Yesterday I watched a show on the History Channel. It was about 2 loco’s that were found in the Atlantic Ocean 5 miles east of Long Branch NJ. The program said they are pre civil war & were probably built in Boston & destined for the Cumberland Valley RR in Philly incurred a storm & went overboard where they now rest. According to the show they said hardly anything is known of pre civil war loco’s like these. The configuration is 2-2-2 for both loco’s. They did not mention if they would try to raise them. They are in 100’ of water [:o)]
If they were for the Cumberland Valley RR they look a lot like this little fellow, the Pioneer, another 2-2-2 and one of the oldest locomotives in the US today.
http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/cushman/screen/P04553.jpg
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/locomove/images/pio1.jpg
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/locomove/images/pio4.jpg
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/locomove/images/pio5.jpg
I don’t know if they would dare try to raise them - as long as they’ve been in the water, they might end up with a pile of rubble. On the other hand, there is some bozo somewhere who would go down and destroy them trying to retrieve a wheel for his rec room wall…
I saw that program a while back.
Yes they showed that loco but they said the ones on the bottom of the ocean were larger then the Pioneer. They are also speculatiing they were for the CVRR. The loco’s are so encrusted in coral then could not locate a builders plate[:o)][:D]
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Originally posted by vsmith
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Yes they said that they are fearful that the metal will fall apart if they touch it. It appears that the site is known to charter boat operators who take scuba divers to the site. [:D][:p]
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Originally posted by tree68
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Actually, they might be able to raise them from the deep. It’s been done before. In 2000 an 1880’s Belgian-built 0-6-0T and 16 ore cars were raised from an 85 foot deep Resevoir in Panama after being there for over 100 years. These were left from when the French attempted to build the Panama canal and failed. This equipment is intended to be restores and placed in a museum. Cehck out this webise for more information and pictures: http://www.czimages.com/CZMemories/frtrain/frtr_index.htm