Conn Valley RR tank engine #10

I was wondering what ever happened to the # 10 tank engine that was at the Valley RR for many years??? I remember back in the early 80's (1983-84 to be exact) Max was saving cans and had quite a bite of money set aside for the restoration of theis engine. it looked like it was in good shape back then if my memory serves correct. What ever happen to it?? was it ever restored? or was it moved ?? iof so where is it now???

Thanks

Capt Bill << Former VRR Steam Fireman 83-84 ( The Bad Ted & Lynn yrs)

I belive this engine is now at the Outlet Mall in or near Clinton. I wish I could remember the exact name of the outlets as there are two different outletts down that way.
it was nicely restored and is on display with a nice historical plaq.

No, that's inaccurate. The one at the Westbrook Factory Outlets is a fireless cooker, which had been stored at the VRR prior to being "stuffed and mounted" in Westbrook in the early 1990s. If I recall, it once worked for Koppers Coke, but I might be off on that.
As far as the #10, somebody familiar with the current events at the VRR will have to speak up. Boiler issues were discovered, not sure what if anything has been done with it since.

#10 is the 0-4-0 Saddle Tanker and is currently at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum in Massachusetts. I believe it left VRR property in 1999.

For those of you who own the Mark 1 Video of the VRR (which came out in 1994), there is footage from the 70s showing #10 operating over an unsignalled Plains Rd crossing.

Here are the most recent pics of #10 I've found from the SFTM website:
http://www.sftm.org/image-2.html

-Jay H.

#10 is a rather interesting and historic engine-- it was designed and built in 1934 as Baldwin Locomotive Works' answer to the newfangled diesel switchers Alco and EMC were coming up with. #10 was set up as a one-man-operation automatic oil-fired locomotive. It has roller bearings on the axles (quite an innovation for 1934). Needless to say, the new diesels were more popular, and this was another Baldwin mis-calculation. It was "sold" to Standard Steel Works, a BLW subsidiary that made axles, wheels, etc. Later went to Wickwire Spencer Steel Co. at Palmer, MA, where it was sold in 1970 to the current owner (it was never VRR-owned, always privately-owned).

#10 did operate a few times at VRR; most often, when the boiler pressure got above 125# or so, a boiler tube would let go, and the engine would have to be shut down and drained. I don't think #10 ever got more than a day at a time in service. The "Max Miller #10 Can Fund" was based on #10 needing new tubes, and not much else, to operate. The running gear was in pretty nice shape. That Max had raised the figure of about $7000 sticks in my mind--- Red Baron, O Oracle of all things VRR, is this a correct recollection, or a "senior moment"?

The boiler was eventually surveyed in the mid-90s, and it was found to be absolutely perfect and in like-new condition---- above a certain "water line" (about 3 feet from the bottom of the boiler) where the boiler had apparently been left with water in it for a very long time. Below that line, it was rather pitted and in poor condition, so the project to fix and operate #10 was quietly dropped.

The owner later moved #10 to Shelburne Falls, which is much closer to his home.

I rode behind #10 on one of its rare outings at the VRR. I was in the gondola, and for many years kept a t-shirt that had been forever speckled by the slop that came out of the loco's stack. I remember FWZ IV was none too pleased with this trip, which was a "test run."
Harry, wasn't there another owner for a brief period before the current owner took out his automobile loan for the purchase? Ajax comes to mind........

Yes, CVRA7, there was indeed another owner in the "chain of custody" of #10. The Palmer plant of Wickwire Spencer Steel Co. was eventually owned by Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. (CF&I) which was a major supplier of rail to western US railroads. The Palmer facility was closed and auctioned by CF&I in late 1970, and besides #10, there was a very nice operable 25-ton steam crane (like the old VRR H-50, but much nicer, and steam-powered), and a very rare and unusual locomotive-- the only diesel loco built by Heisler. It was the running gear of a steam Heisler, with a direct-drive diesel engine connected. Again, a 1930s experiment (like #10) that did not pan out. There was no interest at the auction in the crane or the diesel Heisler, and the scrap man got both of them. Wonder what neat freight cars might have been on that site, too??

Anyway, a certain Newington, Connecticut resident, well-known in the steam loco "fraternity" (who traded under the name of "Ajax Locomotive Works" at that time), bought #10 for $2500 and brought it to Essex. I think the current owner obtained an used-auto loan at his bank to purchase #10 from the Ajax man; this would have been about a year or so after #10 arrived at SX.

Here's a little more recent photo I took of #10 up at SFTM:

http://www.nanosphoto.com/gallery/displ ... ?pos=-1895

I'll have to look at the original slide tonight when I get home, but my guess is it was over the summer of either 2003 or 2004 when I took it.

-Tom

Ahh yess the Maxs Can fund

Max can spot a Can a mile into the woods and can pick one up from the MHC with out stoping

also i spent a few day in the Car full or Cans

Yes, Yes, Yes!

How's about the time the cans were placed, er more correctly - tossed after Wednesday night work sessions, into the homemade ballast hopper & when the chute was opened - it wasn't ballast that dribbled out on the right-o-way!!!!!

Ah yes, 2 brothers pizza .... and.....

yup

and the Pizza Pub

Best Weds night Cutting up an Old Pantograph service car to make it a Flat bed