The "linear scrapyard" revisited

Fear ye not; I am not proposing to revisit this subject as such. However I have just encountered a posting on an American site bewailing similar goings on in the U.S.A. "Lots of piss and vinegar to start with but no real plan. Then later on, trying to restart it is nearly impossible for many reasons including "scattered parts" syndrome".

Apart from observing that this is one of the best Americanisms I have come across I would only say that the U.S.A. can turn out restoration projects we would find it hard to keep up with.

Merry Christmas!

Paul H.

 

In my, limited, experience of the USA, 2 things spring to my mind: 1-You can have anything you want if you pay for it and, 2- It's a fantastic country but you'd better not be poor.

 

Thanks for your thoughts which coincide with what I am given to understand. However I was intrigued to find that taking things apart, scattering the bits around and then leaving them was not an exclusively British trait!

On the other hand a little organisation in Maine has just taken 9 years for a complete renovation of a 2ft gauge Portland Forney which has been described as being like something out of the Smithsonian with the added bonus that it goes (and went beautifully with minimal teething troubles-PH) Photo Kevin Madore

PH

 

Horses for courses, I think. There doesn't seem to be the sheer amount of preservation over there and there isn't the cottage industry to support it. They do undertake some big projects, but that's because some of their locos are physically big. There's nothing particularly ambitious, like the building of completely new locos, though (apart from the one supposedly to set anew world record for steam)

 

Can't say in the slightest from first hand experience. One factor must be the vast distances and low population densities. They appear to have plenty of rich hobbyists and their share of of not for profit museum type organisations but there is a a third group not so much evident in the U.K. This is the commercial line which has to make money or go bang. The celebrated Edaville operation in Massachusetts duly went bang, sold off much of its stuff and regenerated, Dr. Who like, as a much simpler setup. Could we see something similar happening here?

A supposed absence of newbuilds is not quite true. The Wiscassett, Waterville and Farmingham Railway Museum, who did such a splendid renewal of the 1891 Portland Forney previously referred to, have plans for a 2-4-4T and have done preliminary work. Being canny New Englanders they will want to have a fair bit of the money to hand first.

Paul H

 

As always, sweeping generalisations do not apply, but one factor must be that steam mostly end ended much earlier in the USA and the preservation era didn't necessarily start that much sooner there, although they were fortunate to have visionaries such as Nelson F. Blount. Commercial operations exist in the UKJ, of course the P & D being the most notable but there are others - I'd put the Brecon Mountain Railway in this category - and most seem to be low key but surviving.

I stand by my comment on replicas. You quote one example of a group in the very early stages of building a relatively small 2ft gauge engine. It's hardly comparable with the plethora of new-build scheme in the UK, some of which (Taliesin, Lyd, Tornado, Steam Elephant, GWR Railmotor (stretching the point) etc) have been completed with others (Patriot, P2) progressing rapidly.

 

Um, how about Dart Valley Railway being reborn as the South Devon Railway? Alright it didn't go bang but did go from being commercial to volunteer sector.

Sawdust.

 

The real meaning of the word "plethora" is, actually, "unhealthy repletion"! Much my view. Actually the list given is by no means complete but the vast majority that have been completed are narrow gauge. In respect of the others an amount of bated breath seems a good idea.

PH

 

The Dart Valley Railway Plc was not reborn, it still exists. It sold its Buckfastleigh line to the SDR Trust.

 

Indeed. The Bala Lake started as "commercial" and became more (I am not sure of the exact structure) volunteer. There is one poster on NP who is of the opinion that a number of large tourist lines have had their rocky moments in the last few years and this individual is in a position to know. However a line is run it has to be prudent.

Paul H

 

Yes I know but the point being that the DVR PLC decided that the line wasn't commercial enough for them and it was reborn in it's new guise. I thought saying not going bang made it clear that the operating company didn't go bust.

Sawdust.

 

The meanings of words change, otherwise redheads described as "feisty" would be mortified as being described as prone to farting! "Plethora" nowadays has evolved to describe a wide range, and I don't think anyone would describe the scope of newbuilds in the country as being anything other than wide ranging. It seems to me that it is also indicative of a mature and healthy preservation movement that looks to fill in missing gaps in the story.

I fully expect some heritage lines or centres to fail, perhaps because they over-reach themselves or they are mismanaged. I'm actually of the view that we do have more than enough preservation sites and that one or two failures would not be a bad thing, but as long as the weaker sites manage to get enough paying customers or wealthy patrons on side, who am I to deny them their existence? And that, I think, should be the take-home message!

 

Agree up to a point. However I still feel that a large number of new build projects come into the category which the American described as "lots of piss and vinegar to start with but with no real plan. " It is quite significant that the Taliesin and Tornado projects started with the money issues.

That's quite enough scatology for now!

PH

 

The North West Railway Museum at Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State has a sad looking linear scrapyard

 

Snoqualmie Falls July 2011

 

I last saw it in 1995 - the locos don't seem to have had much TLC in the intervening years. Sadly, at least that one of the locos, the big Mallet was in working order just a few years before my visit. Apparently, according to their website, they now have a shiny new "restoration facility" but it seems to miss out all mention of the "linear scrapyard" - very sad. There is an even sadder 'private' collection of dismembered locos owned by a Fred Kepner scattered about a field south of Klamath Falls Oregon.
Ray.

 

Good grief! I knew everything was supposed to be bigger in the U.S.A. but I did not realise this extended to linear scrapyards. We can still beat this for untidiness in a number of instances though. But yet there are other places across the Atlantic where positive lessons can be learned.

The Wiscassett, Waterville and Farmington Railway (note not Railroad), where No. 9 has been revived, has now built a car barn.This means that nothing at all has to face the rigours of a Maine winter unprotected. Few,if any, British lines can match this.The resulting tidiness is astonishing.

Mention of No. 9 and Britain reminds me that her new boiler needed replacement cladding. It was decided to try and reproduce her original cladding of Russia Iron. Plain iron sheeting was sourced from the UK to assist in the production of this early (and expensive) form of heat and corrosion resistant finish. Other matters, like learning how to produce rubberised canvas diaphragms for a now unique Eames vacuum brake system, give a good idea of the standards achieved by this small group.

Paul H

 

The Wiscassett, Waterville and Farmington Railway (note not Railroad), where No. 9 has been revived, has now built a car barn.This means that nothing at all has to face the rigours of a Maine winter unprotected. Few,if any, British lines can match this.The resulting tidiness is astonishing.

But they only have a very few items of rolling stock. Which is more interesting to the visitor - line with very little stock to use or display but all under cover, or a line with more items but not necessarily covered? For me it would be the one with more because presumably I could go back from time to time to see additional items enter use.

 

This sounds suspiciously like a classic case of gricer's love of grot to me although I am quite happy to be corrected.

A recently acquired boxcar has just gone into the shops for a major rebuild. Elsewhere, it had been left to deteriorate outside from a reasonable state to one of utter dereliction.. Once rebuilt it will be protected from the weather when not in use. Good!

PH

 

I looked at their website and spotted the rather small collection of rolling stock - much easier to keep under cover of course than a large collection. Under cover accommodation is desirable of course but I wonder how many UK railways own sufficient land to enable construction of a suitable building?