Salem County Line - Swedesboro to Salem - Operated by: West Jersey, SRNJ, US Rail, SMS

Especially if there isn’t too much wrong with it mechanically. Reminds me of an engine at the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg PA. They got CSX 4317 (GP39-2) for dirt cheap, and the only thing that was wrong with it was a fuel system issue. Once it was fixed the engine ran flawlessly.

During my last visit they also mentioned that they have another Baldwin they wanna get going for this line (AS16 or something like that?) but idk how far they’ve gotten with it.

JohnFromJersey wrote: ↑Sat Sep 09, 2023 9:43 am 10,000 dollars for a locomotive, especially as one as nice as 903, is a crazy good deal. They must not be in running condition or something

Selling of an asset by a 501(c)(3) non-profit to a for-profit company at less than fair market value would place the non-profit qualification continued status at significant risk, so likely the locomotive was worth somewhere around that value and will need a lot of work to again become operable, or there are some non-profit retained significant rights in perpetuity specified in the contract.

Good point Ken. At 10 grand for a full size locomotive you really gotta wonder what your getting. Especially for an engine like this which is less powerful and significantly different (electrically and mechanically wise) to a lot of the engines around today.

Then again, SMS is no stranger to running and maintaining old/oddball engines. I’m sure they’d get it running just fine, but I still can’t help but wonder what it may need to get going…

Maybe I’ll ask about it next time I’m down there, provided the engine is delivered by then.

I suspect that the 10K was either the yearly lease price, or they left out a zero. They article is confusing on that point, to say the least. I doubt the engine was sold for 10K, unless there was some sort of quid involved.

Quote from the article:

“In July the Philadelphia Chapter board considered the proposal and decided to sell rather than lease the engine to SMS at a cost of $10,000. SMS also hopes to lease or acquire No. 902.”

So from the sound of it, SMS approached them about taking it off their hands or leasing 903, but they ultimately sold the engine outright. Seems like they want the other one too.

With this many engines on the way and the steamer they are still working on its shaping up to be quite a fleet they’ll have in the future. Has me wondering how big we can possibly expect trains to get going forward. Perhaps long enough to justify two engines per train like we see at Cape May Seashore Lines sometimes? They still got some other cars they wanna fix…

pdtrains wrote: ↑Sat Sep 09, 2023 11:57 am I suspect that the 10K was either the yearly lease price, or they left out a zero. They article is confusing on that point, to say the least. I doubt the engine was sold for 10K, unless there was some sort of quid involved.

I agree PD that when I read the article I thought originally they wanted 10,000 a year to lease but then sold it for an undisclosed price, but it isn't very clear what that cost actually was.

JohnFromJersey wrote: ↑Sat Sep 09, 2023 9:43 am 10,000 dollars for a locomotive, especially as one as nice as 903, is a crazy good deal. They must not be in running condition or something

Those engines aren't in demand and generally don't retain the value to which a puppy or GP would. You can pick up engines like those for around 20k$. These low demand engines means it's harder to maintain mostly cause it's hard to get parts for. Recently saw two different RRs unloading their engines of similar style for next to nothing and another road was willing to give theirs away. They're even willing to cover the shipping costs.

As far as that Redaing 39 goes, it has it's issues regularly. It's not a flawless engine. They've good people maintaining it. Relative of mines involved with them.

Personally, I doubt seriously that u can buy an operating F in good/restored condition for 20K.. Smaller jeeps that the UP was unloading were going for 100K to 150K . Big engines, maybe 80K for scrap.

I looked on Ozark Mtn Railcar, but no prices. Mayve derelect F units would sell for 20K. These reading FP-7's are far from derelect.

Without naming names, I believe some ppl here have muddled the water by not reading the info correctly, and concluding that the Reading FP-7 was sold for 10K. Apparently that was the discussed LEASE price, not the sale price.

Please lets stick with the facts, if possible.

The article on Trains has it worded as it being sold for $10K and its believable.

Who knows when the last time it has even run

Article says stored at steamtown since 2010 and it seems they haven’t pulled any excursions since then. I wonder why…

pdtrains wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 10:06 pm Personally, I doubt seriously that u can buy an operating F in good/restored condition for 20K.. Smaller jeeps that the UP was unloading were going for 100K to 150K . Big engines, maybe 80K for scrap.

