The P&WV Hi-Line

[PWVJer]

Well, I didn't win the Power-Ball or this would
be just very mute point for AC&Y/P&WV folks.

As you may know, the H20-44 at the Galveston RR Museum was inundated by seawater in a hurricane a couple of years ago,
along with two F7s, an NW2 and a GE 80T.
Those four were sold to a company that does rebuilding and restoration, which deemed only the 80T to be salvagable.
The others were scrapped. I recently heard the H20-44 is for sale also, as is, and feared a similar fate?
As you know there are only two others extant, in Campo, Cal. and Union, Ill,
all from Southwestern Cement, all originally built for UP. The Galveston unit spent time on the ACY after UP.
The good news is that the museum's exec director assured
he is waiting for a good home and will not sell it to a scrapper.
It needs a lot of seawater damaged parts replaced, including many Westinghouse electrical components....
anyone, are ALL parts still available through FM?

Maybe? .... someone down at that Sugar Creek Ohio complex might
have some interest? The H-20-44 needs " A Good Ohio Home".

[PWVJer]

The AC&Y 505 was the last H-20-44 FM production unit built.
3/54, Builder number 20-L-932.

AC&Y 505 (N&W controlled) to Southwestern Portland Cement Co.
May, 1971 renumber to 410, retired 12/84. Sent to Center for
Transportation & Commerce at Galveston, Texas.

The AC&Y 505's erection card/ design plans were very close, almost the same,
for P&WV Units 68.69, 70 and 71.

[PWVJer]

Update from Bob L. AC&Y Historical Group.....

"The rumored scrapping of AC&Y's 505, the last H20-44 built by FM, has been around for a few years now.
It was Hurricane Rita, eight years ago, that flooded downtown Galveston, soaking the traction motors with salt water.
Photos were taken about 3-4 years ago.
I checked on number 505 with Museum Director Morris Gould about two years ago.
He assured me number 505 was still there and there were no immediate plans then to dispose (sell for scrap) of this unit.
Since then, the Galveston Transportation Museum has reopened with a FEMA grant and private funding.
The grant also required that connection to the UP/ATSF be restored so that in a pending weather emergency,
all the equipment can be moved to higher ground. The Museum is a big asset to Galveston tourism.
I would believe the F-M diesel would be retained under any circumstances,
even as a static display, since it still wears UP colors. "
Bob L.

[Rich_S]

Maybe I'm just a novice, but have they tried checking the motors with a megger? If the motors are not going to ground, just rinse them out. Heck the salt water might have done them a favor and cleaned up the commutator plates on that armature. When we get wet motors, we just let them run at notch 3 and let the blowers dry them out. Before they do anything, I'd check them with a megger to make sure they are not going to ground.
_________________
Regards,
Rich S.

[jayrod]

Rich -

Sea water is extremely corrosive, not to mention all the sand and microscopic grit that gets in there. With a complete dis-assembly of the trucks, you could get the grit out of the mechanicals with enough determination and bearing replacement but you'd never get the wiring bundles and armature clear of salt, minerals and corrosion byproducts. They'd be prone to constant failure if you could get them to run at all. It's best to replace them.
_________________
Eric Schlentner
Aka, jayrod

[Rich_S]

[jayrod]

Don't know if they have a locomotive electrical guru handy or not. I'm pretty sure it's been inspected for insurance purposes. It remains only due to its significance. Others there have been scrapped or soon will be.

The copper itself is not a problem in sea water - corrosion rates are very slow due to its natural oxide coating. Steel... not so good. Another big problem is with the deposited/embedded muck as well as possible galvanic corrosion from said salty muck with steel, copper, and whatever other metal is in there. I'm not saying that you can't tear 'em down and rebuild 'em. It's the manhours involved and cost of finding and buying old Westinghouse parts that make it prohibitive. You'd invest more money than the locomotive is worth if it was totally functional. And if anything has to be re-wound... hoo-wee! Even though Westinghouse built virtually indestructible traction motors, I wouldn't try to run them without cracking the cases and taking a peek. By then you'd have a chunk of change invested just to pull the trucks. But then again, I am the nit-picker on our mechanical crew...
_________________
Eric Schlentner
Aka, jayrod

[Rich_S]

Jayrod, I don't know the whole story, if the trucks were the only thing soaked, they maybe scraping a good locomotive. Now if the locomotive was sitting in 15' of water, that is a different story. Your commutator and windings are copper. The windings are sealed so they don't ground to the casting. The brush holders are brass. Naturally the brushes are carbon. The only steel is the axle, gears and motor casing. I don't know if they have a drop table? You don't have to drop the entire truck to get a motor out, you can drop one motor at a time on a drop table. Of course this is all water over the dam if they don't have a drop table. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will purchase this engine, even if only for a cosmetic restore into P&WV or AC&Y paint.....
_________________
Regards,
Rich S.

[jayrod]

They're not going to scrap the FM. It's a static display now. For a second opinion, I posed the seawater question to our head locomotive guy. I'll post back with what he says. We may both be surprised.
_________________
Eric Schlentner
Aka, jayrod

[jayrod]

The official word is... no opinion. Said he'd have to look at them first to see how much damage was done. So a rebuild remains "possible". But money would be the big problem. JZ needs to buy more Powerball tickets and bring that baby home.
_________________
Eric Schlentner
Aka, jayrod