Re: 481’s Builder’s Plate For Sale

One of Sumpter Valley's #19 builders plates was removed by the railroad master mechanic before the locomotive went to Skagway. When #19 returned to Sumpter Valley he gave the plate to us, but it is not on the locomotive. We used the plate to make replaceable replicas to put there, and the original is kept in our archives. When #20 gets restored we will use the plate to make replicas for that locomotive, the numbers are only one digit different.

On the topic of replicas, the spot plate on #19 is entirely a fabrication. The locomotive was renumbered from 102 to 19 shortly after it was put in service, but a new spot plate was not cast. All photos of #19 after the renumbering show a plain flat plate with the number painted on. So the spot plate now on #19 is not the same as any that were on it before we got it, but it is a duplicate of what it would have been if SVRy had purchased a new one in 1920. Authentic to Sumpter Valley? Maybe not, but certainly better looking.

On the subject of private collectors with parts of still extant locomotives though, when no's.19 and 20 arrived back in Baker City there were no brass parts remaining. But, many years later, a person showed up at McEwen and asked if we would like to have the original bell. It seems that while #19 (81) was in the dead line at Skagway they had collected the bell, thus saving it from being melted down for the brass. That bell is now back where it belonged, thanks to a railfan who collected it and later returned it to the restored Sumpter Valley Railroad.