Lost Engines in the News - January 19, 2008

There have been some recent articles in the Roanoke Times about the efforts to move the historic locomotives and other equipment from the Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal yard to the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Links to the articles are posted below:

• Trains' fate still sidetracked - 1/15/08



• Even Norfolk Southern baffled by engines' move - 1/17/08

Lost Engines update 2003-2006

To the casual observer, the locomotives and other equipment in the Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal yard still look much the same as they have for decades. Behind the scenes, however, big changes have taken place in the last few years.

• In October of 2003, VSI&M owner Sam Golden passed away. While his inflated sense of the equipment’s monetary value and unwillingness to sell individual pieces may have kept the equipment in the yard and out of the hands of would-be rescuers, it was also Sam Golden who kept these historic treasures intact all these years rather than scrap them, and for that we all owe the man a debt of gratitude.



• Also in 2003, a new organization was formed, The Western Virginia Railroad Preservation Society, initially with the goal of preserving the "Lost Engines" and rolling stock in the VSI&M yard, and the broader mission to preserve and interpret the history of railroading in Western Virginia.



• Finally, in August of 2004, the executors of Sam Golden’s estate (he had left no heirs) made the decision to donate the four steam locomotives, two Baldwin diesels, two tenders, four hoppers, and the flatcar to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke. The VMT is currently making arrangements to move the equipment out of the yard, and the physical work of preparing for the move is expected to begin in the near future.

The Western Virginia Railroad Preservation Society

After the donation of the "Lost Engines" to the VMT, The Western Virginia Railroad Preservation Society remains committed to its broader mission, and is pursuing other projects around the region. The group is currently working to set up a restoration facility for their own use as well as for other organizations in the area, and has recently been given a set of steam-era machine tools by the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

These tools, consisting of a large steam hammer, a 24-inch lathe, a forge, a 60-inch vertical milling machine, and a radial arm drill press, must be moved from the RRMoPA by the summer of 2006. Much of this equipment is sitting on a flatcar in the museum’s yard, and the car, a 1906-vintage Pennsylvania FM class fishbelly flat that is historic in its own right, is scheduled to go into the shop for restoration this year. The Society must raise approximately $3500 by April to move the tools to their site in Virginia. To support their efforts, please click here.