Yes I had been reading posts on here for a few months then finally decided to chime in. I have been enjoying reading and posting here versus most other railroad messageboards which are dominated by east coast railroads.
California and Colorado (plus Nevada) sure have the richest history in terms of narrow gauge operations and its very interesting to see where everything is going. And of all sizes of equipment, its amazing when abandoned/long lost/damaged equipment steams again.
As talked about earlier with missing old engines, the #2 at the Huckleberry was a hidden engine, and the most interesting was the Nevada Northern #40 which was completely forgotten and taken off company books to prevent Kennecott from scrapping it. Though not Nevada Northern, the Steptoe Valley #3 which ran nearby operated in Niles Canyon in 1989/90 which had been a homely looking low-profile industrial 0-4-0T. It was rescued from a field or something by the Pacific Locomotive Association. Kennecott also owned it and it was supposedly taken off the books and forgotten. And the scrapper it was sold to went out of business before he could finish the job! Its tanks were cut back off the smokebox, plus a new stack and other things and it was operational. Neat engine, though its in parts now. It originally burned wood or coal (I can't remember) and there was a big issue with complaints of smoke in the canyon...so it was converted to oil which was stored in the tender (not originally needed of course for a tank engine). It's in parts now at Brightside and nearby (I remember seeing the cab somewhere else for some reason)
Though not standard gauge, I got an e-mail about a year ago from somebody via the On Track site about the V&T #11 "Reno". He said that it was going to go to the NSRM in Carson City and be restored to operation. It had been in a serious fire in 1995 and people have said it needs a new boiler to operate again (if you've seen photos of it before it was dressed up again, it was a true mess and isn't much better now). The Eureka survived a fire at Old Las Vegas and look at it now. I would love to see the "Reno" back in Nevada, personally in its circa 1938 appearance as a cap-stacked oil burner to show the end of the golden age on the V&T and the transistion era when old 1870s engines were being modified to "stay with the times". An example of this practice is being done with Redwood Valley #7 (15" gauge) which is supposed to be a late 1800s engine brought back in maybe in the 1930s for modernization such as a steel pilot, etc. I think its an important era of railroad history, and I wish I had been there to see it.
As for the K-28s in Alaska, somewhere on the web I saw pictures. Though the military made junk out of these beautiful engines, they could have made nice park displays for the time being and perhaps someone today would have came up with the green to restore some? I understand they are the best running and most favored engines by D&S engineers and they are compared to a fast sportscar. It would have been even neater of the Oahu Railway & Land Co. saved their K-28s.
The most interesting thing I read here was about the two South Pacific Coast engines supposedly buried in a mudslide in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Having grown up in this area, I have a special interest in the SPC/SP mountain line to Santa Cruz. It would be something if they were still there...preserved like those ice mummies...but doubtful.
I'm curious as to which island in the Phillipines that the L-17 is believed to be on. Negros I understand has the largest amount of American engines. Insular Lumber and Hawaiian-Phillipine have a fair amount. My father lived a few years in Luzon (military), but he knows nothing about all the steam locomotives still used in the Phillipines hauling sugar cane. Somewhere in boxes I have a book with photos of several Phillipine cane trains such as Insular, Hawaiian-Phillipine, etc.
Keep Steaming,
Ed Kelley
