Got this from one of the other mailing lists I belong to:
>>>Chinese 2-10-2's arrive in the United States
HOUSTON TX -- Two Chinese steam locomotives have arrived in the United
States, bound for Iowa, with another three possibly coming later. This
brings the total of serviceable Chinese steamers in the U.S. to five. The
latest two were transloaded from a ship onto flatcars at Dock 18 at the Port
of Houston on June 11. Not yet released for transit, they were both still in
the port as of Tuesday, June 13, according to contributor Ed Blysard.
Two Chinese QJ 2-10-2's arrived at the Port of Houston June 11, bound for
the Iowa Interstate Railroad. The owner, Railroad Development Corp., has an
option for three more.
Owned by Railroad Development Corp. (RDC), based in Pittsburgh, the two
Chinese class QJ 2-10-2 locomotives - Nos. 7081 and 6988 - are destined for
the Iowa Interstate Railroad, which will steam them up as a test and then
give them a little work hauling freight trains.
RDC is a privately held railway management and investment company which
owns, or has financial interests in, rail properties in the U.S. and six
other countries in Latin America, Africa, and Europe. Its largest U.S.
property is the 550-mile Iowa Interstate, whose ex-Rock Island route links
Chicago, Des Moines, and Omaha.
According to RDC Chairman Henry Posner III, the two locomotives were
overhauled in China by the Jinzhou 701 Works to meet U.S. Federal Railroad
Administration standards, under the supervision of steam consultant Dennis
Daugherty and under contract with U.S. company Multipower International.
They were shipped through the Chinese port of Dalian.
Why bring Chinese steam to the U.S.? "It's a test of the market, without any
preconceived notions," Posner said in a report by Steve Glischinski in the
July 2006 issue of TRAINS magazine. "I didn't see anyone else putting their
hands up to buy these engines in the last year." Ideally, there would be a
market to resell the engines to regional or tourist railroads. Absent that,
other methods of generating revenue would be examined, such as serious photo
charters or renting them out. If there is a market for the locomotives, RDC
has an option to buy three more QJs.
The QJ (a derivation of the Soviet LV class) was the last Chinese steam
design to go into production and was the most numerous steam class to run in
China. The first prototypes were introduced in 1956. Eventually more than
4,700 QJs were built, the majority between 1964 and 1988. Datong Locomotive
Works built both of RDC's, No. 6988 in 1985 and No. 7081 in 1986.
Two Chinese-built steam locomotives, both 2-8-2s built in 1988, currently
operate in the U.S., hauling tourists. A class JS runs on Iowa's Boone &
Scenic Valley, and a class SY, built for Connecticut's Valley Railroad. The
SY was later sold to the New York, Susquehanna & Western, which transferred
it to the NYS&W Historical Society; the group now operates it on the Bel-Del
line at Phillipsburg, N.J. A third 1988 Chinese 2-8-2, also a class SY, is
in storage in Pennsylvania, having worked on the now-embargoed Knox & Kane
tourist line to Kinzua Viaduct.
The 7081 had the distinction of hauling the world's last regularly scheduled
mainline steam passenger train.
