Scrapping IRCA #250 and #251

This poignant scene is of IRCA #250 and #251 slowly being dismantled for scrap in Guatemala. These engine were of course Sumpter Valley Ry. #250 and #251 and formerly Uintah tank engines #50 and #51. They were the largest 36" gauge engines to run in the US. Martin Hansen has posted a number of scenes over the years taken in scrap yards where steam locomotives were cut up in pretty short order. I think the photos of these two engines being scrapped is especially painful for rail history buffs because it was done over a number of years, perhaps a decade or more. Visiting rail fans took photos year after year which showed a little more scrapping done as time went on. I would have like to have said, "Oh just get on with it and cut them up, don't prolong the sadness". The scan is from the SVRR Archive.