Re: Ex GTLInc equipment

Hi John,
The #8 has been out of service since 1989. It was displayed in Silver Plume until Spring of 2004. At that time the #8 was spuced up some and moved to its current display sight.
The #8 was never a favorite engine on the Loop. The #8 had a lot of power. but it had a bad habit of scattering parts all over the right of way.
In a word, the #8 had a life. It is very tired and scarred up from its days on the Westside and it shows. The W.S.L.Co. did whatever it took to get the loads off the hill, so by the late 1950's and early 1960's the end of steam operations on the Westside was at hand. So not much money was invested in heavy maintenance work on any of the Shays.
What this Shay needs is a complete teardown and rebuild from the wheels up. What finally retired the #8 was the boiler. It needs the complete Form 4 work up to determine the amount of boiler work it will need.
I like the #8 because of its history. Maybe, hopefully, some day I will have the chance to be on the crew that rebuilds her.
Phil Reader