From the American Rails group on Facebook, this great piece of news from Portland, OR regarding Doyle MacCormack's PA restoration project: It's official, there is now an operable Alco PA in the States once more; Mr. Doyle McCormack has finally brought Nickel Plate Road #190 (originally Santa Fe 62L) back to life after an 11-year restoration. When acquired from Mexico in 2002 this locomotive was literally nothing more than an empty, rusted-out shell requiring a total rebuild of virtually every component. It's ALIVE! After all these years, Doyle's PA is ALIVE & RUNNING! I don't have any pictures myself, but the same site does have one of the 190's prime mover doing what Alcos do best, and the tree-huggers be damned..... For those of you wishing he would have restored it into full ATSF livery, remember: he purchased it, he worked on it, he sweated over it, so essentially it's his locomotive. Besides, the NKP "bluebird" scheme looks quite nice on an Alco PA. Just be happy there's at least ONE PA in service, or at least very close to it.
Sweet! Can somebody in the know (personally or through FB) provide some insight into what the plans for this are?
I haven't been "up there" recently, but have heard that the traction motors are not active yet. I kind of wonder how much of the electrical stuff is done. Starting up the old motor wouldn't have needed any of that electrical done. A few years ago, thieves broke into the old Brooklyn roundhouse and among the things they stole were the traction motor harnesses for the PA. I will poke around and see what I can find.
That's what happened to the Baldwin DS44-750 at the Houston Railroad Museum. Scrap value on the cables was probably enough for a few drug fixes. What a pity. And the scrap dealers are just about as irresponsible by accepting such things without asking questions and reporting the jerks to the police.
Yup. The police should sit on them, instead of chasing thieves. I'd like to believe that if there is no place to fence the stolen items, that would slow it down.
Here in the Sooner State, folks taking copper to a scrap yard are supposed to have a receipt from the person they got it from, or some legitimate form of proof they got it legitimately. Granted, there are some sleazy scrappers out there, and they need to be run out of business. ]
It's not the first time a significant Santa Fe unit has been sacrificed, if I recall correctly the first built CF7 was canibalised for engine and parts to get a psuedo CNJ F3 running but do I admit he picked a nice paint scheme for it. Whatever happened to No.16 that was supposed to be cosmetically restored to the warbonnet scheme and placed in the Smithsonian? Don't forget No.18 has been kept in working order at the Mexican railroad museum at Puebla, Mexico and No.19 is a static display at the same location.
It is now in Frisco, Texas. http://www.museumoftheamericanrailroad.org/Exhibits/RestorationProjects/ProjectALCOPA.aspx
That is the first really close in detail photo I have seen. Rough, but so possible. How is their fund raising coming along?
I really don't know how the funding is coming. They are still just moving into the new museum grounds in Frisco after the City of Dallas evicted them from the Texas State Fair grounds next to the Cotton Bowl. There is a lot of work being done on getting the museum up and functioning that needs to happen first.
Yeah, if they were able to recreate a Santa Fe F-7 using a CN F-9 they can probably pull it off. http://www.museumoftheamericanrailroad.org/Exhibits/RestorationProjects/ProjectF7.aspx The stainless steel sides look much better than the silver paint used on the old SP F-7s in Galveston. To say nothing about the snow plows, HEP connections, ditch lights and horn placements.
I got a shot of the 'F7' through the fence at the Dallas state fairgrounds. I didn't know it wasn't the real thing until I read up on it later. As nice as the NKP Bluebird scheme is I don't think you can beat the warbonnet.
With as many paint schemes as Doyle has painted the GS-4, 4449 over the years, I would predict that he will eventually paint his PA in warbonnet some day. All it will take is for BNSF to borrow it to lead their employee special or something like that and poof, the paint will change.
You're right, it's only a coat of paint, with all the effort and money he's put into it I think he can choose the colour. When you consider that apart from the AB pair at Sacremento all the F units in Santa Fe paint are stand-ins it's only fair. I reckon it would be good to see Doyle's PA alongside Norfolk Southern's NKP heritage unit.
