Re: Chinese Steam Surplus + Cuban Sale.

Hey Arnold...hate is a pretty strong word...but bad experiences with and after visiting it in NJ did leave me with a strong distaste for that thing. I love how it was quoted in the paper as "Ride a historic steam train"...I'm older than that thing...am I historic?
Multipower International...aka Tangshan...hmm. The whistles ARE crap from what I understand, I don't know about the entire locomotives, but they probably are too. I've seen one...not a pretty sight. Go to the recording on their web site; its so bad that only 1/2 second is whistle...and about 2 minutes of cab-muffled locomotive sounds! Scary stuff...that tank engine looks like a circus train from hell on their site. Supposedly they "switched suppliers". I have heard that the whistles they make are shrill; some turn out good, others turn out the quality you'd expect from an Adidas soccer ball woven by a 4-year-old getting paid 1/4 cent per hour. I was told that there's a guy in Colorado that makes good whistles, company called Sole Whistle Works. Supposedly makes all types/sizes with good quality. Boothman & Johnson also makes a Kinsley/Southern Long Bell replica...but $$$. But enough about whistles.
I have heard Kyosan Kogyo has not made new steam since before 1990...but they still advertise it. Based in Japan, these guys have built some good-quality new steam locomotives. Tokyo Disney, and several other parks in Japan use their engines. The John Molson replica was also theirs I believe, Mr. Hefner correct me here if I'm wrong on that one.
Severn-Lamb in the UK, despite their prices, also still builds new steam. Though the biggest they've built are 4-4-0s, 36" gauge...they were quoted on building a 2' gauge replica Hudson by an Upstate New York man who plans to build one to use on a tourist railroad. No, this is not Ron Trottier or Railstar. I've talked with Mr. Severn-Lamb, and have some photos of his equipment. He also was kind enough to provide me with a list of everything to their records they built to aid in tracking down world narrow gauge trains.
As for CHS...they couldn't afford anything but Tangshan if anything I'm sure...I really find it ironic they are interested in the Sundown & Southern IRCA #111...if not to steal the name "Georgetown Loop Railroad" is not bad enough already but to use a stable mate to the GLR Inc's poster engine??
The SVRy Mallet project will be great to watch and a great moment for the steam world. The last standard gauge steam built like this was the Golden Spike engines by O'Connor back in the 70s. And YES, American shopmen will be the ones paid to do this...very important to support our economy especially the steam world. Gonna put the old cabbage stacks on at least one of those??!!
Keep Steaming,
Ed Kelley