Whitcomb in Lake Wales Fla.

The Depot museum in Lake Wales Florida has a Whitcomb locomotive on display. 85 ton center cab I think. The builders plate has been distorted. Does anyone know the history on this unit? The gent in the museum did not have any information other than it had been there longer than he had, over 16 years.

A museum?? All he could tell you was it had been there longer then he had? Sounds like one heck of a museum..........

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:A museum?? All he could tell you was it had been there longer then he had? Sounds like one heck of a museum..........

Or simply an uninformed member. One cannot represent the whole.

To attempt to answer your question, their Whitcomb is of 1944 vintage. It is a 65 tonner.

The internet is a vast place and every now and again one can find a crumb of information.

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:A museum?? All he could tell you was it had been there longer then he had? Sounds like one heck of a museum..........

You get what you pay for. Admission was free.
It was a depot. It was a museum. Mostly oriented towards the history of the citrus industry. There was the requisite working model RR. layout, (European no less) the station agents work station in the bay window, the loco, a decaying SAL caboose, and an equally sad looking heavy weight passenger car.

There was a Whitcomb listed in Florida at IMC-Agrio Hopewell mine.
actually two, a 35 tonner and a 65 tonner frame number 60744 build 11-1947 ex IM&C 103 it came from the Phosphoria plant and before that from kingsford plant

That looks like the right frame number and date, the part of the plate where the weight is specified was distorted, probably from an impact.
A few blocks away I found a shop and a dead F-40 type loc. and there were red CF-7's scurrying around. Anybody know what railroad company this is?

I was there again recently and was able to take a second look.
The unit is indeed a 65 tonner built in 1944 for the army transportation corps. Its serial number is 60422.

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:A museum?? All he could tell you was it had been there longer then he had? Sounds like one heck of a museum..........

The Lake Wales Depot Museum is a nice small museum. I was there a few years ago and it was nice.