Will Maine Central Steam Locomotive 501 take Crawford Notch?

The Ex Mec # 501 came home from Steamtown U.S.A. nearly 25 years ago , and still awaits a restoration , which acording to one individual will come to pass. Most anyone can see deisel power just about anywhere but the sight and sound of some mechanical relic from the past , has the ability to steal the show just by finding itself on a steep grade , with plenty of tonnage tied to it,s tail . The result being able to hear the classic " BARK " of the exhaust sroke steam being shot up thru the nozzle and out the stack , along with the mournful sound of it,s whistle and the aroma of soft coal smoke drifting thru the air creates a situation where time seems to stand still and history repeats itself steam locomotives by their very nature begrime the air quality, assault the senses with brutal noise, and some people like myself just can,t get enough of it. The Iron Horse played a major role in making our United States the Super Power Nation of the world.Without the network of railroads that existed at the point where the Japs and Nazis thought they could run slip shod all over our nation and dared attack the fleet at Pearl Harbor,gassed and burned untold numbers of people in concentration camps,and raised havoc with England and its lifeline for survival linked to suply ships making it thru u-boat wolfpacks in the north atlantic. These rouge nations could have invaded our country,it was that real .Three things stood in their way. A united States, our industrial might,second to none and our raiload system , thousands of Steam Locomotives and with Big Boys and other super Power ,locomotives running around the clock. we showed the world the meaning of "DON,T TREAD ON US " The MEC #501 was around for WW 1&2 and Korea. I can bet she draged her share of steel for ship building, lumber , farm products and mill products for our servicemen. she was along with other class" W " steamers built by Alco were very well liked by those who ran them and worked on them , according to one roundhouse forman , the class W,s made the maine Central famous.

To be continued Part 1 of 3


written and views expressed by J.Smythe [/u]

Nice that you got rid of the CAPS, really no need to start another thread its only going to clog up the forum. Try to keep your post on the thread that’s been talking about the CS and the 470 club for a few months now.

Thanks , they put a lock on the other forum, i could not continue , so started another one. excuse the puncuation errors , sticking keys. that is really why i used the caps, plus at 50 my eyes are in between not needing glasse to a helper pair , large print , till i fix the key board , no poking fun at the bloops. Thanks mr501

How about closing out this forum and opening up a better worded /titled forum on #501 . I got a phone call from someone who saw the phrase "SPLIT FROM CONWAY SCENIC" and thought the 470 Club removed the #501 and took it out of CSRR which is not true. The word SPLIT sounds like it,s gone to another site to be not at CSRR. Can the closed /locked forums that have been out of operation for a while be wiped clean? Easier is better. I sent an e-mail to railroad.net that included a bettter caption. I have not heard any negative reply , so general rule of thumb, lets give it a try.

MAINE CENTRAL RAILROAD STEAM LOCOMOTIVE #501 PROJECT

How about posting this in the 501 thread....


People familiar with how the forums work here would have known that "SPLIT FROM YADA YADA" means...

We've got one 501 thread, let's cut down on the noise and stick to the facts, please.

The 501 thread: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=36765

-otto-