I looked on Ozark Mtn Railcar, but no prices. Mayve derelect F units would sell for 20K. These reading FP-7's are far from derelect.

Without naming names, I believe some ppl here have muddled the water by not reading the info correctly, and concluding that the Reading FP-7 was sold for 10K. Apparently that was the discussed LEASE price, not the sale price.

Please lets stick with the facts, if possible.

And you're right about the GPs going for over 100k, there's high demand for'em and the puppies. With these old barn wagons, who has a demand for them? A shortline tourist line that has the means and facilities to do the work. Difference is you can easily work on a GP or puppy. Those barn wagons gotta have the top removed to get parts in/out. There not efficient to work on and aside from the looks, they're not very good engines.

Regardless of how much it sold for, good luck to the SMS. They've a good buncha guys there and a good shop to boot.

FP-7's are good for excursion trips, but it would be cool to see the old girls do some freight runs.

They are ok for excursions but you gotta be careful. During my most recent visit to Steamtown I rode behind Lackawanna 664 and 663 from Scranton to Tobyhanna and back. Both F units. Cosmetically they were phenomenal. Mechanically? Well…

Both were smoking real bad and seemed to be burning oil judging by the smell and smoke color. Once at Tobyhanna, the engines stopped responding to throttle commands which left the crew baffled. They had to diagnose the issue which held up the departure about one hour. I later learned that 664s governor had stopped working, and it had to be fixed on site. Good thing too, as we were one and a half hours travel time away from the nearest engine that could’ve rescued us.

I didn’t let it bother me that much as the staff were friendly and we had a shaded train station to sit underneath while we waited. Others weren’t as patient.

SMS has a lot of experience fixing engines like this with a large amount of electromechanical parts and old school computers that had no circuit boards.

When you get a chance, take a look at the operation manual for one of these engines online. Crazy to see how many relays, resistors, and contactors are used to accomplish what would be controlled by microchips and screens nowadays.

And yes, I too wouldn’t mind seeing them pull some freight. Although I don’t see them doing well pulling long trains of todays freight cars, which have gotten a LOT heavier since the 1950s.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2023 9:08 pm They are ok for excursions but you gotta be careful. During my most recent visit to Steamtown I rode behind Lackawanna 664 and 663 from Scranton to Tobyhanna and back. Both F units. Cosmetically they were phenomenal. Mechanically? Well…

Both were smoking real bad and seemed to be burning oil judging by the smell and smoke color. Once at Tobyhanna, the engines stopped responding to throttle commands which left the crew baffled. They had to diagnose the issue which held up the departure about one hour. I later learned that 664s governor had stopped working, and it had to be fixed on site. Good thing too, as we were one and a half hours travel time away from the nearest engine that could’ve rescued us.

I didn’t let it bother me that much as the staff were friendly and we had a shaded train station to sit underneath while we waited. Others weren’t as patient.

SMS has a lot of experience fixing engines like this with a large amount of electromechanical parts and old school computers that had no circuit boards.

When you get a chance, take a look at the operation manual for one of these engines online. Crazy to see how many relays, resistors, and contactors are used to accomplish what would be controlled by microchips and screens nowadays.

And yes, I too wouldn’t mind seeing them pull some freight. Although I don’t see them doing well pulling long trains of todays freight cars, which have gotten a LOT heavier since the 1950s.

I've had the manuals for these. The old heads gave'em to me when I started with CR under the pretense of "when you get one of these types." Never had one that ran. Always DIT. Gave'em away when we cleared out room for the grandkids. Maybe my relative with the Reading historical group made use of them. Back to the old heads they'd said those engines were good when they first entered service. As they'd start having mechanical problems the less they were maintained. Parts had to be lowered in by crane and it'd take too long to do repairs that would take a few hours with a GP or puppy.

As per a friend

CA11 NB Gibbstown 1215pm
CSXT 8319
CSXT 1707
Woodstown central coach
SMS 2003

I assume those two are headed for Woodbury to be exchanged?