Correction to Yreka Western flashback post on "The Other"
Author: David Dewey
Date: 11-08-2019 - 09:49
Since I refrain from paying to read about trains, I can't post on "The Other" but wanted to correct the information on YW244. The poster credited Brian Whipple with the locomotive paint & Numbering. The engine never was Brian's, it was Doug Morgan's, who did number the engine after the prime mover; hence 244. The paint scheme design was mine, with the intention that the NN diamond would be put on the noses which explains that part of the paint design. The frame being a different color was to provide grade crossing visibility with the idea that scotch-bright would be put on for even more visibility. HOWEVER, the colors themselves were chosen by Doug. I always referred to the result as a Circus Engine. I was out of the state when he painted it, so was quite surprised (and a bit horrified) when I drove into the museum to see it for the first time.
After things went "south" on the NN, Doug was shopping around for another place for the engine and did the deal to send it to the YW.
As for the bearings, I am still amazed at how they held up, as the axles were quite pitted, even after 'shoe-shining" them with abrasive cloth. For added insurance, I went in with a Dremel tool and smoothed over the edges of the pits so they couldn't dig into the Babbitt. I told Doug it was a long shot, but it seemed to have worked out.
The poster also claims the engine was shipped on a flatcar to the YW; I don't remember, I thought that it went on its own wheels, albeit "under the wire;" and I was amazed it made it at all. If it was done on a flatcar, I don't know how they would have unloaded it there, although I suppose a temporary ramp could have been cobbled together.
Those were interesting times, hard to believe how long ago that was. I was always very saddened to see it cut up.