Chinese Steam ?

[garthor]

Ok anyone have any updates on these units, are they being used or stored somewhere ? Are they being used everyday for freight service? Please forgive me if I have missed the answers in other posts.

[Erie Lackawanna]

Last that I read, they were now stored and for sale... the hope being that they will sell and the present importer can go back and buy some more, to also try and sell in the US.

Someone in Iowa might have newer info.

[garthor]

Forgive me for seeming out of touch, but why would anyone spend the time and money to transport those engines without a buyer ? I would love to see steam reintroduced to this country in a big way having missed it in my life time. Maybe I'm missing the point, how many railroads can afford to run and maintain such fantastic engines in todays economy ? The insurance alone has got to be crazy, and a small railroad or museum wouldn't have the need for such engines? Am i wrong ?

[route_rock]

  Well they are in Iowa City I think ( if not there then Council BLuffs or Cedar Rapids) and yes the Heartland group has an option for 4 more and looks like they are going to get em.

 

  I know that the Quad Cities loved having them so who knows maybe some more trips will be in the offing next year.

[beaulieu]

Forgive me for seeming out of touch, but why would anyone spend the time and money to transport those engines without a buyer ? I would love to see steam reintroduced to this country in a big way having missed it in my life time. Maybe I'm missing the point, how many railroads can afford to run and maintain such fantastic engines in todays economy ? The insurance alone has got to be crazy, and a small railroad or museum wouldn't have the need for such engines? Am i wrong ?

They bought them because RDC (Rail Development Corp.), thinks that they can sell them for a profit. They brought them here because it is easier, for potential buyers to test drive them here. Also the Chinese engines should be more economical than restoring and operating US preserved steam locomotives. As regards to size, you need to pull a long enough train hauling enough paying passengers, to show a profit, some operations using small US locomotives can't generate enough revenue to cover the insurance costs. The Chinese 2-10-2s are below average size for a similar US locomotive, by the late steam era many US eight-coupled locomotives have the same amount of power. For example the MILW 261 is more powerful. What the 2-10-2 wheel arrangement does give, is the ability to run on lighter rail, especially branchlines, as the axle loadings are lower.

[garthor]

So basically they can run on what we would consider branch lines. which is what most tourist railroads operate on. how do they stack up as far as maint and what is required to operate them on a daily basis. Yes i know these are base questions but i'm new to steam engines unfortunately, and they impress me,

[Erie Lackawanna]

As to maint, they are young locomotives. It's the same basic rule with any machinery, the more use they have had and the more exposure to the elements that they have suffered, the more worn out that they will be.

It's the same as being a 1930s car or a 1990s car. The 1930s might be more fun, but every single piece on it is likely to fail at any time. While the 1990s car is still second-hand, you can probably assume that most of its pieces will continue to function for sometime. (Of course, breakdown and failure are possible with either a restored locomotive or a new one, just more likely with the restored one.)

[beaulieu]

Plus they are modern designs, but planned for unsophisticated maintenance, unlike a J4 Hudson or a N&W J Class. Very suitable for the willing, but not trained help found on most tourist lines. The same is true for the three Chinese Mikados previously imported.

[EJE818]

Both Chinese QJs are currently stored at Newton, Iowa. They will be building a pole barn just for the QJs to sit inside.

[garthor]

You would think that they would have already have had a place to store these engines. I mean its not like they just appeared. Hmm i wonder if i could see them on google earth?

[Lord Atmo]

i'd enjoy seeing them run again. maybe IRM has room for one? i missed seeing the triple header they did with MILW 261, but i saw videos of it. i'm in the minority who likes how their whistles sound. (and i DO like 261's whistle too, mind you) these are really cool-looking locomotives

[garthor]

any updates to these engines are they still being stored ,or has anybody actually bought one ? what about the supposed other engines that where to be delivered ?

[stebbycentral]

Can't say where they are today, but the February issue of Trains has a nice backstory on how they came to be in America.  Including photos of the refurbishing work done in China prior to their shipment to the US.

[EJE818]

I doubt IRM is interested in them considering they really aren't that old plus they aren't from the U.S. An interesting fact is the QJs are actually newer then any of IAIS' diesels, making them the newest engines ever to be owned by IAIS. They sure don't seem to be the newest.

[al-in-chgo]

I doubt IRM is interested in them considering they really aren't that old plus they aren't from the U.S. An interesting fact is the QJs are actually newer then any of IAIS' diesels, making them the newest engines ever to be owned by IAIS. They sure don't seem to be the newest.

 

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I feel certain a buyer will eventually be found if buyer and seller can agree on price.  I mean, how many of us have wanted to go back fifty years in a time machine and experience the end of mainline steam?  This is the closest thing to that experience and, just like land, they aren't making any more. 

al