daydreaming that it's extant but no evidence of it being anything more than wishful thinking.
Nothing was saved, unfortunately. One of several notable Northeastern lines with no survivors like the New Haven and Lehigh Valley. A consequence I imagine of dieselizing fairly early compared to some Western roads before the drive to save examples of steam had hit its stride, declining passenger patronage, and a tough business environment in general.
I'm sure a few people with power at the Rutland, for instance of a line that saw all its steam go to scrap, would've loved to have put one of those beautiful and new Mountains on display at somewhere like Burlington or Rutland. But fans weren't organized enough and executives at roads like that couldn't in good conscious just give up their value in scrap when they were struggling to just survive and forecasts for the future were looking even more troubled.
Better connections and a few fans with fairly deep pockets sure could've made a difference. But even in something like this publication which was many a railfan's only connection to other like minded individuals in earlier years, little to no attempt was made to get the word out about things like the Central's Hudsons going to scrap to try to even give a start to a grass roots campaign to save a few notable examples.
I'm sure as fans grew more organized that something like the fact that all Erie steam was cut up came as quite a shock to some that perhaps could've made a difference had they just known.
Rats! I feared as much.
Leo, you put it beautifully; I remember those days you describe when we threw away so much of our railroad heritage.
No wonder we lost Pennsylvania Station.
It's sad, but considering the scrap values of steam engines were pennies on the pound you'd think the 'roads would have saved some of the locomotives they once were so proud of, especially the Erie. Those steam engines were beautifully maintained right to the end, especially the K1's used in commuter service.
Oh well, what are you gonna do? Learn from past mistakes and move on.
Railroads, first and foremost, are economic entities. They either make money or they die. The economic situations of the 50's & 60's had the railroads, all of them, approaching the shoals of economically sinking. Eastern carriers did founder on those shoals and after a political upheaval and recognition of the carriers problems were formed into ConRail. The Eastern carriers didn't really have any economic elbow room to save locomotives that couldn't make them money.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
True enough. But some railroads, like the Nickel Plate for one, managed to leave a few steam locomotives scattered around in a gesture of civic good will. The towns that display former steamers have something tangible from their history. But how quickly spent was the pittance the company received in scrap value.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
"How quickly spent was the pittance the company received in scrap value."
True enough, hence my statement that the little money (in the grand scheme of things) the 'roads recieved in scrap value wouldn't have affected the bottom line all that much. For hundreds of locomotives, certainly, but we're not talking about saving them all. That would have been unrealistic and impractical. But saving one or two or three, especially of the most useful and significant types? Now that's another matter.
Obviously the Nickle Plate thought so. So did the Pennsy. And the Rio Grande, Baltimore and Ohio and Union Pacific, for that matter.
From the vantage point of 21st Century monetary values we look at scrap values of the 1950's for obsolete locomotives and declare that value a pittance - from the 21st Century every monetary value of the 1950's was a pittance, however, in the 1950's those were real values.
The 'average' suburban house today is $250K or more - in the 50's it was $15K or less.
Don't forget to criticize railfan groups and online communities since both parties were also guilty at times. The Central of Georgia 4-8-4 that they set aside for preservation as an example of their big modern power that was apparently declined by several communities comes to mind as a notable example.
Or the New Haven steamer that starred in It Happened to Jane that was scrapped around 1960 years after the New Haven had dieselized. They tried to give her and two sisters away, the last NH steam survivors, after recently being retired from snow melting service. But they found no takers from various groups and communities. Shipped to a scrapyard, an 11th hour deal almost happened to save one but the cutting torches beat them to it.
And then neglect, greed, vendettas, and vandals sometimes spoiled the generosity of railroad's that wanted to see an example of their heritage be preserved.
The ones that frustrate me the most are those that survived to a very late date but disappeared all but ignored. Those N&W Y6b's that sat rusting in a scrapyard and several Clinchfield Challenger's that were scrapped in the 1970's are some notable examples. Easy to forgive shortsightedness as the steam era ended, but hard to comprehend how something like those 4-6-6-4's slipped away all but unnoticed at such a late date.
I don't know if any could've been saved, but it seems a shame that they disappeared without a fight.
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