Rick & all,
I've really enjoyed the threads relating to this terrific locomotive, and thought I'd add my story to its history. Back in the 1990's there was an effort to establish a railroad museum in Imperial, south of Pittsburgh Pa along the Montour RR r-o-w. The gentleman behind the museum plan had sought me out through a narrow gauge historical society and was looking for my help. After driving around with him to different rr sites, we wound up at Benkartts Rigging yard, in Cranberry, north of Pittsburgh. There sat your engine and its now gone twin, sunk in the mud. The plan was then told to me, and it involved restoring one of these engines, laying narrow gauge track, somehow cobbling up a passenger carrying car, and run this train from the museum site to a spot near a tunnel on the Montour,, a several mile run. Oh, and could my narrow gauge group restore the engine? Seeing that this wasn't some 8 ton teakettle I expressed my concerns that this was indeed narrow gauge, but would by no means be a light cheap rail line to build, not to mention that engine getting off the track and down an embankment. For whatever reasons, the museum plans never went through, even though the building was put up for it, and the little Porters never put to work. Benkartts closed, the yard was cleared, and I thought the engines were long gone. Thanks for saving one, and your efforts to bring it back to life.
brian b